Live From The Dark Chronic

19.01.2006

reconstitution)Days before the release on Europes french forum: the Europe Active Forum

Me (Valérie): OK, everybody remembers the rules!! Every good fan of Europe that buys the DVD in a shop should replace the remaining DVDs (if there are such things) so as to be seen by everyone! Even if that implies putting it in front of a Bon Jovi and so on

Other members of the forum: Yes boss

Me: no dont call me boss it upsets me

The others: Yes boss

Me: Well If you insist I eventually do feel in high spirits! A VIKINGS SPIRIT!! So much the better, we are speaking of Europe !

OK everybody to his position ! Put the Europe DVD in sight ! The customer MUST see it immediately!

The others: Lets go

Me: Its on ! Good, mission accomplished ! I have performed my good action for Europe !

I will start by presenting the 2^nd DVD, which seems logical since it shows everything that happens before the concert in London.

Behind The Tour starts in a "Final Countdown" atmosphere, all the towns and dates of the tour Start From the Dark of October/November 2004 appear one afeter the other.

The report itself starts with the final of the Tilburg concert in Holland on the 13^th of November. 22H40, the boys leave the stage. Here we learn its the 21^st concert of the tour and that its their 1437^th in their whole career!!! They are happy with their performance.

-Hey Johnny! say Joey to John Norum

-Good Job ! answers John Norum to a chuckling Joey.

Later the group will leave for a night bus-trip for the final date of the tour. They know well the place they are about to enter, its the Apollo Hammersmith Theater, they had played there in 1989 and 1992.

But for the time being they are in no humour to move, the boys will relax and rest for a while. You should be aware that on stage with all the lightings the temperature is 40 degrees. Thats why Ian Haugland (drums), drags us under the shower with him to perform "Singing in the Rain"

At 00H30 the group leaves its room with Mark Johanson the tour manager. Fans have been waiting for 2 hours outside to meet the band. Joey finds it fantastic that fans should have so much patience ! they will all sigh autographs and take photos with their fans.

Its 01H05, time to leave, the band says goodbye and takes the bus. They must catch the Ferry from Calais to Douvres.

4H10 boarding the Ferry in Calais. At one point we see Joey on the bridge yawning very attractive! Arrival in Britain, were on the 14^th of November, the day before the concert. Joey poses in front of the Theater.

On the day of the concert, 8H00, the team starts installing the whole stage. Everything has to be ready for 16H00, that leaves just about 8H00 to prepare the Theater. The equipment is very impressive!!

17 Swedish guys work to get all this done. 5 Huge lorries with 5 tons of equipment each follow the tour ! ! Pontus Norgren, the tours sound engineer explains to us how a Europe live develops 95 decibels, for comparison, he tells us that a commercial aeroplane does a 100 ! ! That lets you imagine what your hears have to endure ! !

Then we see the boys preparing the rehearsal, they always play song that will not appear in the show. In this case it will be "Spirit of the Underdog" and "Heart of Stone", but Ill come back to this later

We see fans that tell us how excited they all are about seeing the concert. They come from everywhere, Italy, Bosnia, U.S.A., France

At the same time a few floors underneath we see the group preparing. John with his guitar, Mic combing himself with his fingers Joey drinking tea and playing his guitar. Hes doing his favourite youth song written by Bobby "Blues" Bland "Aint no Love in the Heart of the City".

After a 45 second count-down before the show begins we see the group exiting their box and getting behind the scene. Little jumps of impatience on Joeys part, then, The concert starts!

Taxi Diaries : this is a series of interviews of the members of Europe while they are travelling in the streets of London in a cab. Here are the different interviews:

John Norum and John Leven

Ian Haugland

Mic Michaeli

Joey Tempest

John Leven and John Norum:

The reporter asks for a word to describe each member of the group.

John Leven answers as follow:

Ian is the funny guy

Mic is the diplomat

Joey is the dreamer

The reporter then goes on to asking how theyd had the idea of reforming: Johns Norum answers that it was after the Millenium gig of the 31^st December 1999 that they gave at Stockholm where they performed The Final Countdown and Rock the Night They didnt start working together as early as they would have wanted to because Joey was working on his 3^rd solo album. John Norum also tells us how the album was prepared. He sent his ideas to Joey, who worked on them before sending it all back. Then they met in Sweden to work together on it.

The reporter asks what songs they best prefer to play in live:

John Leven: "
Got to Have Faith" , "Yesterdays News" , "Sign of the Times" , "Start form the Dark" , "Flames"
John Norum: "
Yesterdays News" , "Start form the Dark" , "Flames"

The reporter asks what was funny about the tour:

John Norum tells about the bus toilet door ! !

They then go on to tell about their future dates in England, Italy and the U.S.A

Interview on stage

John Norum introduces us to his guitars

Mic Michaeli

John Leven

Sound Check: here we see
Europes rehearsal with "Spirit of the Underdog". I love the way Joey sings ! Its nice to see that they are as lively alone as they are in front of a crowd. Its really as intense as a real live! Its great!
Video Clip

"
Got to Have Faith", a very fast-paced video with this motorbike and the way the band is filmed. Everything shakes, it gives a rather cool effect. I love the moment where Joey goes "Ive got the feeling", we see the memories of the group, Europe in the 80sThats nice!
"
Hero" is a nice clip mixing live performances and a reconstitution of teenage Europe. In the latter we see teenagers handing out concert tickets to themselves for Thin Lizzy in a bus. The driver seems quite upset and keeps staring at them, its funny ! The concert part is great ! In the end we see Ians son playing guitar in his room in front of a Europe poster. Its a touching clip that reflects the lyrics quite well.
The Live

For you, I "confronted" the live. Let me explain, forgetting my own safety, I tried it with a Home cinema! you remember the 95 decibels? I was almost there.

The concert opens on a perfectly frantic "
Got to Have Faith", its really fast. The group is at his best, so is the audience. It creates the atmosphere immediately. That is an unbridled rhythm and songs that will connect very fast. A song like "America" is so well performed that it literaly explodes the scene. Its big! Very big! The band leaves us no rest: their goal is to exhaust every the whole crowd by the end of the show! A keyboard opening makes us aware that "Superstitious" is about to start. Joey gives us a nice singing exercise that makes me wonder if hes not going to do a little Indian sing song and there again, the song really takes you, dynamism has a name: Europe !
An excellent "Wings of Tomorrow" comes next, this title is always great in live. It really hasnt got older. Same thing for the fantastic classic "Seven Door Hotel" ! Here again
Mic offers us a good keyboard opening. Great!
A lot of things happen on stage, for the drum opening of "
Let the Good Time Rock" Ian has the audience play, during the song Joey is "offered" with a Union Jack that he uses as a cloak (Superman style!).
The first keys of "
Hero" echo, this song always has a special character. What happens between the group and the crowd is very moving. Its huge, I cant stop myself from shedding a tear To get over so much emotion we needed a good "Wake Up Call". I Must tell now, if that song doesnt turn you on then you can go straight off to bed ! Everybodys Jumping ! Joeys going everywhere ! What liveliness!
While Joey introduces the band Ian gives away his drum sticks. John Norum starts a guitar solo that will become the intro of "
Girl From Lebanon" . I love that song! What a guitar, and Joey really did some great singing !
then the boys exit the stage and leave poor Joey alone. He does an impressive acoustic version of "
Carrie" that everyone sings along with him. Its beautiful ! Whats beautiful too are the close shots on Joey (I had to speak about that) they really are good. "Flames" comes next with bursting energy, its pure madness, flames appear. Breath Taking !

There really is no rest in this show ; as I told you, there must be no one left standing. thats why they give a mad "Yesterday News" ! What a performance. Nice skills during the silence at the end of the song, great synchronisation to start all together again.

"Rock The Night" starts in a few keys, euphoria carries on, Joey jumps everywhere, so does the audience !

Time for the last songs: "Start from the Dark" where the audience does the chorus. Brilliant ! "Cherokee" follows frantically before "The Final Countdown".

Once more pure madness, on the stage, for the crowd.

Thats it its over Ian gives his sticks away once more, Joey gives water to the audience.John Leven gets a red under bra that he hurriedly gives to Ian. Who eventually places it on his head !

What more could we say, except the fact that the boys still love playing together and we see it ? Its magnificent to see this smile on Joeys face, and the understanding that these five musicians share. I will end by saying that Joey is a really brilliant singer, because having such a stage performance while keeping a right voice during the whole concert Mr Tempests the best ! You are a great Artist to say the least ! You are five great Artists.

Thanks for all these great moments and big luck for the future, because this is just a beginning and the fans will always be there !

My note is 10/10

Chronic write by me (Valérie), traduct in english by

william.johanson@rockstage-netmag.net