Sauna Open Air 2019 Review (including EUROPE)
Jul 24, 2019 13:00:03 GMT 2
Post by Stein on Jul 24, 2019 13:00:03 GMT 2
www.rockunited.com/sauna2019.htm
The review covers the entire festival and here is the part about EUROPE:
EUROPE have played a lot of shows in Finland over the last few years. Not quite as many as W.A.S.P., but they've been here almost every year since their comeback. Just like W.A.S.P., they also have a strong following here, and they were one of the most popular acts of the festival.
The band is still touring in support of their latest album, "Walk The Earth" (2017), but the setlist featured only two songs from it. Wisely the band chose more familiar songs for this festival audience, including four from the classic "Final Countdown" album and three from "Out Of This World". A couple of even older tracks got an airing, "Wasted Time" and "Scream Of Anger" from the band's second album "Wings Of Tomorrow". Those were played in 2014 too, when the band was headlining South Park Festival in Tampere. Back then the setlist was heavy on songs from their then-current album "Bag Of Bones", but these days those have been dropped.
Naturally the band doesn't sound or look like they did in the eighties, some keys maybe have been dropped and the poodle hair cuts cropped, but the band can still deliver. Joey Tempest's vocals don't soar like they used to, but he puts a lot of effort into his performance and he's still one of the more charismatic frontmen out there. The mike stand is still being twirled and the shapes are being thrown. John Norum's guitar playing is still fluid and his solos are melodic and beautiful.
Highlights of the set for me were "Sign Of The Times", "Wasted Time", "Cherokee" and of course "The Final Countdown". I may have heard it a million times but it's still one of the songs that has shaped my musical taste.
The review covers the entire festival and here is the part about EUROPE:
EUROPE have played a lot of shows in Finland over the last few years. Not quite as many as W.A.S.P., but they've been here almost every year since their comeback. Just like W.A.S.P., they also have a strong following here, and they were one of the most popular acts of the festival.
The band is still touring in support of their latest album, "Walk The Earth" (2017), but the setlist featured only two songs from it. Wisely the band chose more familiar songs for this festival audience, including four from the classic "Final Countdown" album and three from "Out Of This World". A couple of even older tracks got an airing, "Wasted Time" and "Scream Of Anger" from the band's second album "Wings Of Tomorrow". Those were played in 2014 too, when the band was headlining South Park Festival in Tampere. Back then the setlist was heavy on songs from their then-current album "Bag Of Bones", but these days those have been dropped.
Naturally the band doesn't sound or look like they did in the eighties, some keys maybe have been dropped and the poodle hair cuts cropped, but the band can still deliver. Joey Tempest's vocals don't soar like they used to, but he puts a lot of effort into his performance and he's still one of the more charismatic frontmen out there. The mike stand is still being twirled and the shapes are being thrown. John Norum's guitar playing is still fluid and his solos are melodic and beautiful.
Highlights of the set for me were "Sign Of The Times", "Wasted Time", "Cherokee" and of course "The Final Countdown". I may have heard it a million times but it's still one of the songs that has shaped my musical taste.