October 21 / ENGLAND / Wolverhampton / Civic Hall

Long-time lurker of the forum so I thought I’d post my 2 cents on the Wolverhampton gig on the 21st.

Huge Europe fan, have seen them on every tour since 1987 so I couldn’t wait for Time Capsule to come to town.

Not going to lie, I had watched online footage of earlier dates in the tour and I thought this may be the first time where the ravages of time start to show on them, particularly Joey’s voice. It wasn’t a huge concern of mine, I’m still getting to see my favourite band after all, but it was at the back of my mind that maybe they were on the downward slide, like so many other bands of a certain vintage.

I was lucky enough to go to the VIP sound check and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic to see the boys running through a few songs in a very relaxed atmosphere. Joey was sensibly protecting his voice so didn’t go “balls out”, but I did get the chance to sing a little of “On Broken Wings” with him which, let’s be honest, is a total fanboy moment which I’m never going to forget.

If I was being hyper critical of the VIP thing I would maybe have liked to have heard some songs that weren’t in the regular set. But that is being “really” nit-picky, I really enjoyed the experience and went away feeling we got value for money.

As for the gig itself I’ve got to say I should never have worried about it. The guys were on absolute fire, possibly the best I’ve ever seen them live. They were enjoying it and that fed back to the crowd which made the atmosphere electric.
The set list is about as good a retrospective of their 40 years as it could be. The fanboy in me would have liked to have seen “In the future to come” in the set, as a nod to the Rock SM final, but I thought everything chosen flowed well together and made a cohesive show.

I may be the only one who thinks this (and maybe it’s the OCD in me) but I love the symmetry of starting the show with the B Side to “that” song and then ending the show with the A side. It's like the show comes full circle.

And if singing with Joey wasn’t enough I ended the night with one of Ian’s sticks and a few of Norum’s plectrums, so from a personal point of view it made a bloke counting out the last few months of his 40’s feel about 12 years old again.

If you’re going to any of the shows on this tour please don’t get too worried about how those online videos sound. The boys are firing on all cylinders and long may it continue.

No doubt I’ll see some of you on the tour in support of the new album in 24/25 !!

I was thinking about that nod to the Rock SM final Harry.

I had kind of discounted "The King will Return" as "War of Kings" was in the setlist, and, whilst it's debatable exactly how many monarch related songs you really need in your life, I think "War of Kings" is perhaps a better song.

I think its composition and lyrics show a maturity that, for very obvious reasons, were simply not there in 1982.

The only issue perhaps with "In the Future to Come" is it has quite a downbeat lyrical message I guess, and this was a celebration after all. More likely I'm completely overthinking it

As Joey mentioned, you know who to blame if they didn't play your favourite tracks

My hope for the documentary is we get to at least hear from Tony and Kee at some point, as they are part of the overall story of the band.

The clips we saw certainly whetted the appetite though, can't wait to watch the whole thing.