Monday is a quite tricky day to arrange a gig. It is quite risky, I suppose, for a promoter to set a gig at that very day. Hence thinking of business… there is one solution. Put a really good band on, to reduce the risk of:
- losing money
- having the band playing in front of 50 people.
One band that could save the (Mon)day at that case was EUROPE. At around 19:00 I arrived in Volkshaus Zόrich, just at the time the doors were opening. There was a good amount of people waiting outside and although I knew this was not a sold out gig, there were enough of us that could spend the night by going to a gig. Around 19:45 the first support went on stage. It was UNCHAIN, a Swiss band that more than obviously was worshiping the tracks of AC/DC, in the guitar riffing. It was a good start to enhance the mood of people there. They played for about half an hour and then it was time for CHINA to hit the stage. CHINA which in the late 80s, early 90s had made quite a name for themselves, started their set with "Rock City" and then continued with some of new songs from their brand new album "Light Up The Dark". "In The Middle Of The Night" paused that parade of new stuff for a while, as the last one was "Girl On The Screen", a new song as well. Actually it is a pity that they played for so little a time, but it was to be expected, when you are a support act to EUROPE. The sound though was quite good and in that, helped that CHINA went on stage with having two guitarists this time.
EUROPE took enough time until they start. The intro from their new album "Last Look At Eden" found me still hanging around the merch stand. The sound from the first seconds was crystal clear and massive. John Norum was in excellent mood and delivered all the tracks perfectly. The audience was enjoying quite the concert but at the last half an hour made it obvious that it was there for the good ol' billboard tunes.
EUROPE setlist:
1. "Last Look At Eden"
2. "Love Is Not The Enemy"
3. "Superstitious"
4. "Gonna Get Ready"
5. "Scream Of Anger"
6. "No Stone Unturned"
7. "Prisoners In Paradise"
8. "Open Hour Heart"
9. "Stormwind"
10. "Optimus"
11. "Seventh Sign"
12. "New Love In Town"
13. "Start From The Dark"
14. "Let The Good Times Rock"
15. "Cherokee"
16. "Rock The Night"
Encore:
17. "The Beast"
18. "The Final Countdown"
