EUROPE - Live & Backstage • Animus Klub • Der Freizeitklub in der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar

Animus Club organized an interview with Europe on their War of Kings-Tour at the Stuttgart Longhorn in cooperation with the Swedish School and enjoyed boundless gratitude and kindness towards children.

Once again, the Animus Club experienced one of these magic, exciting moments full of eager anticipation and those butterflies in our stomachs right before meeting famous rock stars.

This moment was all the more intense and emotional last Friday, since we had a surprise in store for the Europe band members: We, a German youth group, were going to conduct the interview in Swedish, which is their mother tongue, assisted by Swedish school children who live in Germany.

First of all, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our admired band members Ian Haugland, John Levén and Mic Michaeli for dealing with the surprise so graciously. We would also like to thank them for their patience and kindness towards the children. Besides, a big thank you to the manager Adam Parsons who paved the way for this rewarding interview and unforgettable experience.

We are also very grateful to the 7 to 15-year-old students and of the Swedish School in Karlsruhe and Hirschberg of the German-Swedish society in Heidelberg (Deutsch-Schwedische Gesellschaft Heidelberg). We highly appreciated the splendid support of their parents and their teacher, Ylva Ureland. By preparing and conducting the interview and attending the concert the Swedish School positively contributed to the resounding success of this unique project (which would have had to be canceled otherwise).

In the following, the true heart of the Animus Club was throbbing with joy and vigor when a group of as many as 25 persons attended the event. Chairman Alexander Höfer felt relieved and supported by numerous highly motivated and committed children and their parents.

Naturally, the children could hardly wait until they could get to know the band members of Europe and ask their questions live in front of the camera. When finally the rhythm section of the band, consisting of the Michaeli-Haugland-Levén-Trio, appeared and insisted on shaking hands with each of us, everybody’s excitement was literally tangible.

Despite the situation that vocalist Joey Tempest and the guitar player John Norum would not be able to participate in the interview, everybody was elated to meet the stars. After a short introduction, the children were invited to sit among the musicians and pose their questions.

The celebrities’ relaxed way of dealing with the children’s – at times – unusual questions, gave impressive proof of a pleasant placid temperament and a down-to-earth attitude towards life on the one hand, but on the other hand their answers definitely did not lack humor and witty remarks! One of the highlights of the interview was when a girl asked whether Emil of Lonneberga had been a role model in the artists’ childhood.

Here are some other examples of the questions that the children asked:

Have you ever been to Germany before and have you been interviewed by children in Swedish?
Were you born in Sweden and what country do you live in now?
Did you already like music when you were kids?
Were you good at school – and were you ever given detention?

Furthermore, the musicians readily shared some of their life experiences with the kids. They strongly confirmed that it is definitely worth while striving to fulfill one’s lifelong ambitions as a possible beginning of a future career, e.g. to learn how to play a musical instrument, no matter how young you are or what others may think. In this context, the three musicians also agreed on the importance that such an encounter with role models might have for youngsters.

For the adults attending, it was an additionally rewarding experience to see how the children realized the value and intensity of such an authentic encounter with famous musicians. Rather than seeing them on TV or on the Internet, the children found pleasure in carrying out their carefully planned interview with the celebrities in real life. It was a true delight to see how the children performed quite professionally despite their nervousness. They met the challenge of responding to the famous adults’ reactions in the natural way of children and the interaction with the stars grew increasingly relaxed. The atmosphere and tone of the interview was filled with humor, respect and admiration which the kids will certainly treasure as a fond memory.

The three musicians generously spent 45 minutes with the children and even continued some small talk about Halloween and the Vikings after the formal part of the interview and when all the photos had been taken before they left for their pre-concert routines.

Around 9:15 p.m. Europe finally appeared on the stage, accompanied by bombastic drum-staccatos and set off on their more than 2-hour long concert as a part of the „War of Kings“ tour, named after their recent album.

The ten children from the Swedish school, partly standing in the very first row in the audience, physically experienced their tummies shiver when Europe proved that it is undisputedly one of the very best live bands in the world: Not only the powerful voice of their charismatic Singer Joey Tempest, but also the enthusiasm with which the band virtually exploded with their rock music made the audience shriek with exhilaration.

The five musicians treated their ecstatic audience to a cross section of a 35-year long career and ten studio albums. They embedded their rocklike greatest hits, such as ”Hole in my Pocket”, ”Superstitious”, ”Wasted Time” and ”Last Look at Eden” into a series of at least seven songs from their present album.

The enthusiastic atmosphere among the estimated three thousand fans reached its climax when Europe played their mega-ballad ”Carrie”. The whole Longhorn practically vibrated with singing fans.

After nearly two hours of heavy rocking, the concert was concluded with ”Days of Rock´n Roll” and Europe disappeared from the stage. However, the audience’s persistant calls for more were answered when the group finally reappeared and played the desperately longed for song ”The Final Countdown”. In a brilliant finish, the Swedish children at the front joined the song in exaltation with the rest of the audience. After this last performance Europe was honoured with thundering applause and took their leave.

When the lights were turned on, exhausted but overjoyed children and elated parents became visible. The majority was physically tired and and perspiring after all that hard rock. Still, gratitude and joy filled the air: One father even hugged the chairman Alexander Höfel and said: ”You have just fulfilled one of my childhood dreams. I have always wanted to see Europe live but never had the chance to until this day and I even got to meet them personally. I am entirely filled with happiness!”

After this uniquely successful event, we are now looking forward to our next chance of meeting Swedish artists. Possibly it could be KENT, MANDO DIAO, ROXETTE or perhaps a Swedish writer. We feel certain that the Swedish school children and their parents will be prepared to accompany the Animus Club again on another occasion. The 7 to 15-year-old children’s ardent eagerness was great proof of this when they asked whether we planned to interview ABBA or Pink Floyd. Well, we will certainly see what we can do make some of their dreams come true! – (Translation: Ylva Ureland)