Europe have revealed their plans for 2016, which include work on a brand new studio album, and some special events to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of their breakthrough album, The Final Countdown.

Speaking exclusively to Gigs And Festivals, singer Joey Tempest discussed planning a new release in 2017 - “we’re looking at booking some studio time in September next year” – and plans to celebrate the three-decade milestone of The Final Countdown in a suitably epic way.

Speaking about the anniversary, Tempest revealed that Europe will be playing the album in its entirety at a few select shows: “There’ll be a few shows regarding the anniversary of the The Final Countdown [in 2016]”.

Read more at Gigs And Festivals.

Europe’s place as a legendary hard rock band was platinum-stamped early in their career. Having enjoyed an explosive period of worldwide success in the ‘80s (under-pinned by their hit album and single The Final Countdown), 2015’s War Of Kings has seen them take full advantage of the global groundwork Europe have keenly re-established over the last few years.

Recently, it was decided that Europe’s momentous live appearance at Wacken 2015 should not only be filmed and recorded, but released as a DVD & BluRay. Europe’s War Of Kings Special Edition includes the original War Of Kings CD plus said Wacken 2015 DVD & BluRay, and will hit stores in North America on December 4th via Hell & Back Recordings/UDR Music.

Check out the first taste from the release - “Nothin’ To Ya” - below:

The set will come in three formats (2-disc Ecolbook CD+DVD, 2-disc Ecolbook CD+ BluRay, Limited Edition Deluxe Package with War Of Kings CD + DVD + BluRay and Photobook), and an audio-only edition of the Wacken 2015 performance will also be available via digital format. Pre-orders will available beginning next Wednesday, October 21st.

Joey Tempest states, “Very excited to have the War Of Kings Special Edition coming out with our Wacken Festival performance as bonus disc and so great to soon be back in the USA after our very successful east coast shows earlier this year – covering a lot more States this time.. The War Of Kings tour continues!”

CD tracklisting:

“War Of Kings”
“Hole In My Pocket”
“The Second Day”
“Praise You”
“Nothin’ To Ya”
“California 405”
“Days Of Rock ‘N’ Roll”
“Children Of The Mind”
“Rainbow Bridge”
“Angels (With Broken Hearts)”
“Light It Up”
“Vasastan” (Instrumental)
    
DVD & BluRay tracklisting:

“War Of Kings”
“Hole In My Pocket”
“Superstitious”
“Scream Of Anger”
“Last Look At Eden”
“Second Day”
“Firebox”
“Sign Of The Times”
“Praise You”
“The Beast”
“Ready Or Not”
“Girl From Lebanon”
“Nothin’ To Ya”
“Let The Good Times Rock”
“Rock The Night”
“Days Of Rock ‘N’ Roll”
“The Final Countdown”

In celebration of this release, Europe is announcing the War Of Kings US Tour 2016. The tour begins in San Jose, CA on January 19th, and hits 16 cities before coming to a close in Atlanta, GA on February 6th. General on-sale begins next Friday, October 23rd at 9 AM, PT/12 PM, ET via all major ticketing sites or Europetheband.com.

Tour dates:

January
19 - San Jose, CA - Rockbar Theater
20 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove
22 - Los Angeles, CA - Saban Theater
23 - Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Live
24 - San Diego, CA - Music Box Theater
25 - Chandler, AZ - Wild Horse Pass Casino
27 - Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theater
28 - Sioux Falls, SD - Badlands Pawn
29 - Shawnee, OK - The Grand Events Ctr
30 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
31 - Houston, TX - House of Blues

February
2 - Fort Lauderdale, IL - Revolution
3 - St. Petersburg, FL - The Concert Courtyard - Ferg’s
4 - Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues
5 - Biloxi, MS - Hard Rock Casino
6 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade