Pal collecting popular European for afternoon performance (7)
I believe the answer is:
matinee
'afternoon performance' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'pal collecting popular european' is the wordplay.
'pal' becomes 'mate' (I've seen this before).
'collecting' indicates putting letters inside.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'mate' enclosing 'in' is 'matine'.
'matine'+'e'='MATINEE'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for matinee that I've seen before include "Afternoon showing of play" , "First jackets" , "Afternoon performance (of play etc)" , "Play, perhaps" , "After lunch, show" .)