Wolverhampton, England - Media Reviews

New Heavy Metal Kids by Steve Gett

Several months ago, Def Leppard made their vinyl debut with a three-track EP, released on the independant Bludgeon Riffola label. It clearly indicated that here was a hot prospect for the future, featuring such delights as "Ride Into The Sun", "Overture" and the classic "Getcha Rocks Off", which is destined to become one of the all-time HM cuts.

Word swiftly spread through the music industry that Leppard were the "next big thing" and, having been pursued by a number of major record companies, the Sheffield-based group recently signed to Phonogram. This week they opened for Sammy Hagar on his brief but important UK trek.

Amazingly enough, though, 18 is the average age of the line-up, which includes a 15-year-old drummer.

Last week, prior to their dates with Hagar, the band played at the Lafayette Club in Wolverhampton, where they demonstrated why so much attention is currently being focused upon them. Quite simply, it's astounding to hear heavy rock of such high quality being performed by such a young band. And it's no gimmick either: Def Leppard could definitely give a lot of other heavy rockers a run for their money, and will appeal to fans of Rush, UFO and Van Halen alike.

In the Midlands club, however, they had numerous problems with a stage situated only about six inches above the dance-floor, atrocious sound quality and only a half-full hall. Nevertheless they still managed to produce a blistering set.

At present the bulk of attention focuses upon guitarist Willis, a Pat Travers-lookalike, who provided some excellent riffs and solos. On the night it was he who stole the limelight.

Def Leppard could fare much better if the individual members came forward more, especially the singer, Elliott, who has yet to realise his full potential as a frontman. The music is fine, but fans want to be entertained visually as well. That doesn't necessarily presuppose flashbombs and dry ice throughout the show, but better presentation will enable them to come over with even more force and aggression.

They still includes a couple of Lizzy standards - "Emerald" and "Rosalie" - in their set, but it's their own compositions which are particularly striking, and none more so than Friday night's encore, "Wasted", which in the future will encourage countless heads to bang with fury.

By Melody Maker 1979..

Show Story from 'From Animal Instinct' 1987

"September 7 - Lafayette Club, Wolverhampton £125, plus fifty percent of the door (takings). Cliff Burnstein flew from America to see Def Leppard perform for the first time. Joe, practising splits in the dressing room, ripped his stage pants right up the back of his crotch before showtime."

"He did the whole show facing the audience so they wouldn't see his bare ass. (Joe refused to wear underpants on stage.)".

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