Rochester, NY - Media Reviews

Def Leppard @ Rochester War Memorial By Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

A sell-out crowd of 10,000 at the War Memorial appeared to love every deafening power chord by the English band, who are the current kings of heavy-metal rock.

As a rock genre, heavy metal has changed relatively little since it emerged in the late '80s from bands like Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin.

It remains characterized by extraordinarily high volume, a pounding, sledgehammer beat, and lots and lots of guitar with plenty of distortion.

Nine of that is new anymore, but heavy metal has never lost its popularity.

Last night's Def Leppard concert, for example, was originally scheduled for June, and at the time sold out almost immediately.

The concert stayed sold-out after it was rescheduled.

In their 90-minute show, Def Leppard cranked out hits from their latest LP.

The crowd loved it, stomping their feet, holding up lit matches and lighters and calling the band back for several encores.

As far as their performance went, it was naturally very loud, with lots of guitar solos and macho strutting about on stage.

Occasionally it sounded like the fellas up there were actually singing a song - I could have sworn I heard some harmonies at one point - but most of the show sounded like a wall of noise.

Special effects were minimal. There were the obligatory clouds of smoke and some pinwheels that were set off from two lighting towers on either side of the stage

By Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 1983.

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