Hollywood, FL - Media Reviews

Def Leppard @ Hollywood Sportatorium By Palm Beach Post

Tuesday night was not a good night for rock 'n' roll.

It was a good night to set the year's attendance record at the Hollywood Sportatorium - 13,500 - but the Def Leppard concert the crowd turned out to see was little more than uninspired, cliche-ridden theatre.

All of the elements of a classic heavy metal concert - melodic metal, really - were in abundance.

A defiant (but not so charismatic) lead singer, a tiwn guitar attack, lots of ripped jeans and torn but fashionable clothing, an expletive or two for rebellion's sake.

Absolutely beautiful and powerful laser lighting and special effects.

Lots of leaping, spinning, twirling and painfully loud and often ragged sound.

For some reason, though it was loud, it rang uninspired and unconvincing.

It seemed like a two-hour cartoon with band and audience going through the expected motions.

By Palm Beach Post 1987.

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Def Leppard @ Hollywood Sportatorium By Sun Sentinel

Call it what you will: heavy metal, lite metal, hard rock, whatever.

The basic fact is that somewhere under all the hair, makeup, foolish preening and ear-splitting volume, there must be guitar-driven music.

That's how it was when pioneers such as Led Zeppelin played, and no more evidence is needed than Tuesday's Def Leppard concert to prove that the quality of heavy metal has now fallen to its lowest point.

A more apt label for the display put on by Def Leppard and similar groups is 'joke' metal.

It was evident from the outset of Tuesday's show at the Hollywood Sportatorium that the recharged Def Leppard is all bark and no bite.

The band in no way can match its radio sound.

The studio Leppard is a very different animal from the live act.

Almost every selection never even came close to resembling anything musical.

Sloppy guitar work, hopelessly off-key vocals, and a sellout audience that used the concert as an excuse to drink excessively and act stupid, made this night at the Hollywood Sportatorium one of the worst in recent memory.

Compounding the musical difficulties is the band's apparent obsession with the image of what it thinks every screaming metal-group should be.

Over and over again, alleged lead singer Joe Elliott raised his fists in feigned defiance of some unknown authority figure, igniting the crowd with meaningless barbs and chants while running aimlessly in circles.

The only positive was the presence of Rick Allen, the band's drummer who lost his left arm in a car accident two years ago.

With his right arm now carrying the burden, Allen used his bare feet to triggger the complex computerized percussion patterns that full out Def Leppard's sound.

He was inspiring to watch, and deserves better.

By Sun Sentinel 1987.

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