San Francisco, CA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard @ Cow Palace By San Francisco Chronicle

Diana Ross does it and so does Kenny Rogers, John Denver and, now, Def Leppard .

Forging fresh territory in arena rock staging, the heavy metallists best known for 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' a hit for the British rockers six years ago.

Decided for their first tour in more than four years to plop the stage right in the center of the Cow Palace floor.

Staging a rock band 'in the round' is not like the one-man (or one-woman) show practised by other advocates of such staging.

At times on Sunday, it resembled nothing so much as an ant hill, with musicians scurrying to and fro, hither and yon, always running somewhere but with nowhere really to go.

These guys all seemed quite likeable, hardly the dark menacing personalities so often brandished by musicians of this genre.

Elliott introduced guitarist Steve Clark as his 'best friend'.

No snarling demonic rages.

No cataclysmic tirades.

Just dry ice fog, extravagant lighting and a few simple lasers.

The band music, likewise, appears slightly more musically sophisticated than the RATT's and Motley Crue's of this world, a couple of extra chords here and there, some unusual keys - Frank Zappa but not typical dunderhead rock, either.

This pop polish gives what would otherwise be rather ordinary hard rock a smooth, gleaming edge.

In another surprise, the band performed 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' mainly as an acoustic number.

Bringing drummer Rick Allen back on to wallop the final chorus to a close.

Elliott singing so high and so hard he must have gotten a headache.

Def Leppard may be only a little out of te ordinary, but for the school of rock the group represents, that amounts to a radical departure.

By San Francisco Chronicle 1987.

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