Knoxville, TN - Media Reviews

Def Leppard At Thompson-Boling Arena By Knoxville News-Sentinel

The dust has settled and the arena's still standing, so it's time for harassment to end and congratulations begin.

Last Friday night, Def Leppard invited a few friends, 7,515 to be precise, over to the Thompson-Boling Arena for a little party.

Like any partygoers, the fans spilled a few drinks and used up a lot of toilet paper, but generally the affair went off without a hitch.

The significance of the Def Leppard concert lay in the fact that it was the first at the University Of Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena.

OK, so the Def Leppard concert was hardly a sellout.

The arena can hold 25,000 people, and 7,500 is less than a third of capacity.

But just getting people in there was an accomplishment.

The concert proved a few things about the arena.

First of all, remember how some people were worried that the first foray into the high end of the decibel was going to have the same effect on the arena as Joshua's trumpet had on the walls of Jericho?.

Well, I was there, and I didn't see even the smallest flake of cement drift down from the ceiling.

Prior to the arena's opening, engineers had predicted the ceiling would would be able to support only 40,000 pounds of equipment.

For Def Leppard the ceiling held up 63000 pounds.

That kind of capacity means Thompson-Boling can compete with the biggest arenas around.

There were no lines for concessions and restrooms as there are at Stokely Athetlics Center and the Civic Coliseum.

That's important, not only for the concert at hand but for future concerts, people remember where they get relief.

By Knoxville News-Sentinel 1988.

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