Boise/Nampa, ID - Media Reviews

Loud Leppard Rocks Idaho By Helen Warriner

80s band records concert for possible use on live album.

The 1980s livedagain mohawks, big bangs, long hair and allat the Def Leppard concert Thursday night at the Idaho Center Amphitheater.

More than 7,000 people attended the open-air concert, which was quite a bit louder than a recent concert the group performed in Salem, Ore. About 700 Def Leppard fans there got refunds after a disappointingly quiet concert by the band at the Oregon State Fair.

Nampas concert was loud enough that Nampa police received several calls complaining about the noise. Police officers and Idaho Center officials monitored the decibel levels inside the amphitheater, on the perimeter and in the surrounding neighborhood throughout the concert.

The concert opened with a thrashing metal performance by fellow Brits The Unband. With open shirts and bell-bottom pants, the band members proudly proclaimed that they like to drink and like to rock and roll. Perfect for an 80s revival concert.

After a 45-minute intermission, the men of Def Leppard walked onstage in plenty of black, white and animal-print clothing. They opened their set with the anthem Rock! Rock! Til You Drop.

Lead singer Joe Elliot kept lifting his microphone stand over his head and commenting about the beauty of Idahos moon. But other than that, he offered very little chat, letting the classics rock for themselves. Songs like Two Steps Behind, Foolin and Rock Brigade were why the 30-something crowd came to hear a piece of their past.

And Elliot kept encouraging them to scream as loud as they could because the group was recording this concert. He said that if the Nampa crowd sounded better than a recent crowd in Texas, they'd make it on an upcoming record.

The bands performance was proud and passionate, making no excuses for the fact that the sound on their new album Euphoria has changed very little since their heyday. The few new songs they played off the new album had a bit of a hip-hop beat, but the same wailing guitar and take-no-prisoners lyrics.

In the 15th month of their tour, this hair band still rocks with a pop metal vengeance.

By Idaho Press-Tribune 2000.

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