St. Paul, MN - Media Reviews

Rock of Ages By Jesus Roz

The first time I encountered Def Leppard, was almost 20 years ago. They were opening up for Ozzy on the Blizzard of Oz tour. Still wet behind the ears, Lep made it clear they were going places. They have matured, but they still provide "Rock of Ages".

Def Leppard played the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand Thursday night (August 24, 2000), and did so with as much ferocity as they demonstrated in the early 1980's, when they were in their teens and 20's.

The five member British group was loud and full of punch as they ripped through their song set for nearly two hours. On their feet from the start, the crowd clapped, danced, pumped their fists in the air and sang along throughout. Joe announced that guitarist, Vivian's (Campbell) birthday was the day after the show. The crowd and the band did a great rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Vivian about the midpoint of the show. Joe Elliott, the group's vocalist and leader, jumped around on stage all night. I'm sure age and this being the 25th tour stop had something to do with it, but I'm not so sure Joe can hit those high notes like he used to. He is still a great entertainer.

Opening up with "Rock Rock (Til You Drop) off their third album , 1983's "Pyromania" the band then played a cover of an old Sweet tune, "Action." "Foolin" "Animal" and "Hysteria" soon followed. Slowing and quieting things down, the band members brought out their acoustic guitars, playing "Two Steps Behind." This was another sing-a-long. Joe stated that Minnesota had been the loudest stop on the tour and if a good enough job was done on the song, they would upload the song to their website (www.defleppard.com). They stayed acoustic for most of the smash hit "Bringing on the Heartbreak" before ending the High "N" Dry album number with electric guitars. With a British flag unveiled in the stage background and on one of the guitars, "Photograph" "Rocket" and "Armageddon" ensued. Then it was time for the fan favorite, "Pour Some Sugar on Me" off the 1987 "Hysteria" album. Def Leppard finished off with "Rock of Ages," also off "Pyromania" before the encore that featured "Love Bites" and "Let's Get Rocked."

At the end of the show, the band crisscrossed the stage waving to fans. Joe emphatically stated "We will be back." Lep, you're welcome here anytime.

By Ubillin 2000.

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Def Leppard Pleases Fair Crowd With '80s Party Music By Jon Bream

"Just listen to that," Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott declared after an ovation early in the band's concert Thursday at the State Fair grandstand. "That's a big noise. It really is."

Which was more surprising: the excited response of the 11,423 grandstand-goers or the sounds-as-good-as-ever performance of one of the biggest hair-metal bands of the 1980s?

These Brits don't have big hair anymore (though some of the concertgoers sported big perms and mullet hairdos), but Elliott, 40, still wears a faux-leopard-skin coat, leather jeans (torn in one knee) and Converse high-tops. And he ran around the stage, toting the microphone in its stand, like Rod Stewart's little brother.

The rock-star look may have been timeless, and the musicianship skillful, but Def Leppard sounded dated. The 100-minute concert sounded like the soundtrack to high-school parties for anyone who graduated in the 1980s. That's when the Leps' blockbuster albums "Pyromania" and "Hysteria" dominated rock radio and MTV.

"We're reliving our high school days," said concertgoer Julie Kleinschmit, class of '89, who was dancing with some of her classmates.

And when was the last time Kleinschmit listened to her Leppard albums?

"In high school," she said, hoisting a beer.

Def Leppard's music may be pleasingly nostalgic, with those chiming tandem guitars, harmony-heavy choruses and high-pitched, Robert Plant-like lead vocals. But it's party music with little emotional involvement because, after all these years, the words don't resonate anymore. They have all the depth of football cheers.

That was especially apparent on an acoustic version of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," which received a modest response; then, when the Leps followed with an electric reprise of the chorus, the crowd went wild for the guitar fury and yelping vocals.

The MTV classic "Pour Some Sugar on Me" kicked the party into overdrive. Afterward, Elliott saluted the response: "Of the 25 shows on this leg of the tour, I can safely say this is absolutely the loudest." Then the Leps leapt into "Rock of Ages," a mindless riff rocker that proved this music really is Rock of '80s.

By Star Tribune 2000.

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Def Leppard Pours It On At Grandstand By Jim Walsh

Spinal Tap, the fictitious hair band depicted in Rob Reiner's 1984 mock rockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," is said to be reuniting this year for a tour and album. Someone beat them to the punch. Def Leppard, the biggest hair band of the '80s, kicked off the State Fair's Grandstand lineup Thursday night with a set that was as big and dumb and fun and forgettable as any kid's first 3.2-beer hangover. And while the calendar read 2000, Lep provided a trip back to the days of Reagan-Thatcher, and a soundtrack that launched countless backseat romances in the '80s.

Just as it's hard to argue the weird appeal of watching Princess Kay of the Milky Way get sculpted in butter, it's hard to resist the spectacle of five Brits on a summer night in Middle America, clanging power chords that sound like FM radio epitomized, coming through 36 Marshall stacks (OK, so most of them were props), and leading a crowd of 11,423 in a fist- pumping chant of "I want rock 'n' roll/Rock 'n' roll will never die."

And rock 'n' roll -- or some whitebread version of same -- was what the crowd got. Throughout their 90-minute show, Def Leppard carried no rock star misdeed, but instead came off more like the regular blokes in "The Full Monty," had those lads chosen bubblegum pop metal instead of stripping.

Every metal trick in the book was used -- cowbells, dry ice, strobe lights, plenty of wheedle-wheedle guitar solos drenched in effects, canned stage banter designed for maximum crowd response, and hooks that went down like Slimfast (in and out). Singer Joe Elliot was clad in black-leather pants (and a tigerskin fur coat for the first three songs), and bassist Rick Savage was in gray parachute pants, further contributing to the time warp.

Much like the excessive, vapid, head-in-sand decade they ruled, Lep traffics in bombastic ballads and huge, anonymous anthems about love, lust and partying, with such populist themes as "Rock, Rock," "Everybody Wants a Piece of the Action," "Two Steps Behind," "Armageddon It," "Rocket," "Animal," and the crowd's favorite "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

At one point, a massive British flag unfurled behind the band, but somebody apparently forgot to bring the miniature Stonehenge.

By Pioneer Press 2000.

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