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Monday, 27th October 2003
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Doncaster, England - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Jonathon Dinnes

Hmmm, Doncaster. For some reason I'd had a good feeling about this gig all week, no idea why, I just did. Me and my friend Don were travelling from Sandbach (I'm staying there this week, and still don't know where I am!) and he came up with the 'bright' idea of taking a 'direct' route through the peak district. Well with the joy of hindsight, it wasn't our most inspired decision ever, but it certainly made for an adventurous route to the gig.

So, several hairpins and near misses later, we arrived in Doncaster. I must admit I didn't realize quite how close it was to Sheffield till we got there. We arrived just as Ricky Warwick was inviting Vivian onstage, and managed to mingle about halfway into the crowd. Did anyone else notice how bloody tall people from Doncaster are? I'm only 5ft 10! Anyway, by the time the band came on I managed to sneak up to front centre and behind some girls on the barrier that were pretty small. Well, after being at Birmingham the night before, I was really hoping for something special, which was promptly delivered with a vengeance.

The band took the stage to 'Action', then into an excellent version of 'Rock Rock'. The band seemed to have an extra edge to their performance and the crowd responded. Joe acknowledged this early in the set as the crowd clapped and cheered without needing prompting (Birmingham take note!). Unlike recent shows, in fact every show so far on this leg of the tour, the crowd were seriously loud right from the offset. The atmosphere from then on was electric and it only got better. The crowd even seemed to know 'Slang' and 'Promises', both of which were outstanding tonight. Joe said that Plymouth had been easily the loudest on the tour so far, but I can tell you we took the roof off on Doncaster tonight! Obviously this was as close to a hometown gig as the band have on this tour, and this showed between the atmosphere and Joe's chat with the crowd, mostly about local football. Cool moment for me came during Joe's speech before 'Rock of Ages' and he mentioned that the band had been together for 25 years, and I was the only one who cheered. It was pretty funny, Joe thanked me for my enthusiasm.

Stand out performances tonight were definitely 'Foolin', 'Promises', 'Rocket' and for once, 'Let's Get Rocked'. Most of all it was amazing to get to a gig with such a great and unique atmosphere, one where the band feed off the crowd and vice versa. The band were looking pretty tired after such a long tour, so I was impressed with such a performance, despite the slightly shortened setlist. This was easily the best Def Leppard show I've seen since the Barrowlands in February, and the gig I expected Sheffield to be, with such a superb hometown atmosphere, I seriously doubt it will be bettered on this tour. Awesome.


Fan Review - By Jules

Well could not believe it that Def Leppard were playing Donacster I just had to get tickets for this one.

Travelled 40miles to see them tonight in my home town of Doncaster. This was the first time Def Leppard had played here.

Ricky Warwick was good has well, good to see Vivian play on one of his songs.

Got to say they were just brilliant. This is the 3 time I have seen them on this tour and once again they were spot on.

They started with 'Action' which is a great song to open up with did 'Four Letter Word' which they did not play last week when I saw them. Just got to say that I think it's great they have done smaller venues as they are still the best rock band. Till the next time.


Fan Review - By Andy B

On with my review then I will start with the support acts first then is the one and only Ricky Warwick and I must say with this being the third time that I have seen him support the mighty Leps this year that he gets better everytime that I witness his part of the show and I must say that when Vivian joins him on stage for 'Three Sides To Every Story' and it makes it into a completely different song to the version that I heard in February in Sheffield & Manchester.

Then comes the second support act that was MusT and they were 'CRAP' the only decent thing about them was that they have a decent drummer. Now the with main event which is Yorkshire's finest that is the mighty Def Leppard they hit the stage just after 9pm and the place was electric from the start that was 'Action' because I never thought that they would open with that song to the end of the show that was 'Let's Get Rocked' even though there was a fair few shouting for Wasted (Me included) but they did not play the song but there is always next tour and it can't come quick enough.

The Leppard roared loud & proud tonight and it was well worth seeing them again for the third time this year.


Fan Review - By Andylgr

Doncaster Dome - walking through an ice rink and an indoor water park and I'm thinking that this is a strange place for a rock concert. Next door to the fitness gym is the concert hall, or should I say a sports hall with a stage, it was like a school gym with a bar and the seats at the back of the hall looked like they were lifted from a swimming pools viewing area. The place seemed to be full, not sure if it was a sell out but it looked close and I noticed at this show more than any of the others I'd been to that the crowd seemed to be a bit older. The band were a little later than normal coming on stage, and they opened with the usual trio of 'Action', 'Rock Rock' & 'Make Love Like A Man', which in fairness despite being the 4th time I'd heard them on this leg still sounded good. Its worth noting that the sound in this new venue (new to me anyway) was very impressive, not sure if that's down to the sound engineer or the acoustics but it was very crisp and clear.

'Foolin' was next, followed by the mighty 'Women' (my favourite every time). The 2 ballads came and went - 'Hysteria' & 'When Love & Hate Collide', not sure if its a good idea putting 2 ballads together, but anyway things picked up with 'Slang', 'Four Letter Word' & 'Promises'. 'Slang' went down surprisingly well and the lights during this track really do the song justice. The acoustics came out for 'TSB' and 'Now'. Then it was the big hits that closed the close, 'Rocket' as always was the highlight with 'Armageddon It', 'Photograph', 'Animal' and 'PSSOM' going down a storm. As usual Rick was introduced for 'Rock Of Ages' which ended the show.

The standard encores closed the show - 'Love Bites' and 'Let's Get Rocked', during which Joe went walk-about in the crowd.

All in all it was another excellent performance with great sound and again a great light show in a surprisingly good venue with a big stage, but I got the distinct impression that many of the people around me were there to hear Hysteria only. Which leads me to think, where can they go with the setlists? This was the final show of 4 I caught on this leg and they were all virtually the same set, I don't think at this stage in the bands career that they feel they can afford to alienate too many of the people who turn up on the strength of the big albums alone, which is not good news for the die hards. For me the first half of the set is the time to play around with new stuff or rarely heard oldies - but sadly on this leg of the tour they didn''t take that chance.

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