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Saturday, 28th June 2003
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Greeley, CO - Media Reviews

Rockers relive glory of '80s By Anne Cumming

Def Leppard plays to crowd of 13,810 at Greeley Stampede - Laura Schott walked into Saturday's night's Def Leppard concert, looked around and told her husband, "Tonight, we are officially old."

When Laura, 30, listened to Def Leppard, she was 16, had big 1980s hair and popped the band's tapes into car cassette players and head-banged to the music with her friends. "Back then the music didn't seem that loud," she said with a laugh. "It seems loud now."

The Greeley Independence Stampede concert drew 13,810 people Saturday night, one of the largest crowd in Stampede concert history. The crowd was screaming before Def Leppard even took the stage about 9:15 p.m.

The heavy-metal rock band, which made its debut playing at a school in England in 1978, opened Saturday's show with "Let it Go", "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" and "Make Love Like a Man".

The crowd went wild and held up lighters during "Foolin,'" from the band’s 1983 album "Pyromania."

The Groove Hawgs, a band formed in 1997 by Denver radio personalities Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, opened for Def Leppard with a mixture of rock and blues. A lot of concert-goers were like the Schotts - 30-somethings with kids and houses in the suburbs who came because they remember Def Leppard’s music from junior high and high school.

But there were also people in their 50s and 60s, teenagers and children. There were cowboy hats, baseball caps, nose piercings, eyebrow spikes, tattoos and plenty of head bangers - women with tall bangs and men with mullet hairstyles reminiscent of the 1980s.

Some wore faded black T-shirts from Def Leppard's concert tours 20 years ago - perhaps dug out of boxes with other keepsakes such as high school yearbooks and graduation tassels.

Jessica Martinez, 30, and Bryan Wilson, 28, are brother and sister who came with their spouses.

"We're here because Def Leppard rocks, and they still rock after 25 years," said Martinez of Firestone, a mother of three children, ages 8, 12 and 14.

"Def Leppard is to us what the bands of the '50s and '60s were to our parents," said Wilson of Platteville.

Martinez and her husband Chris don't keep up with Def Leppard anymore. They came Saturday night to hear all the old songs like "Rock of Ages," "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Love Bites."

Riley and Melissa Aguilar of Greeley brought their four children, ages 2, 7, 10, and 13, to the concert. Riley, 34, and Melissa, 30, thought their kids should get a taste of what mom and dad used to like. Melissa even played an old Def Leppard album to prepare for the concert.

"The kids were like, 'Ooh, what's that?' she said.

For the past several years, the Stampede has booked classic rock bands in addition to country artists at the event. Jessica and Chris Martinez said they wouldn’t have come to the Stampede had it not been for the Def Leppard concert. They don't like rodeos or country music.

In 25 years, maybe their kids will come to the Stampede to hear the classic bands of their day - something like Eminem or Snoop Dogg. Jessica Martinez wrinkled her nose at that thought. "I wouldn't go," she said. "I wouldn't be able to handle that.'

By Greeley Tribune 2003.

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