Halifax, NS, Canada - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Lianne

Amazing. Simply amazing. No sound check and a missing guitar player. These were not good signs. But in true Def Leppard fashion, everything came together in the end. Halifax is an amazing city. The people are entertainment sponges. Haligonians will give back what they receive and what they received on August 4, 2003 was a night of pure energy and pure rock n roll.

Ricky Warwick was a lone pulsing energy. It was hard not to get wrapped up in his straight forward no nonsense style. I heard whispers all around me, "This guy's good!" Besides being obviously talented, easy on the eyes and funny, he's magnetic. I know his album will do well in Canada. When Vivian joined him on stage, the crowd went nuts! A taste of what was about to come.

It's hard to describe the first moments of Def Lep on stage. They literally burst onto the stage. I've never felt such energy from a band. The crowd was in shock for the first part of Let It Rock. The energy just kept building as the audience tried to catch up. Bringing On the Heartbreak was the point of no return for many of us on the floor.

I'm still in awe. I know that every single person around me sang every song from that point on. It would be a novel if I wrote every nuance from every song performed. Clearly, a highlight was 'Long Long Way To Go', which hasn't had enough, if any, promotion and yet, Canada will make it #1.

'2 Steps Behind', for Haligonians, this was the best choice for a sing a long! At one point we didn't even know if Joe was there. 'Rocket/Radar Love'. Let me say that this was my personal highlight. They have to release this. Everybody is talking about that remix. Again...amazing.

Naturally all of the Pyromania/ Hysteria songs went over big time. I hope the guys never get tired of playing Pour Some Sugar On Me,because we'll never get tired of hearing it.

'Rock of Ages'. That was the concert. Every age from children to grannys, all rockin'. The crowd was begging them not to leave. We can't wait another 20 years for Def Leppard to grace our shores. When they finally said "Thank you and Good Night", Halifax wasn't going to let that happen. Even though we knew they'd come back for an encore, we wanted them to know WE NEED YOU BACK FOR AN ENCORE!.

'Love Bites' and 'Let's Get Rocked'. Well, it does bite and we did get rocked. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Def Leppard. That was true Shock and Awe. Come back soon. Halifax LOVES YOU!

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Fan Review - By Clinton

This is Def Leppard visit to Halifax number 4. The crowd was the smallest of the 4 shows, however it was also the loudest and most energetic. I would guess about 4000 people but I will confirm this in the next few days.

Ricky Warwick received a very impressive cheer from the crowd when his set was over. Vivian Campbell joined him on stage for 'Three Sides To Every Story'. Ricky told many funny jokes and told interesting Joe Elliott and Vivian Campbell stuff as well. Ricky rocked, enough said!

Def Leppard opened with 'Let It Go' and the crowd went nuts, then it was 'Hit and Run', 'High 'n' Dry', 'Bringing on the Heartbreak', 'Switch 625', 'Foolin', 'Make Love Like A Man', 'Hysteria', 'Long Long Way To Go', 'Slang', 'Four Letter Word', 'Promises', 'Two Steps Behind', 'Now', 'Women', 'Rocket', 'Photograph', 'Animal', 'Armageddonit', 'Pour Some Sugar on Me', 'Rock of Ages'. Encore: 'Love Bites', and 'Let's Get Rocked'.

Phil was late for family reasons, so no real sound check, Rory was busy running around getting guitars ready for the gig. Met up with Rick Allen before the gig by accident and shook his hand as he made a few jokes about which of his hands I should shake.

Joe Elliott started off slow, his voice was hoarse, but finished strong hitting all of the high notes in 'Photograph' and 'Love Bites'. Rick Savage really seemed to love this crowd and the energy it had. Joe must have spent a good 10 or 15 minutes towards the end of the gig just chatting with the audience. He really seemed to soak it up and spoke about how good Halifax has been over the years. Rick Savage lost a string at the end of 'Rocket' but it was corrected quickly by using the Union Jack Bass. Vivian Campbell really stepped up to bat and played his butt off because he knew that Phil had stuff on his mind. The backing vocals were great as well. The sound and dynamics improved as the show went on. At the end of the show the crowd just stood up and cheered for like 15 minutes.

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Fan Review - By Kevin

Monday evening August 4th 2003, a rainy miserable night in Halifax was all but forgotten when Def Leppard took the stage for what became a very special concert for me. Disintegrate began to play after the usual mix of Start up music, I feel there were definitely a lot of Lep fans as it became apparent even before the lights went down what was coming up. The guys hit the stage and began into the High and Dry set, Starting with 'Let it go', 'Another Hit and Run', 'High and Dry', 'Bringin' on the Heartbreak', and then 'Switch 625'. The sound was a little off for about 30 seconds but we later found out Phil Collen was delayed until only 2 hours before the show, the usual sound checks were not done.

Joe began working the crowd, always surveying to see who wasn’t on their feet, encouraging applause from each section of the stadium. Pyromania, Hysteria, Adrenalize, Slang, Euphoria, and X were represented in a mix during the remainder of the show which kept all of the audience hooked and looking for more.

Most of the 5000+ who attended sang along to all of the songs including 'Long Long Way To Go', which as Joe pointed out Canada was the first country to have the new Lep single reach the charts. The mostly acoustic 'Two Steps Behind', Joe almost broke into 'Needle and the Damage Done' by Neil Young, but then said he didn’t feel it would have worked....wish he had, I am sure all would have loved hearing him play such a great song by a Canadian Artist.

Joe gave a nice introduction to 'Now' by describing the video, the history of reissuing of the union jack shirts, and poking fun at ebay. By the time the mostly Hysteria/Pyromania songs began the audience were almost louder than the band. During 'Rocket' the guys broke into an awesome performance of 'Radar Love'...too cool.

An extended introduction between 'Sugar' and 'Rock of Ages' had Joe out front introducing Rick Allen, mentioned his 23 years with the band and how he is the silent sometimes unheard member, like Ringo to the Beatles. I think the crowd definitely made up for the silence, they blew the roof off the building with his introduction. From my vantage point I was able to keep good contact with him, he is great to give big smiles and eye contact during the performance, I have never seen a band member who enjoys his career more.

Viv, Sav, and Phil didn’t stop, always interacting with the audience, the audience responded with a couple of bra’s signed with phone numbers, Joe joked he was giving them to Viv as he may need it more than the rest.

Halifax set the standard for audience participation for the rest of the Canadian tour, I doubt it will be matched. Def Leppard loves Halifax and Halifax Loves Def Leppard! Everyone I saw gave back as much as the band gave, truly exceptional.

My show didn’t end after the 'Love Bites/Lets Get Rocked' Encore, During the show I caught the first guitar pick Phil threw to the crowd (played with it all night, thrown after rock of ages) and at the end Sav threw a handful my way, I caught one of his.

Backstage passes from Rick Allen's Raven Drum Foundation were awesome, I was able to meet Rick Allen, what a true inspiration and a really great person to talk with. I was presented with an autographed photo of the band. Rick was more than obliging to do photos and sign a copy of the set list my friend got from the lighting crew and my Historia DVD. Malvin, Ricky Warwick, Lauren Monroe (Raven Drum foundation) and Mark (www.defleppard.com) were also there. Thanks to Def Leppard, Bright Star Auctions, Ricky Warwick for a Magical night.

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