Irvine, CA, USA - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Christina

I had the time of my life at the Irvine show last night and I just MUST share it!!!! First of all, be forewarned as it's a long one.

To begin with, I bought my tickets through Ticketmaster the moment they went on sale, but to my disappointment the closest I could get was about in the middle of the venue. However, I was just happy to be going because I was told that they were not coming back to Southern California at all this tour. Well, last Sunday night I was listening to KLOS and they were playing Pyromania in its entirety and they were giving away tickets to the show PLUS souncheck passes and meet and greet with the band. The first caller who knew who replaced Steve Clark won as well, you could have knocked me over with a feather and lo and behold, I won!! On Monday, when I drove to L.A. and got the tickets I found out that the seats KLOS gave me were even worse than the ones I had purchased, so I ended up giving them away and keeping my original ones. Of course, I was in ectasy because I knew I had the soundcheck/meet and greet to look forward to. Here comes the good part, the day before the concert, KLOS called and said I had won the grand prize; FRONT ROW TICKETS!!!!!!!! And not just any front row, but the PIT front row. You can imagine how I felt.

Fast forward to the day of the concert: We had to wait outside the venue for the reps to get us, and while I was waiting I am certain that I saw Phil drive into the venue in a little blue car. (Sorry all you car buffs, but I am not one of those people that know the makes/models of cars, okay?) I swear he looked right at me for a couple of seconds before the security let him in.

In any case, we were lead into the venue eventually and I sat in front and center for the soundcheck. Well, actually they said the band wanted the first five rows clear, so I sat 6th row; front and center. The band played "Promises", "Let It Go", "WLAHC" and "Two Steps Behind". I was quite an experience to see them in that sort of atmosphere. When it was over, the reps made us go back out to the parking lot and re-enter for the meet and greet BEFORE the show. We we made it back in, we had to go into the Smirnoff Liberation Lounge to wait for two band members to come and take pics with us. It was this little pavilion style place with makeshift walls surrounding it, so it was hard to see in. My heart stopped when Joe and Sav walked in the back way! They brought us up in groups of 6 to take the photo and shake hands, etc. I got to Sav first and he said, "Hi there. What's your name? I said, "Christina. gulp. Then he said, "Oh, Christina ah" (That accent, you know! Heavenly.) Then I went up to Joe and I lost my nerve. You see I was going to remind him of the fact that I had spoken to him on the phone back in June when he was backstage at the Columbus show and just see if there was a chance in he said that he remembered me. Anyway, I blew it big time! I just stood there when he asked me my name and mumbled "Christina", so he said, "Hello, Christy!" - AHHHHHH!!! The best part was that I stood next to him for the pic and he put his right arm around me. Heavenly. On the way out, we all got autographed pictures of the band which I was offered $200 for when I was walking around the venue with it. As if I would ever sell it! Puh-lease!! NO WAY!

Well, when I got the my seat I swear we were not more than 5 feet from the band and I was totally jazzed. If any of you were there, I sat in seat 12 which was halfway between Joe and Sav; two seats to the left of the center aisle (if you are facing the stage). I was the small, skinny girl with the long brown hair and the dolphin choker on. I sat between a tall, blonde girl (my friend) and a redhead. The show was awesome! What can I say? they rock! And because I was so close, I saw absolutely everything that happened! Every facial expression and I even caught a couple of the things they said to each other. Very cool! I have so many good memories of the show. I got a guitar pick that Joe threw. Joe looked right at me and smiled when he saw that I knew every word to "Slang" and I was singing it back to him. I think the whole front row was KLOS listeners and I was the only one who knew any of the material post-Hysteria. Very sad. Phil looked me way a few times too, especially during "Animal" when he did his guitar-God stuff right in front of me and smiled when I sang. At the very end, I reached up as high as I could when they were leaving. Sav gave my hand a slap and Viv grabbed my hand, looked me right in the eye and said, "Hi" I think I said "hi" back, but I was in total euphoria (hehe) by then, so I can't speak for my actions!

Well, as of now, I am sleepy, deaf and can't speak, but it was definitely worth it! I apologize to all you technical fans who wanted a review that told you all you ever wanted to know about guitar licks, stage positioning, etc. but this is my ball and I am running with it. I was planning to go by the tour buses and wait because I really wanted my "X" CD liner notes signed. Joe has already signed them, but I wanted the rest of the guys to sign, but security was so horribly tight (Southern California for you) that I gave up way too early and besides, the friend I went with seemed to just want to go home. Just didn't have the energy, I guess. My only regret will be that I didn't try harder to get back to those buses, but the evening was still awesome.

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Fan Review - By Joan (Singchild)

Last night was my second time seeing Def Leppard on this tour, sixth overall, and they continue to astound me time after time. They never put on anything less than an amazing show and never give anything less than 100% effort. Two of my sister's friends from work came with us to the show. They like Def Leppard, but aren't huge fans like my sister and I are. They thought the show was great and were impressed with the band's showmanship and musicianship. It was so great to see another full house in Orange County like there was at the December show in Los Angeles. There didn't appear to be an empty seat. It was definitely a sellout or very close to it.

Ricky Warwick put on another top performance and I have to say once again that to be up on stage by yourself with just an acoustic guitar takes a lot of guts, especially in less intimate venues. Vivian joined him onstage for a song as well. I'm definitely going to pick up his CD this week. He has a lot of catchy songs. His sound reminds me a bit of the band Social Distortion.

Back in December, we got the High and Dry intro, which was awesome, but I was glad we got a different set list this time, just for the variation. I was excited to hear Slang again live after so many years. Our seats were much closer than last time, in the orchestra section, so we had a perfect view of the stage. Everyone in the place stood, danced and sang from the opening note and the band seemed to be having a great time. They opened with the Disintegrate intro and Let it Go and the energy level of the crowd, or the band for that matter, never waned for a minute. They did a short acoustic set with Two Steps Behind and Now that was a nice change of pace and placed at the perfect time in the show. They did the extended version of Rocket and included the bit with My Generation in the middle. That was one of my favorite moments of the show.

It all built up to a fever pitch by the time that Pour Some Sugar on Me and Rock of Ages were played. When the guys came back for the encore (they played Love Bites and Let's Get Rocked), I turned around to look at the crowd and there was nothing but a mass of lighters and cheers. Joe kind of stood there for a minute at one point and seemed to be savoring the moment. I think he and the rest of the band were really happy with the crowd and the response. I know I can't wait until next time and as always, Joe said there will be a next time.

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Fan Review - By David

Hey Gang. Appx.9,000 of your fellow fans/friends were treated to a Sensational show last night at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine. It was a cool, crisp evening and the fans were ready, what a great venue-no roof which made the sound near perfect and we all got our exercise walking a 1/4 mile from the parking lot to the amphitheater. My much prettier half and I drove in from Palm Desert and got to Irvine in 2 hours.

Let's get to the show: Ricky Warwick really impressed with his power acoustic set. About half the seats were occupied for Warwick's set and the fans treated him right. He sounded excellent and the crowd went bit nuts when Vivian joined him for "Three Sides To Every Story". I just may buy Ricky's new cd.

30 minutes later: our favorite band on earth hit the stage. They all looked great and the whole crowd stood to get the this concert going. If I had to pick the best songs of the night I'd choose: Animal, Photograph, Too Late For Love and Four Letter Word (4LW-really was awesome-crowd loved it) with Photograph edging out as the VERY best of the night. Band had lots of fun, lots of joking around and yes they played Action (track #2).

A near perfect show as this was the last BIG venue show in the States, tonight's Vegas show is a club date at The Joint. The super clear video screen way above the stage was an added bonus-could not have been clearer. Anyway that is all from here in the Desert, Long Live Leppard.

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