Manchester, England - Media Reviews
Def Leppard In Manchester By Riazat Butt
The band wears unfeasibly tight trousers, the lead singer brandishes the mike stand as if it were a phallic symbol and the songs are about legs and thighs and making love like a man. The gig at the Apollo was sold out and had been for some time, proving that music of the "meat and two veg" variety - that's to say, unpretentious - will always be on the menu. A deafening combination of very loud guitars and screechy vocals roused the largely middle-aged and respectable crowd from its post-Sunday lunch slumber, as Joe Elliott and the band crash, bang and walloped their way through more than 20 songs, which is remarkable considering the glut of guitar solos in each number.
And Joe, when he's not swaggering about the stage wielding his weapon, has a nice line in banter. He ribs City fans about the performance against Arsenal, admits to hating the title of the new album and berates the drummer for having a fag.
The hits came thick and fast including Now, Hysteria, Action, Two Steps Behind, Foolin', Women, Slang and Make Love Like a Man.
Joe urged seated spectators to stand up and work themselves up into a hand-clapping, foot stamping frenzy. But not all of them accepted the challenge straightaway. It took the genius of tracks such as Rocket, Animal and Pour Some Sugar On Me to inspire the whole of the Apollo audience to wave arms and sing along as if their lives depended on it.
After all, how can anybody resist the lyrical magic of "I'm hot, sticky sweet from my head to me feet, yeah", Def Leppard? Easy, tiger!.
By Manchester Online 2003.
Def Leppard In Manchester By Andy L
With their best release since Hysteria (X), a forth-coming single that sounds like a more accomplished Westlife and an extensive world tour, Heavy Metal Inc checks out if the Leps are still putting on the performances for which they're renowned.
Def Leppard, whether with guitarists Pete Willis, (the late) Steve Clark or former Dio / Whitesnake man Vivian Campbell, have always being a top draw live act on planet rock. But tonight, Leppard prove themselves to be better than on their Hysteria Tour, better than 1999's Euphoria tour and, alongside AC-DC, arguably the most entertaining hard rock band on the planet.
No one leaves without hearing at least a handful of patented Lep classics - Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rock Of Ages, Photograph et al. Indeed, it's no surprise that the majority of the set is made up of numbers from Pyromania and Hysteria - the finest opuses in the quintet's career.
Opening with a swashbuckling Let It Go, Joe Elliott's crew go on to deliver a mesmerizing acoustic rendition of Last Action Hero soundtrack Two Steps Behind, star ballad Too Late For Love and the anthemic cheese of Make Love Like A Man. There aren't too many words for performances like this, with musical heavyweights from start to finish underpinned by a band who've never sounded as tight and superior in their whole lives.
New numbers are in plentiful supply, although So Beautiful and next single Long Long Way To Go, already a contender for one of the best Def Leppard ballads ever, sound a little flat. Four Letter Word (a zipping, AC-DC style rocker) and X opener Now readdress the balance, putting in good showings.
Admittedly, the X numbers are not as gratefully received, and what it comes down to is while the songs are great album tracks, they don't work as well live. X maybe the best album the Leps could have possibly made in 2003 but its still no Pyromania or Hysteria.
Overall, its a creme de la crème show from the Sheffield boyz, ended rock-tastically by encore favourite Let's Get Rocked. There's no Love Bites, but minus that, this is a near perfect performance from one of the UK's finest ever bands. You have to love them.
Verdict - 5 Stars.
By Andy L @ Music Web 2003.
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