Atlantic City, NJ - Media Reviews

Journey / Def Leppard By Russ Cohen

If there were some fans that were wondering why Def Leppard were hitting clean-up on this tour the first six songs did the talking - "Let's Get Rocked," "Let It Go," "Women," "Bringin' On The Heartbreak," "Foolin'" and "Hysteria." At that point, frontman Joe Elliott was down-n-dirty raw, and he had every person in the place standing and singing. Guitarist Phillip Collen never missed a note, and drummer Rick Allen seemed especially gratified by his performance in this show - the smile during the show said it all.

The band was in great form, supporting their latest release Yeah! The cover that got the most interest was the old T-Rex tune "20th Century Boy." The '70s hit "Rock On" was the other song that they played from the album.

The show had a smoky bar sound and feeling that very few bands of this era could only hope to duplicate because they don’t have the authenticity, but these Brits do.

The show closed out with "Rock Of Ages," "Love Bites," and "Pour Some Sugar On Me." Elliott and company had every fan dancing and screaming for the last hour of the show and once again he had some memorable quotes. He welcomed back his "stalkers," and he seemed very proud when he said he had been playing for 29 years with bassist Rick Savage. But the quote of the night was after the band got done playing "Hysteria." Elliott told the crowd, "I wish you could see what we see. It's f-in mad!"

And it's that kind of youthful enthusiasm that will carry this band forward for years to come.

By The Aquarian 2006.

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