Sarnia, ON - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Jan Bennett

Well, my feelings are mixed on this one. My husband and I drove up here from Kansas City, MO, as I have family in both Detroit and in Windsor, Ontario, so we were able to combine a family visit with a Def Leppard concert (what could be better!)

Saturday morning we drove the hour to Port Huron and crossed into Sarnia on the Blue Water Bridge. We stayed at the Holiday Inn close to the bridge and we were able to walk to and from the Sarnia Bayfest, which was great. Except for the walk back to the hotel, because after having stood for five freaking hours, I was exhausted. I swear, there was nowhere, nowhere to sit at this venue. I've sat in the lawn before at concerts, it's not as if I'm spoiled or anything, but if you wanted to be able to even hear the concert, your only option was to stand in the spot you wanted and not go anywhere. I guess I was just picturing in my mind that the venue would be like the lawn at our local Verizon, gently sloping down, bring your blanket to sit on. Nope.

Anyway, onto the Leps. They were really good, interacted with the crowd a lot. Joe sounded a little off for the first few songs, and his voice broke a few times, but he seemed to pick up about 15 minutes in. I do have to say I think they should drop Photograph from their set. I cringe when they start that song, because Joe so obviously has to strain to reach the notes. That song seemed even more strained at this concert. Maybe I was just more aware of the music itself, as I couldn't see a damn thing, I had to stand on my tippy toes to even see the video screens! We were talking to the people next to us, and they had been at the Bayfest for Aerosmith also. They felt Def Leppard did a better job, which really pleased me.

The audience (don't know how many people were there--but there were a lot) were very enthusiastic. They started a "one more song" chant after the encore and got a lot of people involved, but alas, it did them no good.

The concert was good, however, I'll pass on the festival situation from now on. I'm way too old for that stuff I'm afraid. It's not like I'm going to sit while Def Leppard is on the stage, but I'd like the option in between bands! My next concert is Dallas, so I get to see the Leps one more time this summer!

Fan Review - By Mikester71

Was lucky enough to have the Lep's in my hometown of Sarnia, ON Canada last night to close out our annual Bayfest concert series. Having seen the boys numerous times before on past tours going back to the Hysteria tour, I have to say that I never thought the day would come where one of my all-time favourite bands would be playing right in my own backyard. Being a smaller town of around 100,000 or less people, I have always had to cross into Michigan and travel an hour south to catch them near Detroit each time. So this was a nice change for sure.

Got to the show around 6pm, just in time to catch the first of 3 Canadian acts to precede Def Leppard. The first and second band were pretty good, but I was glad when the third band left the stage and it was time to get ready for Def Leppard. They hit the stage between 10:15pm and 10:30pm and opened with Rocket, as usual. My buddy and I both loved the video playing on the screen in the background during Rocket and many of the other songs throughout the show. Still have to say that I am not too crazy about Rocket as an opening number though, although I do love the song. I miss the days of Stagefright or even Lets Get Rocked as the show starter.

They stuck to the same exact setlist from previous shows on this tour so far, and I really enjoyed hearing some of the older High 'N' Dry era songs for a change. I still can't figure out why they don't do anything from Adrenalize on this tour though. The concert was excellent and the band sounded REALLY good. Joe sounded a bit off at the beginning of the show but quickly got it back on track a couple of songs in. My buddy and I both commented on how underrated Phil is as a guitarist and he was on fire all night long. I am even starting to get use to Viv as a full-fledged member of Leppard now (I know, it took me long enough). Like I said, they all sounded spot-on tonight. The crowd was insane all night and I would guess that there was close to 17,000 people there. Aerosmith was here on the Thursday night and they had 19,000 and Nickelback had 15,000 on the Wednesday, so 17,000 plus is a really good turnout. They interacted with the crowd a lot better than Aerosmith did and took advantage of the ramp on the front of the stage all night long. I loved how the four guys came out to do Bring' On The Heartbreak together among others.

Still can't get over that the boys were actually in my hometown and I would have to rate this as the second best Leppard show I have seen in my life, second only to the show I caught in Detroit on the Hysteria tour. Can't wait to hear some new stuff from the guys and catch them on a new tour to support it hopefully.

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