Belfast, Northern Ireland - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Steve

I'd booked the tickets for this gig before deciding to go to Arrow Rock in Holland on 15-06-2008, so decided to hang onto the tickets and make the trip up from Dublin with the missus, and I'm really glad I did.

Having been a little apprehensive on the way in. the queuing systems around the Odyssey were a bit ridiculous, the Arena itself is excellent, and a great venue for a Rock/Metal gig. As mentioned above I had only seen both bands the previous Sunday, and with that had a pretty good idea what to expect, but I was hoping that Joe Elliots performance would be better than at Arrow, I don't know what it was but his voice seemed very strained at times, and maybe it was just the outdoor venue (having never witnessed the lads live before I don't know if this was just a blip) - but I had thought and hoped that indoors it would be a different matter, especially with a slightly longer set and more of their own show.

After queuing again at the Merch stand for a short enough time we eventually walk into the Arena floor to find Black Stone Cherry finishing up their 2nd last song, it's a pity we missed so much of their set being outside, but from what I heard outside the hall and what I saw of their last couple of songs I'd like to see them again, nice start to proceedings.

Got aquainted with the venue while the Whitesnake crew were setting up and was wondering what the runway mid stage would do for the atmosphere, as I've seen in some other show reviews from this Tour, this is a perfect tool for David Coverdale, and he stayed out in the middle of the crowd for most of the set. This was my third time seeing Whitesnake live and I just love the showmanship of Coverdale and his band, his voice wasn't quite on top form on Sat, in my opinion, but was excellent none the less. in their 90min set they ran through a lot of the classics, as this is a Def Leppard site I'm not going to run through the setlist here, just to say it was an excellent set and the crowd seemed to be really enjoying it, though there were definitely some empty seats around - mainly due to it taking so long to get served at the bar, Merch stall or get to and from the Toilets. Whitesnake ended on a huge high with "Still Of The Night and we waited for the Leppard set to be unveiled.

There seems to be quite a lot of mixed reaction to the large Video Screen and the mix of Multimedia within the show, and I'm not 100% sold on it either, but certainly the Intro was excellent, a nice little montage to the history of the band. As I'd mentioned I was a little worried that Joe's finest days were behind him, but that wasn't the case tonight, the band came out flying with "Rocket" and following that up with "C'mon C'mon", which fits really nicely into the live set, and the crowd are really getting into which is great for one of the new songs. A rousing version of "Animal" is followed by "Nine Lives" which didn't get an airing at Arrow Rock the previous week and was nice to hear. "Make Love Like A Man" certainly wouldn't be one of my favourite Def Leppard songs, but it always seems to get a good response live, so earns it's place in the set. Again debate rages over the number of ballads in the setlist at the moment, but if they are good then what the hell play as may as you want, "When Love And Hate Collide" is one I think always works, this is followed by the Bass Solo - really don't see the point/need for it in the set and I think they could probably fit another classic in it's place. There's only one song in the set that I really don't like and that's "Rock On", I don't know what it is exactly, I just don't think it fits them at all, and I'd much rather hear something like "Stagefright" or "Foolin'", but I'm sure there's thousands of us that could make a different case for tracks that we have personal preferences for.

The acoustic version of "Two Steps Behind" is really nice, but again the pace is slowed, this runs in to the semi-acoustic "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" which is excellent and then the pace really picks up and the crowd just rocks through the rest of the set, with the WOW factor building all the time, "Hysteria", a really rockin "Armageddon It", "Photograph" (my personal favourite, but I think Joe really struggles on it these days), "Pour Some Sugar On Love" and a really stunning version of "Rock Of Ages" rounds out the set, it's gotta be said the lads seem to be absolutely loving it on stage and the crowd are bouncing around the arena, lots of people in the seats being told to sit down, but great atmosphere, they really have put on a fantastic show tonight and I don't think many people would be going home disappointed, after a brief pause they return to the stage and bang out "Bad Actress" from the new album, not the greatest track on the album maybe, but works quite well, and then it's to the end of the show rounding things off with "Let's Get Rocked" which seems to be well enough to send the majority of the crowd home with big smiles on their faces. The band hang around for a few minutes lapping up the excellent response from the crowd and promising they'll be back, and I for one will be waiting for the date to be announced.

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