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Tuesday, 11th November 2008
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Canberra, ACT - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Jayson D

As Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" started up I knew it was almost time. Next would come "For Those About To Rock" - a perfect scene setting song being AC/DC territory. The fans next to me jump when the PA cranks up to 10 and the thumping of the drums send shockwaves through our bodies. They can't be far away now!

The screens at the back of the stage come to life and Vivian's solo guides us through the history of Def Leppard, to the loudest screams when Hysteria arrives... "That was then... this is now!!" the voice of the screen says to us. Then Joe appears in the spotlight at the start of the thrust and with the crowd going crazy kicks the show off with "GUITAR!!!...DRUMS!!!, and away we go into Rocket, with the 80% full venue yelling "Rocket.. Yeah!" back at the band. Then it's straight in to Animal and on to C'mon C'mon before Joe takes a break to say "Good evening.." They band sound well rehearsed and energetic to my front row ears, much better than I was expecting. And LOUD! Sav's bass pounds the crowd relentlessly and it feels great.

Foolin' and Make Love Like A Man follow, the crowd singing along to and loving MLLAM. By now Phil has shed his jacket and is working the main stage and thrust with Viv, Sav and Joe. They know their rock poses and do a serious amount of work running across the stage and up and down the thrust between backing vocals. Joe especially does a phenomenal amount of legwork, almost never standing still.

Joe gives a little intro for Nine Lives (complete with Phil's glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein guitar!) which goes over not too badly, but it's evident that the majority of the audience are here for the greatest hits. So from here on, they get their wish.

Love Bites is stellar (in particular Viv's long outro solo) and then the gents pull out the acoustics and head to the front of the thrust for Two Steps Behind and Bringin' On The Heartbreak, where Joe tries gets the crowd to try and drown them out. We all certainly give our best! and for a crowd of less than 5,000 it sounds remarkably loud. The band finish off Heartbreak in electric fashion (the solo from Viv is always one of my favourite parts of that song) and then cruise into Switch 625, which I've been waiting to experience in a live setting since I discovered Def Leppard in 1987. It didn't disappoint.

Then straight into Hysteria, followed by Armageddon It and Photograph, the crowd getting more into the singing as we go. After this comes Pour Some Sugar On Me which, if I'm being honest, I usually skip by, but they play the version off Rock Of Ages/Best Of and it rocked the house! I have a new lease of life on that song again. Amazing how long and loud the crowd cheers after this one! Great stuff. I'm thinking 'that's it' and the cow bells to Rock Of Ages begin and off we go again.

The short encore break has the crowd chanting "more! more!" and ends with When Love And Hate Collide, which sounds fantastic in a live setting, finishing off with Let's Get Rocked. The 90min set flew by!, it literally is just hit after hit.

The band (including Rick) made their way out along the thrust thanking and applauding the audience, with Joe giving a special mention to those who had travelled to every one of the Australian concerts. "Do us a favour: tell your friends. And until next time (and there will be a next time...) don't forget us and we won't forget you!" Our time was up. Hopefully we don't watch the clock for another 16 years.


Fan Review - By Wee Jimmy

They came - they saw - they kicked arse!!

The boys played Canberra, Australia at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena 11 November 2008.

What a show! OK, there's a few miles on the clock, but any young rock band wanting to learn how to give a great show just needs to watch Lepp!

What struck me about the show was how much each of the guys gave to the performance - ok, Ricks stuck behind the drum set but but mate - your a freakin legend!

Right from the first song it was all energy with great vocals and awesome guitar licks - I just didn't want the show to finish!

Come back soon fella's - great rock bands are few and far between down this way!

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