Reading, PA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard takes Sovereign Center crowd back to the '80s By Stephanie C.

It felt like the 1980s all over again.

Def Leppard was onstage singing "Hysteria" and "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" while drunk guys spilled beer and pretended to dance. Women wearing low-cut blouses shook their assets and the scent of illegal substances wafted over the crowd.

Only it was Thursday night in the Sovereign Center and the crowd was mostly middle-aged professionals who should know better.

But what better way to recapture your youth than at a concert with the bands you listened to back when you were young enough not to know better.

Styx, REO Speedwagon and Def Leppard played to a sold-out house, bringing the music the crowd wanted to hear along with two songs written in this decade.

Def Leppard took the stage to thunderous applause and shook the floor with shrieking guitars and heavy bass rhythms.

Singer Joe Elliott might look a little worse for wear but his voice still manages to hit the heights when he needs to.

The band played its greatest hits, from "Rocket" to "Animal" to "Love Bites," and threw in a hard-rocking cover of "Rock On." Then they stripped down to acoustic guitars for "Two Steps Behind" and half of "Bringing on the Heartbreak" before they plugged back in for "Hysteria" and "Armageddon It."

They unveiled a new song, "Nine Lives," from their new album that, surprisingly, is a duet with country singer Tim McGraw. It sounds like vintage Leppard but the true-vintage Leppard of "Photograph" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" had the audience on their feet.

For those of a certain age, Thursday's concert was a rocking trip down memory lane. No rocking chair needed.

By Reading Eagle 2008.

Back

share this page: