Sheffield, England - Media Reviews

Animal Magic - Def Leppard's Home Triumph By Martin Herron

Monsters Incorporated - Def-ening evening as rock greats join forces.

Punk could not wither them nor acid house stale their infinite variety. Def Leppard and Whitesnake - two of the real monsters of rock - took to the stage at Sheffield Arena last night.

Between them the bands have more than 60 years of live performances under their belts, and have weathered the change in trends over the last 30 years - Leppard are one of the city of steel's major metal exports.

Formed in 1977 by pupils from Sheffield's Tapton and King Edward's schools the band are rock legends. One of the top selling acts of the 80s, shifting more than 65 million albums, they became one of only five rock acts to have two original albums sell more than 10 million in the US. The other four are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Van Halen.

And, playing a home fixture, they gave the punters what they wanted - the hits like Animal and Pour Some Sugar On Me were greeted with open arms by committed fans. And their hits from through the ages were greeted with rapturous applause from the devoted metalheads.

Whitesnake also formed in 1977 - though they had more of a known pedigree when they first took to the boards. Put together by former Deep Purple frontman David Coverdale their early career was dogged by accusations of sexism - Lie Down, I Think I Love You being a typical song title. But they hit the heights in the late 80s with huge hits such as Is This Love and Here I Go Again. In the last 30 years their line-up has boasted 34 members. At the Arena last night the band boasted only one original member - Coverdale himself. But they're pros - Coverdale above all others - and the retinue of biggies were there in full effect. At times the poodle rock teetered into self-parody but the faithful didn't notice - fists were punched and heads were banged as expected. It may be a tried and tested formula but a bucketful of ballsy blues from both bands meant everyone went home happy.

By The Star 2008.

DEF LEPPARD/WHITESNAKE + Black Stone Cherry By Dave Attrill

The trimming of their set length this year may come at the expense of 'Rock Rock' and 'Action', live mainstays for fourteen years but even more surprsing is the decision taken to open the night with 'Rocket', not that there are any complaints obviously. New material from the 'Sparkle Lounge' disc is met with low amounts of resentment too - 'C'mon, c'mon' being played in superb synchrony with the single's video projected on the screen which for the uninformed is the basis for the album's front sleeve pic. Amp gremlins suddenly take hold and it takes until Joe begins singing to identify 'Animal' in its accidentally re-made drum/bass/vocal only form. Phil's widdlnig can however just be deciphered halfway along.

By metalville 2008.

Back

share this page: