Media Review - Def Leppard Bring Time Machine Filled With Hits To Crowd-Pleasing Concert By Matt Wardlaw

Midway through Def Leppard's Wednesday night performance at Blossom Music Center, frontman Joe Elliott slyly glanced at his watch and told the Cleveland area audience "we're going to take you back in our time machine, all the way to 1983." (Heart also played an impressive opening set earlier in the evening.)

It was a good setup for the familiarly desolate opening chords of the 'Pyromania' classic 'Foolin',' although perhaps a bit unnecessary. The 16 song setlist spent a good portion of the night in the wayback machine, very clearly focused on Def Leppard's multi-platinum years, with their two biggest albums, 'Pyromania' and 'Hysteria,' providing the bulk of the material for last night's show.

The concert began as the strains of 'For Those About To Rock' by AC/DC fell away, with brief glimpses of the individual members of Def Leppard flashing on the screens above the darkened stage. Elliott and bassist Rick Savage soon led the rest of the band onstage as they ripped into 'Undefeated' from the band's current 'Mirror Ball' double live CD, the lone bit of new material heard on the night.

Live, 'Undefeated' displayed a more muscular feel that's missing from the studio version, especially with images of prominent champion athletes and teams, most notably Michael Jordan, projected behind the band. Guitarists Vivian Campbell and the perennially bare chested and impressively toned Phil Collen were all over the stage, giving the song the extra bit of kick that it needed to take things over the edge.

Collen and Campbell have really grown into a nice pairing, dueling impressively mid-show on a particularly fiery version of 'Rocket.' They traded licks in a fretboard battle that neither side seemed willing to concede. As many times as they've probably replicated that moment night after night, it still put a fresh spin on an old classic.

Looking at the stage setup, it was hard to believe that it wasn't still 1983, with a multi-level set of platform staging making Leppard skinsman Rick Allen look like the king of his own futuristic metal mountain.

The dead giveaway that things had progressed beyond the '80s came via the intense multimedia presentation, with video walls built into the staging, and even more massive displays behind the band, all constantly running high definition content throughout the show.

As we've covered in great detail, Joe Elliott has had a tough summer as a result of the death of his father. Since he's returned from having to postpone several concerts, he's spoken in detail about the positive energy that he's getting from fans at recent shows.

That didn't feel like lip service. Elliott sounded better vocally than we've heard him sound in a number of years. Although he can't scale the mountain quite as highly as he used to, his performance was solid. The trademark Leppard backup harmonies bolstered his performance by staying nearly completely on the money, if you'll forgive us, all through the night.

Midway through the set, the Leppard guys came out to the front of the stage, armed with acoustic instruments to strip it all back to the quieter side of things with the much loved 'Two Steps Behind.' This led into the first big singalong of the night on 'Bringin’ On The Heartbreak,' which naturally evolved into its more familiar electric version about halfway through.

While there are some fans who might wish for more variety in the setlist (Editor's note: hi, @archive625!), there's no denying that from an energy standpoint, Def Leppard is leaving it all on the stage - an opinion confirmed just by watching bassist Rick Savage play a bass solo before their cover of 'Rock On' while literally dripping with sweat.

Over the course of 90 minutes, there might not have been any real unexpected surprises in the setlist, but the crowd reaction throughout the night illustrated that the Leppard guys know a thing or two about putting on a show and really delivering the goods. It's safe to say that everybody went home happy.

By Matt Wardlaw @ Ultimate Classic Rock 2011.

Media Review - Def Leppard & Heart At Blossom Music Center 8.24.11 By Gene Natale

Heart and Def Leppard rocked Blossom Music Center yesterday. After all, we've got the pictures to prove it! If you missed the show, pictures and words cannot convey the sheer rockitude of the show but we can certainly try, right?

At most concerts, the last band to play is often the headliner, the best band of the evening. On this night however, those who attended were given the gift of TWO headliners.

Heart was first, kicking off their set with a surprising cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." As the day slowly shifted into night, the band neared the end of its set. A roaring rendition of "WTF" (from the new album Red Velvet Car) got everyone excited for the final songs of the set, "Crazy On You" and "Barracuda". Every chord, every word and every part of the melodies reverberated throughout the arena, near-perfect recreations of the studio recordings - Heart sounded heavy - and better than ever!

The blistering rendition of "Barracuda" ended forcefully as Nancy Wilson held the final note of the song - as the note echoed throughout the rafters of the pavilion, everyone in attendance clamored for more. More! Soon enough, Nancy and Ann Wilson returned to the stage for yet another Zeppelin cover (The Battle of Evermore), building up steam for their second encore - "Love, Reign O'er Me" (The Who cover). 'Oh yeah!" Nancy exclaimed as the band returned, "We love you, Cleveland!" Perhaps there is no more powerful way to end a concert than with a song by The Who, as Heart did - after all, Roger Daltrey and Co. WERE once the Guinness World Record holders for "Loudest Band in the World".

Def Leppard was next, and the band appeared very pumped up after hearing Heart's show earlier in the night.

DL began their set with "Undefeated" (from the 2011 release Mirrorball) as images of sports heroes like Michael Phelps, Jimmy Johnson, and Mark Ingram were projected on the band's backdrop. The song seems intended as a message to all the band's critics - the Leppard is here, and here to stay! Def Leppard is certainly no stranger to adversity (drummer Rick Allen’s 1984 car accident in which he lost his left arm) or overcoming adversity (Leppard releases its biggest album ever, Hysteria with Allen drumming with only one arm). Last night's concert was an affirmation that Def Leppard rocks today, yesterday, and will for years to come.

With a hit-laden set, Def Leppard seemed intent to thrill the packed arena at Blossom. "Thank you, Cleveland," singer Joe Elliot proclaimed early in the set (channeling his inner Spinal Tap), "Tonight, we're going to rock you like it's 1983 all over again!"

The band certainly played with the youthful exuberance and energy they had as young men back in '83 - after all, guitarist Phil Collen could not have been persuaded to put a shirt on at any point in the band's performance.

The final songs of the set were two of the most epic of the night - "Photograph" is simply a great song, and got everyone in the right kind of excited frame of mind for "Pour Some Sugar on Me". Naturally, the band came out for an encore, and it was WELL worth it for everyone who stayed to see it - Rock of Ages is about as quintessential a rock song as any other.

For anyone who has never seen Def Leppard live before (like myself) one wonders how the slick vocal choruses and harmonies might sound when performed live - and especially after so many years. However, singer Elliot and the rest of the band showed that whatever studio magic made their albums sound so good in years past is within themselves, as they recreated that magic on stage.

By Gene Natale @ 98.5 WCNX 2011.

Reviews from the 2011 Cleveland show.