Darien Center/Buffalo, NY - Media Reviews

Heart pours it on audience, outplays Def Leppard with long set By Jeff Miers

Def Leppard. You remember the band, even if you aren't a fan. In my estimation, the band lost its mojo after its second album, "High and Dry." For others, Def Leppard meant nothing until it became renowned for massive, Bon Jovi-esque crossover hits like "Photograph," and later, "Animal" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

Regardless, we all know this band, and a healthy enough portion to come close to packing Darien Lake's PAC on a lousy night speckled with thunderstorms still thinks this band is the major stuff.

Are they wrong? Somewhat. Def Leppard turned in a strong, incredibly polished and powerful performance that included the band's biggest '80s hits, selections from its collection of cover songs, and an acoustic mini-set. The crowd ate it up and screamed throughout.

Leppard, led by singer Joe Elliott's throaty roar delivered some serious goods.

Leppard arrived on the stage with a gorgeous light show, a nice multi-tiered stage and some nifty video projections. Tearing into "Undefeated," the band drove its glitzy, glam-inflected metal straight into the craniums of the assembled. Subtlety was not the order of the day, and no one wanted it to be. "Let's Get Rocked" into "Animal" made it clear that one need not be particularly cerebral to grab the attention of a listener. Stacked chorus vocals, huge guitars and a dumb hook will do the trick just fine.

"Animal" became a crowd singalong; "Love Bites" displayed the band's penchant for uber-powerful metal ballads; "Foolin'" was as deep as the band went into its catalog, and had the metal heads in the crowd grooving on its UFOesque riff.

Elliott sang well, even if he did have considerable help from a soundman who knew exactly when to bathe the singer's efforts in reverb and delay. Guitarists Vivian Campbell - who played on Dio's "Holy Diver" album, and is therefore a legend, whatever he might've done after - and Phil Collen offered an incredibly tight twin guitar interplay.

Campbell is the more refined player, as he proved during an extended intro to "Love Bites," but Collen plays fast and looks good with his shirt off - something he seems eager to prove, since he's played shirtless for almost two decades now - and seems to be the fan favorite.

Leppard kicked up an enjoyable fuss, and seemed to be plucking the heartstrings of its fans throughout the evening. But having Heart open for you is a risky endeavor. Heart's set was not meant to blow the headliners off the stage, but that is indeed what happened. Heart stole the show, on every musical level. The Wilson sisters - Ann and guitarist/vocalist Nancy and band - played an hour-plus set that was simply mind-blowing.

Ann's voice was incredibly agile throughout a set that opened with Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n' Roll" and closed with that same band's "The Battle of Evermore." In between, we were treated to a lesson in how to age gracefully in the world of rock. This band has never sounded better.

By Jeff Miers @ Buffalo News 2011.

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Leppard Whet Appetite, Fail To Satisfy Hunger By Joseph Suto

Def Leppard paid another visit to the Darien Lake PAC Sunday night and delivered a reliable set of songs to their fans. Some would almost call it stale in the fact there was no imagination in the cookie cutter contents. It appears Joe Elliott & Company are joining the trend many bands of their genre have developed and that's not a good thing for the diehard fans who like to see an occasional rare song or two. These days it seems bands are always catering to the average fan. Relevant artists with deep catalogs should not give in to this practice as it could alienate their fan base and severely damage it. Poison is a great example as they now are subjected to either headlining smaller venues or being a support act on other artists tours.

Sunday night probably the only daring thing the band did was kick off with the new song "Undefeated". Another problem that was quite apparent was with the David Essex song "Rock On". Why Def Leppard continue to play the cover song instead of one of their own is a mystery. Despite the lack of ingenuity in the selection of songs played, the band themselves did put on a fine show performance wise. Joe Elliott made numerous trips out to the mini-stage and can give a seminar on how to handle the frontman position. Joe sounded much like he has the past ten years and had much of the female crowd at Darien at his mercy throughout the show. Bassist Rick Savage was very active, bouncing from one area of the stage to the next. Guitarists Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen were both very fluid with their delivery and took turns soloing. Drummer Rick Allen was hidden behind his kit for most of the show but finally popped up late in the show to gather some applause.

"Love Bites", the band's sole chart-topper was lacking the usual chomp and sounded very muddy. Believe it or not there were some highlights as well. "Animal" and "Hysteria" seemed to ignite the crowd as they sounded better than they had in the past. It was "Photograph" however, that won the affair hands down. This was the best live version of the song that this reviewer has seen over the past ten years. Ending with the usual "Rock Of Ages", Joe gave his habitual end-of-show speech, "Till Next time…and there will be a next time, Don't forget us Buffalo, we won't forget You".

Heart, the band featuring sisters Ann & Nancy Wilson opened the show. They are touring in support of the 2010 released Red Velvet Car CD. Ann sounded in very strong voice as evidenced by stellar versions of "Crazy On You" and "Alone". One might find it hard to believe she is sixty-one years old, seeing her stage antics. Guitarist Nancy Wilson also took her turn singing the #1 hit "These Dreams". Heart played no less than three cover songs, including a pair from Led Zeppelin and The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me". Now I love Zeppelin as much as the next guy, but would have preferred to hear more songs from the 1985 self-titled release. Why bands continue to shy away from their own music is quite a mindboggler.

By Rock Show Critique 2011.

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