Media Review - Def Leppard and Poison Pour Sugar on Oklahoma City By Steven Anthony

For the last two months, Def Leppard and Poison have been touring arenas and outdoor venues on the Rock of Ages tour. Supported by Lita Ford, the show stopped at Oklahoma City's Zoo Amphitheatre last night bringing with it a hearty dose of nostalgia but more importantly fun.

Def Leppard and Poison have hit the road together before (as recently as 2009), but the two bands seem to have really hit a sweet spot this time around. Managing sell-out shows in most markets, it's clear that people still want to hear this music and the bands are more than happy to deliver.

Lita Ford kicked off the show with a concise set of her most well known tracks. She got off to a rough start with a cover of Elton John's The Bitch Is Back, but recovered nicely for the rest of her set. She performed the title track to her most recent album Living Like A Runaway, but the crowd was far more interested in Close My Eyes Forever and Kiss Me Deadly. While the audience was definitely there for Poison and Def Leppard, Lita Ford helped add just a little more punch to an already solid tour.

After a short set change, Bret Michaels & Co. arrived. Decked out in his standard cowboy hat and scarf, Michaels comes across as extremely likable on stage. With more charisma than any human being would ever need, he was all about crowd interaction and the audience couldn’t have been happier. The band has been playing the same set for a few years now and they have the stage show down to an art.

Predictably Every Rose Has Its Thorn turned into a lighter-fueled mass sing-a-long, but Unskinny Bop and Talk Dirty To Me also got the crowd pumped up. The band closed with Nothin' But a Good Time, which also seems to be the mantra they follow. Yes, the music is very much a product of the 80s, but the crowd loved it and the band seemed more than happy to be there.

As the temperature settled into the low 80s and a full moon rose over the massive stage of the Zoo Amp, Def Leppard finally hit the stage. Rising from a massive, two-platform setup, the band kicked off a nearly two hour set with Undefeated from last year's Mirrorball record. The band - with original members Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Savage and Rick Allen along with longtime guitarist Vivian Campbell - sounded phenomenal, bringing their biggest hits to life for the massive crowd.

Joe Elliott's voice is in fantastic shape, still possessing his recognizable tone and range. When paired with great harmony work from the rest of the band, the songs sounded exactly like they do on record. The Hysteria LP (which just celebrated a 25th birthday) was well represented, with the band playing 8 of the record's 12 songs. All of the hits were there (Rocket, Love Bites, Hysteria, etc.) and the band even pulled out the deeper cut Gods of War which went over well with the audience.

About halfway through the show the band stripped things down for an acoustic medley, mixing together parts of You Can't Always Get What You Want, When Love and Hate Collide, Two Steps Behind and a few other songs. The five members surrounded each other while sitting on top of a few instrument cases, relying just on their musical talent and less on the massive stage production they had going on. It was a nice break in the set and the audience ate it up.

The band closed the main set with Photograph and the always classy Pour Some Sugar On Me, which inspired more stripper dancing and boob-flashing than you'll see at just about any other concert. Pour Some Sugar On Me easily got the loudest reaction of the night and the sleazy, sticky stripper-groove remains one of the most recognizable 80s tracks around.

The band came back out for a single encore which fittingly, was Rock of Ages. The ode to rock and roll sounded as fiery as it ever has, with the added voices of several thousand in the crowd creating the perfect atmosphere for the show to end on.

There's something to be said for any band that has maintained the ability to tour and still draw in crowds like Def Leppard and Poison have. Say what you will about the music, but the two bands have their fans (there are a lot of them) and they know how to put on a show.

By Steven Anthony @ Antiquiet 2012.

Reviews from the 2012 Bangor show.