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Def Leppard Tour History Fan Archive.
7 Years Ago Def Leppard Tape CMT Crossroads With Taylor Swift

Tuesday, 6th October 2015





Def Leppard 2008.
Screenshot by dltourhistory

Def Leppard filmed their appearance on CMT Crossroads with Taylor Swift 7 years ago in Nashville, TN on this day in 2008.

The taping happened at The Acuff Theatre in Nashville, TN with 11 songs performed before a sell out crowd.

The appearance on the iconic CMT show had been long rumoured and was announced in July 2008. Def Leppard met up with Taylor's band in August to rehearse for this show and they immediately hit it off.

The unlikely pairing working well and the crowd loved every moment of the show. Fans elsewhere got their first taste of the performance when 'Photograph' was premiered online by CMT on 23rd October 2008.

Both Taylor and the band talked about the show enthusiastically in the run up to the TV premiere on 7th November - read some of their quotes below.

Five of Def Leppard's biggest hits were performed during the show starting off with Photograph and including Taylor's favourite tune When Love & Hate Collide.

The show is notable as having the only live performance ever of Love from 2008's 'Songs From The Sparkle Lounge' album. One of the best performances of the night. It was one of three songs used as bonus tracks on the DVD.

Five Taylor Swift songs were played. Four hit singles from her debut album and her then smash hit Love Story.

Taylor was about to breakthrough in a massive way with her album Fearless and it's 2009 tour which grossed over $63 million. She then played two more world tours which grossed almost $300 million. On her current '1989' tour she is now consistently playing and selling out outdoor stadiums as well as indoor arenas.

Taylor had wanted to perform with Lep on the show and contacted Rick Allen via her then tour manager, Rick's older brother Robert Allen. After the rest of the band had learned of her wish to collaborate on the show it eventually happened almost a year later.

As seen in one of the photos below Robert Allen is now Taylor's full time manager. He took over as the head of her company 13 Management and given her success is now one of the most powerful mangers in the music industry. He had started out as Def Leppard's road manager but left them after the end of the Pyromania tour.

View some photos below and watch the full show plus extras on this YouTube playlist.

The performance plus the extra songs would be released on DVD in June 2009 in the USA.

Def Leppard/Taylor Swift - Photos

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

6th October 2008 - CMT Crossroads Setlist

  • 01 - Photograph
  • 02 - Picture To Burn (Taylor Swift)
  • 03 - Love Story (Taylor Swift)
  • 04 - Hysteria
  • 05 - Teardrops On My Guitar (Taylor Swift)
  • 06 - When Love & Hate Collide
  • 07 - Should've Said No (Taylor Swift)
  • 08 - Pour Some Sugar On Me
  • 09 - Love (x2) - (First and only live performance/Played Twice) - DVD Bonus Track
  • 10 - Two Steps Behind (acoustic) - DVD Bonus Track
  • 11 - Our Song (Taylor Swift) - DVD Bonus Track

The Performers

Def Leppard 2008.
Crossroads DVD

Taylor Swift Quote - After Photograph .

"This is my childhood dream come true, I'm freaking out that that just happened!"

October 2008 - Taylor Swift Interview Quotes

"I've wanted to do Crossroads with Def Leppard since I heard about Crossroads. I always thought, 'That would be so fun to get these crazy British guys with these awesome songs and they're rock stars and my band would freak out.'It never occurred to me that we'd actually get to do it."

"I actually made a phone call to the drummer a year ago. I was on tour with Tim (McGraw) and Faith (Hill) and I heard through the grapevine that Tim's tour manager was Rick Allen, the drummer's brother, so I kept bothering this guy, like bugging him non-stop, like, 'Hey, can I have a call with your brother? I need to talk to him about something. Can I please call him? And one night he came on my tour bus and he was like, 'I got someone on the phone for you,' and it was Rick Allen."

October 2008 - Joe Elliott/Taylor Swift Interview Quotes

"Performing with Def Leppard was awesome!. It was the coolest thing in the world to have my band on stage with them, because for the past two years, before we go on stage we listen to Def Leppard and just rock out and jump around. And then, we were playing on the same stage as they were. It was the most amazing feeling in the world, and we were all just trying to act cool the whole time."

"What an absolute pleasure it was to work with Taylor and her band who are a great set of musicians. Myself and Taylor blended really well together, I think, and everybody, both bands and the crowd, had a great time. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to do this."

October 2008 - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes

"I've always loved the idea that once you've established yourself as an artist, you need to stretch. Part of stretching is going to places that other people don't think you should."

"This is so far, so good. This is working really well from day one. This has been gelling real tight. It's a lot of fun."

October 2008 - Taylor Swift Interview Quote

"I was kind of nervous to meet everybody but we met and hugged and gelled right away. They are the coolest guys on the planet."

CMT 7th November 2008 - Joe Elliott Article/Interview Quotes

Swift had initially reached out by e-mail to introduce herself to Def Leppard's drummer, Rick Allen, but that didn't pan out. However, when she mentioned her aspirations in an online interview, the band's tour accountant brought it to their attention.

"We said, 'Who is it?' -- because, of course, we didn't know," Elliott says. "There's always a first day when you discover a band, whether it's the Beatles or Taylor Swift. You hear the name for the first time, and then you go and check it out. We Google'd her, iTune'd her, listened to it all and said, 'Well ... wow!' Look at how many records she'd been selling and look how young and pretty she is and how exciting it is to be at that point of a career -- because we were there once a long time ago before (she was) born. Of course, the first thing we did -- 15, 20 minutes later -- was try to get a hold of her. 'Let's see if we can actually get this going.' It took a year, but you know, here we are."

People 7th October 2008 - Interview Quotes

Taylor Swift - "My mom was a huge fan of theirs when she was pregnant with me. So growing up, the music that was playing in my house was Def Leppard. It was music that she liked that I could like too."

Joe Elliott - ""The first thing we did is Google 'Taylor Swift' and we were like, 'Whoa! She's only a kid!'" said Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott. "Then you start listening to the songs and it's like, 'Why wouldn't we want to do this?' I mean she's one of the biggest stars in America now. It's flattering." (on singing Love Story) " "I'm comfortable with my feminine side!" ."

20th August 2008 - Phil Collen Interview Quote

"We're rehearsing the Taylor Swift songs - we're actually gonna meet up with her and the band, probably next week actually and then just figure out what songs we're gonna do. And what songs work."

July 2008 - Press Release Quotes

"Every time I've seen Crossroads on CMT I've always thought, 'If I ever get to do one of those, it HAS to be with Def Leppard!,' so this is really a dream come true for me," says Swift. "I have been screaming the words to Def Leppard songs for years so it's amazing that I'm going to get to share a stage with them this year!"

"How cool is this?! Country's hottest young star wanting to work with us!!" says Def Leppard's Joe Elliott."






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