Salt Lake City, UT - Media Reviews

GUITARS GONE WILD Six strings sing as Def Leppard, Styx rock USANA By Doug Fox

In the latest installment of "Guitars Gone Wild," Def Leppard, Styx and Tesla gave air guitarists reason to fret Monday night at USANA Amphitheatre.

As far as season-closing concerts go, there couldn't have been a much more strum-tastic conclusion than that delivered by the aforementioned power trio of bands -- which pumped out more than three full hours of guitar-heavy hits before a raucous soldout crowd under a thoroughly beautiful, though Blood Moon-less, sky.

It was a fitting encore to the summer concert season at the venerable 20,000-capacity outdoor venue, which closed out its 13th year in grand style.

It was an especially great night for rock guitar aficionados as all three bands sport two-guitar lineups, showcasing the power, intricacies and complementary nature of dual axe attacks. It was interesting to watch the different dichotomies of style and personality at play between the different guitar duos throughout the evening.

The contrast, perhaps, is most striking between Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard. Collen is most definitely the alpha stage personality between the two. From the moment he took the stage -- shirtless and glistening with sweat as if he'd just emerged from a sauna -- Collen threw down lick after glorious lick while preening and posturing as only an 80s glam guitar hero can. Adorned in an assortment of chains and with a long scarf attached to his various guitars, Collen handles most of Def Leppard's highly recognizable lead work and is intriguing to watch as he constantly works all portions of the stage, occasionally dangling his guitar by the whammy bar for added showmanship emphasis.

Campbell meanwhile is more a study in calm, steady concentration. You get the impression that he rarely makes a mistake of any kind as he plays his stable of Les Pauls throughout the evening. He does have certain, definite moments when he takes over the spotlight, such as when he kicked off the glorious main riff of "Armageddon It" at the end of the ramp that extended into the crowd, and delivered lead solos in "Promises," "Love Bites" and "Bringin' On the Heartbreak."

One of my favorite moments of the night, in fact, was watching Collen and Campbell together at the end of the crowd ramp jamming together seamlessly on the killer instrumental track "Switch 625." Great stuff from a rock guitar perspective.

Def Leppard's set, of course, culled heavily from the band's two gigantic '80s albums "Pyromania" and "Hysteria." Those two albums will dominate the band's concerts from here until there's no more lust for life and the circus stops coming to town. But while 10 must-play hits in Monday's performance came from those two discs, the band also must be given credit for opening the playbook a bit with a couple of rarities that haven't been featured in local sets for several tours. "Promises" was a welcome early-set addition from the oft-neglected "Euphoria" album, and the band's rollicking cover of David Essex's "Rock On" was also a riveting effort -- and allowed bassist Rick Savage an introductory solo moment.

Another catch-your-breath change of pace came during singer Joe Elliott's acoustic solo rendition of "Two Steps Behind."

"It's traditionally at this point of the evening that I invite everyone to be in the band for three to four minutes," Elliott said while introducing "Two Steps Behind." "If you know it, sing it!"

Elliott's voice has clearly lost a bit of punch over the years and some of the notes may not be reachable with the same power and strength of their original recordings, but the band still sounds excellent as a whole, even while seemingly tuning down in a couple numbers -- and Elliott is as engaging and energetic as ever.

What can be said about Rick Allen that hasn't been said before? Nicknamed Thunder God, Allen lived up to the moniker, pounding out a rock-steady rhythm behind the drums all night. One cool highlight was watching him sincerely appreciating the crowd's applause following an extended bass and drum duet by looking straight into a drum-mounted video cam and reveling in the response.

Def Leppard's stage production is top notch -- with high-end video and graphic accompaniment, both on a large video board behind the band and also with video projection capability on what appeared to be two lower walls of amplifiers. Combined with a dazzling light show, Monday's concert was an overall feast for the senses.

Seeing Def Leppard and Styx share the stage Monday seemed even more appropriate. Both bands have been among the most frequent performers at USANA Amphitheatre since it opened in 2003 with 12 combined appearances between them. Monday marked the second time the Def Leppard-Styx pairing has graced the USANA stage, and it proved again to be a scintillating combination.

Tesla also was a strong addition to the evening, opening the show with a solid 40-minute set, culminating with the great "Modern Day Cowboy." Frank Hannon and Dave Rude fit in nicely with the other two-guitar tandems on display Monday.

One gets the feeling the USANA stage has not seen the last of any of these bands -- all three of which also appeared there last summer on different bills. Def Leppard's Elliott pretty much promised as much when he blurted out, "See you next year!"

By Daily Herald 2015 - see link for the full review/photos.

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