Victoria, BC - Media Reviews

Def Leppard pours some sugar on Victoria fans By Mike Devlin

The volume of notable songs authored by Def Leppard is impressive, regardless of where you rank the band in comparison to its ’80s rock brethren.

But to witness the hit parade in concert is an experience of epic magnitude. The band’s concert Friday night at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre was a sell-out, and given the nostalgic feel of the evening — Def Leppard has no new album to promote, its last one of original material coming in 2008 — it was a shrewd move by the band to open its first Victoria concert in eight years with Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop).

The song that opened Pyromania, the record that made the group famous, merely whetted the audience’s appetite. The British quintet didn’t stop there: Animal and Foolin’ (two more considerable hits from the band’s peak period) came in at No. 2 and No. 3 on the setlist, capping a troika of radio-friendly rock. It was enough to kick off the 17-song set with firepower, the type of which overcame the slight (but lingering) deficiencies in singer Joe Elliott’s voice.

With all the hits to work into the set, it was inevitable that a few curveballs would be thrown, and Paper Sun from 1999’s Euphoria certainly qualifies in that regard.

The song was played Wednesday during the band’s concert in Penticton, marking its return to Def Leppard’s set for the first time since 2000, according to reports.

You could argue that it should have remained shelved before it made its second appearance in 15 years on Friday.

The members, who have been in their current configuration since 1992, were in game shape. The guitarists (Vivian Campbell, who is fresh off cancer treatments, and Phil Collen, who looked fresh off a CrossFit workout) were constantly shredding, which helped. And the vital back-up vocals from bassist Rick Savage were on-point, which was key. But the issues with Elliott persisted, despite his energy.

Saskatoon rockers One Bad Son occupied the opening slot, and did fairly well with the tools they have acquired.

Nonetheless, the band’s set was limited to a few moments of inspiration, and though they were largely well-received, the vocal mix was too shrill to get beer-drinking fans to move beyond polite applause.

Def Leppard had the crowd on its side early, but struggled during Love Bites, and Elliott never really found his form until the megahit Rocket, which came just past the halfway mark.

But once he got into his groove, the group never looked back. Bringin’ on the Heartbreak was a power-ballad powerhouse, and outpaced some of the bigger hits in the set. After the band ripped through Switch 625, an instrumental from 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry, it was all about the smash hits.

And where that department is concerned, Def Leppard is select company.

Hysteria, Let’s Get Rocked and Pour Some Sugar on Me — the last of which almost sent the crowd of 6,411 into cardiac arrest — closed the main portion of Def Leppard’s set. And it did so in remarkable fashion.

Just when it looked as if the band had no more hits to play, they come back out for the encore and dropped two of the biggest radio hits of 1983 in Rock of Ages and Photograph. Say what you will about the artistic credibility of a band that sings, “I suppose a rock is out of the question?” This was Friday night entertainment through and through.

The best part? The audience of forty- and fiftysomethings won’t hate themselves in the morning. It’s hard to hate on that.

By Times Colonist 2015.

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