Def Leppard News - 26 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Start ADRENALIZE World Tour In Dublin

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26 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Start ADRENALIZE World Tour In Dublin

Adrenalize Tour 1992/1993

Def Leppard started the main Adrenalize world tour 26 years ago today on 19th June 1992 in Dublin, Ireland.

The first show of the tour which took place at The Point Depot in Dublin.

The Adrenalize album had been released on 30th/31st March.

The band unveiled their new In The Round stage which featured the new album cover design and a huge movable lighting rig/drum riser.

Live footage shot at this show was filmed for an Italian TV special and clips were also used in the 1992 MTV Europe Rockumentary.

The 25 minute special from Italian TV can be viewed below along with photos and quotes.

The rare footage showed the crew and band setting up and preparing the stage for the first show.

They also talked about the upcoming world tour with contributions from all of the band plus the lighting designer, stage manager and sound engineer.

The band had warmed up with 13 club shows around Europe in May/June to break in "new guy" Vivian Campbell before starting the main world tour here using their second In The Round stage.

The first UK and Ireland leg saw them play shows in Dublin, Glasgow, two nights in Sheffield, two nights at the prestigious Earls Court Arena in London and three nights at Birmingham's NEC Arena before ending in Vivian's home city of Belfast. The first time they had played 'In The Round' outside of the USA/Canada.

This was followed by an Australia and New Zealand tour that included two nights in both Melbourne and Sydney supported by B.B. Steal.

The huge US/Canadian arena leg of the tour lasted from August 1992 until early April 1993 with shows billed as 'An Evening With Def Leppard'. The concerts lasted for well over two hours and did not feature a support act.

The 20 date European leg in May/June 1993 saw them revert back to playing at one end which would continue for the rest of the tour. This leg ended with a headline appearance in front of 55,000 fans in Germany and 40,000 fans in Sheffield at Don Valley Stadium. Recording work was also completed on the 'Retro-Active' album in Dublin and on tour.

The final North American leg featured a more stripped down stage with the movable lighting rig gone and no lasers used. Mostly outdoor amphitheatre shows were played from July to September with Ugly Kid Joe continuing their supporting role which began in Europe.

After 241 shows they ended the tour with three shows in Mexico at the end of September 1993.

This tour remains the longest tour in their live history and is unlikely to be surpassed.

The show was originally scheduled for the 18th June but then moved to the 19th - as shown on the promo posters below.

Def Leppard 1992.

Joe Elliott - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"It's really cool. The lighting rig we've got is a phenomenal lighting rig. It just looks like, I don't know, the USS Enterprise to me. It's like a Space station. It all moves. It's really kind of state of the art which ties in with the kind of music we make because we use the same kind of production techniques making the music as we are live to visualise it all."

Phil Collen - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"People can see a lot clearer on this stage. The site lines are clearer and everything's a bit lower. There's little ramps down here. You know we run down them. We're a lot closer to people."

Rick Allen - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"There's a hydraulic ramp that takes me up I think something like six feet off the floor of the building and it also tracks across the stage. All the way down to this point. All the way over there. And then just like the last stage that we had. The last drum riser. It also goes around. So it's just a ploy. Trying to keep up with the guys you know running around all over the stage. It the only way that I can get over to the audience as well. It's like being at a fair ground for the two hours that we play the show. But it's kind of fun. I've always liked the carnival rides so it's right up my alley."

Def Leppard 1992.

Joe Elliott - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"It's true what they say. A band is as good as it's crew. And if you've got a good crew, you've got a happy band. If you've got a happy band, you've got a good performance. If you've got a good performance, you've got a happy crew. And it's just one big, not vicious circle, the opposite, it's a happy circle."

Phil Collen -19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"We're gonna do a pretty extensive Australian tour and that takes in New Zealand as well. Then we're in the States for about seven months and that's pretty much gonna cover everywhere. Then back to Europe, do everywhere we played on the club tour but you know a larger venue. You know with all this instead of like a tiny club. Then back to America I think and Japan. And then wherever anyone wants us I guess we'll go ."

Rick Allen - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"Obviously really looking forward to doing the tour because we haven't really played together since October 1988. And it's all new. New stage and obviously you know with Vivian joining it's gonna be a whole new sort of experience. And I think everybody's really positive about it. Everybody's looking forward to it. So I'm sure we're gonna have a lot of fun."

Joe Elliott - 19th June 1992 Interview Quotes

"The band's now tighter than it's ever been at any stage of it's career. And everybody's really into their gig which is the nice thing you know. It's like there's this myth that rock and roll is get out there have a bottle of Jack, line of coke, smoke a few cigarettes. Get elegantly wasted and just like oh, do the gig as well. It's the other way around with us. The gig's the only thing that we're bothered about. There might be a few beers afterwards. but everybody's really working hard. Warming up before we go on. Stretching exercises or vocal exercises. Playing the guitar or Rick playing his drums before we do the gig so everybody's on top of what they're doing before we go out on stage."

Dublin 1992 Pics - Screenshots by dltourhistory