Def Leppard News - 11 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Tape CMT Crossroads With TAYLOR SWIFT

Sunday, 6th October 2019

11 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Tape CMT Crossroads With TAYLOR SWIFT

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Def Leppard filmed their appearance on CMT Crossroads with Taylor Swift 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.