Def Leppard News - 32 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD End HYSTERIA In The Round Tour Leg 1 In ODESSA, TX (Video)

Sunday, 16th February 2020

32 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD End HYSTERIA In The Round Tour Leg 1 In ODESSA, TX (Video)

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Def Leppard ended the first part of their Hysteria In The Round tour 32 years ago on this day in Odessa, TX with Tesla.

The show took place at the Ector County Coliseum.

The last night of the first North American 'Hysteria' tour that started in Glens Falls, NY on 1st October and was divided into two parts with this second part running from December into mid February.

Rare footage filmed in Odessa on this last night was first posted online by a band crew member in 2016.

They played a show in San Juan, Puerto Rico at one end after this gig (19th February) before heading to Europe.

Tesla would return for more shows in June/July in Canada/USA. There are some photos in US rock magazines of band members on stage with them. Possibly from this show or from 14th July in Green Bay, WI. The last show of the second batch of In The Round gigs before Def Leppard played outdoors with Europe opening.

A series of videos are available from Tesla's opening set and one from Def Leppard's own set. This sees Joe thank the band for being the only ones willing to play on the new stage before bringing them up during 'Travellin' Band'.

Other videos see Tesla playing 'Rock Of Ages' along with songs from 'Mechanical Resonance' like '2 Late 4 Love', 'Little Suzi' and 'Changes'.

They had played 'Rock of Ages' with both Steve Clark/Phil Collen in Amsterdam in May 1987 and later with Rick Savage in 1989 in Phoenix, AZ (Sav's only known solo guest appearance).

Def Leppard stage manager Charlie Hernandez is seen in one clip thanking Tesla and introducing them KISS style on stage with 'Say A Prayer for Tesla'.

The main spine of the Hysteria stage was not added until after Tesla opened. So their own drum riser in the middle makes the stage look very different.

All of Tesla joined Def Leppard for 'Travellin' Band' at this show.

This show came just three days after the In The Round-In Your Face taping in Denver, CO.

16th February 1988 - Joe Elliott Speech

"Right, before we carry on I got a couple of things I wanna say. This being the last night of the American tour stage one."

"Cause you may not know this but we are coming back in the summer', But there's gonna be a few people that won't be coming back with us."

"Five of those guys are a f**king great band called Tesla. They've been with us for six months. They're the only band we could find that were brave enough to play in the middle. So all the other bands in the world are a bunch of pussies."

"In fact here they are, come on boys. Ladies and gentleman Tesla!. Of course we can't forget their crew as well. And I also wanna thank our own road crew. they've done a hell of a job. It takes them approximately eight hours to st this thing up."

View 7 videos on this YouTube playlist featuring other songs from Tesla's opening set and backstage footage.