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Def Leppard Pyromania World Tour 1983/84. :: Tour Dates
Def Leppard Pyromania World Tour - 1983-1984

Band Line-Up - Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Steve Clark, Phil Collen.

Shows Listed - 175. Live Recordings - 45.

First Show - London England 9th February 1983. England.

Last Show - Bangkok Thailand 7th February 1984. Thailand.


"Arson-Oriented Rock!"

February 9th 1983 maked Phil Collen's debut show with the band at the Marquee Club in London. The start of the developing partnership between Phil and Steve Clark that would become notable for many reasons by the tours end. The main Pyromania tour then kicked off in Belfast before the band headed over for the first European shows of the year including, as all their early tours did, many French dates. A UK tour with all female band Rock Goddess in support followed with another sold out hometown show in Sheffield at the City Hall. Attendances were down after the negative press from 1980/81 but the band started to receive better press this time and added lots of new fans to their already loyal following.

"Gonna Start a Fire"

By the time the band hit the States for a 6 week support tour with Billy Squier they had a hit single with 'Photograph' and a Top 10 album. MTV and rock radio played the single/video in heavy rotation and this helped pack out the shows with Lep fans. The band got nightly encores and many fans even left before Squier came out for his headline set. At the end of April the band started the 'Rock Till We Drop' US arena headline tour in Odessa, Texas. There the band would play 'Action! Not Words' for the only recorded time. The crowds got larger with each month and by June they had made their live debut in Canada and earned two more hit singles. In September 1983 the band would play two sold out shows at the legendary LA Forum which the band flew out their parents from England to witness. The second night proved to be one of the tour highlights with Queen's Brian May joining the band for the first time to play 'Travellin' Band'. Another tour highlight would follow soon after when the band ended the mainland US tour with their first ever headline stadium show in San Diego. 55,000 fans packed out the Jack Murphy Stadium bringing an end to the largest US tour any band had done at that time.

"I ain't goin' out with you two, the Terror Twins"

In October 1983 the band kicked off a 6 week European tour in Stockholm. Jokingly the band declared the tour onstage to be 'the Def Leppard European Arena Tour'. A reference to the fact that they were playing much smaller venues than they had been used to in the USA. In Barcelona Joe jumped into the crowd to attack a 'nutter' who had thrown a coin at him. He still has a scar from the incident. The 'Terror Twins' now in full flight got up to many adventures on this leg including a bar fight in Sweden during which Phil injured his foot and had to hop around onstage for the next few shows. 3 sold out shows in England followed including a date postponed from March in Nottingham and another headline show at Hammersmith Odeon. Finally putting an end to the period of bad press from a handful of idiots in the UK rock press. 1983 ended with two shows in Dortmund as part of the Rockpalast TV Festival - some of the best footage of the band ever shot. And an appearance on a UK TV show 'Supersonic' performing 'Too Late For Love', shown on 'Historia'

"BURRN! it up, Let's go for broke"

1984 saw the band play the final run of shows on the Pyromania tour in Japan, Australia and Thailand. Their first shows in these countries. Whilst in Tokyo the band would appear on TV performing two songs, one of which, 'Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)' was also included later on 'Historia'. These shows would mark the last time the band would use pyrotechnics on stage. The final show in Bangkok would also be the last time Rick Allen would play a live show before his tragic car accident on Dec 31st 1984. The bands last live show for 2 1/2 years.


Please contribute [ Fan Reviews/Pics ] for any dates attended. Any information for this Def Leppard tour would be greatly appreciated.



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