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[ YEAH! Tour - Def Leppard @ Sheffield 2006 ]
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[SETLIST] :: 9:35-11:15pm-ish
(PA) - We Will Rock You, Encore:
[Pic Galleries] :: 1 2 3 [Multimedia] :: 10 Vids - NEW! [Media Center] :: 40 Pics [Venue Pic Link] :: 1 [Show Recording] :: Sheffield 2006
[Support Acts] :: Cheap Trick/SAHB.
[Media Review/Pic] :: Italy |
Show 6 - SAT 17th Jun 2006: Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, ENGLAND. 
[Main Gallery] :: 15 Pics by DLUK.com (see Gallery 1 for more) [Show Notes] :: Lep's 7th appearance at their hometown arena, 6th full show. A triumphant hometown gig with the band receiving many standing ovations. The live debut of 4 new songs in the UK. And a rare treat of a Rick Savage bass solo. Dick Decent of the Cybernauts guested on keyboards/vocals during WL&HC (shown above). The band's families attended the show. Ross Halfin was also there.
New video montage added - see Multimedia Link.
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After getting to witness an historic moment on Friday afternoon, and watch bemused passers-by ask each other what was going on whilst doing their shopping (dear me!).
It was time for the main event on Saturday - they're back! - where they started from. Sheffield.
Showing the Artic Monkeys how it's really done.
Kicking off (eventually) at 9:35pm (yep we had to wait a little longer for them to come back than we'd anticipated). The show started in a new way with a very cool graphic on the video screen. An excellent new video segment of guitar amps with the Lep logo and the power switch turning on with sound effects building to a climax after a few seconds before Phil started up the riff to "Hell Raiser".
A brilliant opening to the show and the place went nuts. I knew these shows would be good but wondered if the whole crowd would be better than 2003 (reaction wise) but after the first few seconds it was clear that it would be a great show - band & crowd.
Right from the start the band were feeding off the crowd's energy and pumping it back out from the stage. "We Will Rock You" warmed us up nicely with the handclaps briefly turning it into a Queen gig once more (Freddie, (aka Sav), would have been proud).
"Hell Raiser" kicked into gear and sounded superb live, really solid and tight. Rick's drumming on the song is fantastic. Yes, it is on all songs but especially impressive on such a frantic song. Joe. now a spitting image of Jon Bon Jovi - thankfully Joe stopped acting before he started! and he has better songs to sing. All the band sounded great and were running all over the stage as usual. The song translates well
to the live show and is a great show opener. Vivian, as mentioned by the European fans, is handling the Justin Hawkins lines. The video screen showing a close up of this, very helpful to those at the back!. The screen was a lot bigger (I'm judging this from pics of course) than last years one used in the USA. To me the footage looked a lot better. Having watched 2 of the 2005 shows on DVD
the screen presentation has improved greatly, gone are the cheesy psychedelic/distorted effects and it now features much more of the band LIVE and up close. This works well in an arena show. Lots of cool graphics added but none of the older band video footage (no Steve or Pete).
"Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" - (a couple of people sadly did just that later on!). The first 'classic' always gets a great response and having this as the second song is like re-starting the show again. Nice to see this as song two which brings back memories of Steve Clark going ape with his Gibson at the start of this song on ITR-IYF. Sadly he couldn't be there tonight! but the song still sounds great and very fresh after not being played for a few years.
Would be nice to see them play the album intro again at some point as they did in late 1993. The video screen really started to add to the show by now with some great camera work and close ups of all the band playing and singing. Particularly cool to get close up shots of the guitars being played. However the best shots by far were of Rick Allen, enhanced by incense and smiling away. More of him later...
Following Rock Rock Joe seemed a bit overwhelmed by the crowd response. Took me right back to my first show in London in 1992 (the good old days of promotion and such) where the reaction was similar to this.
I only took a few pics at this gig and concentrated on being a fan, and as you can see above the few shots I did get were...average - just to keep up the tradition! Must invest in a new camera sometime (one that doesn't
Up next were two "skip" songs, as in two to skip if you are listening to a boot...I mean 'audience recording' of a show (how we had to follow last years tour) but live in front of you, you can't help but react and enjoy them. "Let's Get Rocked" & "Make Love Like a Man" I must say every single song played tonight sounded better than ever.
You could argue about the absence of a few 'rare' songs, I would have if you showed me this setlist a few weeks ago but they outdid themselves, yet again. Hard to believe they could top London 2003 but they more than did that. LGR of course has the added bonus of Joe being able to say "Sheffield, Do ya wanna get rocked?!" I think we let Joe and the band know
that we did! Joe again lapping up the amazing reaction after a few songs by saying "Listen to this!" and the place got even louder. Taking a couple of glances back from the front rows (2 people back from the front barrier) I was pleasantly surprised to see just about everyone on their feet and clapping. Just how it should be in Sheffield, for fooks sake!.
Kind of strange that after 2003 I thought maybe they are better off playing large theaters since the 3 best gigs were the two London dates and Cambridge but with this kind of reaction another arena tour would be amazing.
"Promises" - somehow this always sounds better every time you hear it live, which is actually the first time we heard it in the UK thanks to TFI Friday. By now the video screen was showing some awesome close ups from 4 or 5 different cameras mounted on and near Rick's drumkit. A shot looking down on his pedals, from the side, from a front cymbal stand looking back at him and a larger side shot as well as other close ups.
Had to laugh at the sight of his dirty toenail in one close up. As if you didn't already appreciate what a great drummer Rick is these shots made you appreciate it all the more. He never stopped smiling once and the way he moves his feet on those pedals still amazes you. Seeing his playing up close on a huge screen was one of the highlights of the show.
"Hysteria" - another new segment on the video screen for this song was the Hysteria album cover artwork in graphics form with the electronic lines flashing all over the screen and the alien faces being faded in and out. Looked brilliant and once again the song sounded fresher than it has in a long time. The dual harmony section still sounds haunting and is a great moment in the show (& photo op). The stage setup was pretty basic other than the video screen. A bit of a shame after the big production X light show which was superb.
The lights they did have though were used to good effect and you don't really need fancy stuff or make-up (which they didn't have other than Sav's eyeliner). Tonight the band's performance didn't need any flashy crap or pyrotechnics to go with it. If the show had ended there I think we could have all gone home happy - these first few songs thankfully eased the pain of enduring what came before it! (on and on and on....and on some more). I'll go into detail about the openers later, good acts but playing far too long! Thankfully
the show didn't end there, it kept going and kept getting better.
(continued on page 2)
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