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Show Notes -- Band played for 50 mins. WBTS remains unreleased. First and last songs are the only confirmed ones. 3 pictures from this show (or one of the first 8 gigs) are in the Defleppard.com Biography Section showing Tony Kenning on drums. The band played only 8 shows with him before Rick joined the band in Nov 1978. If the pic above was not from the very first show it was a show with Tony Kenning and one of the first 8 that they played whilst he was in the band - seems appropriate to have the pic on this page. Would have been taken after Joe had removed the white jacket mentioned below. Pete looks 'extremely' young!. The wall behind Tony definitely looks like a school one.

In Sep 2005 on the dl.com forum a woman called Sophie from Yorkshire mentioned owning a recording remastered from tape of this first Def Leppard show. Until now no mentions of it being taped had surfaced anywhere. Therefore (if true & there's no reason why it isn't) it is the first Lep bootleg, in place of Manchester from June 1979. The recording is gold dust not only because it's the first gig, only known concert recording with Tony Kenning on drums but it also contains the only recording of "World Beyond The Sky" in existence - the first song played before a proper audience. Like other early songs it may have morphed into one of the debut album songs but here it was played in it's original form. Above pic scanned from Metal Hammer's 'The Def Leppard Story' serialisation Part 1 1987. Expanded version of the pic in 'Animal Instinct' which only showed half of it.

Pics above feature Joe at Westfield in 1989 taping the Rock Of Ages UK documentary. He revisited the school and talked about this show.



Show Story -- from Animal Instinct

With Steve ready to jump ship any day, Joe asked Bootleg Bill if he could round up a gig for Def Leppard, pronto. Amazingly, Bill delivered. He booked a show for them at Westfield School. located in a surburban area of Sheffield. There was no money in it (a teacher later paid the band £5 out of his own pocket) and Leppard only had three days to rehearse. Still, it was a gig.

On the surface of it, Def Leppard's public debut at 9pm July 18th, 1978 was a modest affair. They smuggled beer into the school in Tony Kenning's drumkit. The show was held in a small auditorium for a crowd of about one hundred and fifty schoolkids, mostly fourteen - and fifteen - year - old girls, and the band's dressing room was a classroom. It took three trips in Andy Smith's father's car to get all of Leppard's equipment - including a borrowed PA - from Bramall Lane to Westfield, a forty minute drive each way. And the opening was a disaster.

Joe Elliott - "What happened was that just as we were about to go on, we realised we hadn't tuned the guitars," Joe Explains,
"So we had to get one of the guys helping us - I think it was Russell Major - to bring Steve's Marshall amp into the dressing room. We tuned up on that. But when Russell set it up again on stage, he left the switch on standby.

"Steve plugged in and walked to the front of the stage, looking brilliant in his tight jeans and long blond hair. All ready to go into the first song, 'World Beyond The Sky', he did his windmill arm motion, just like Pete Thownshend, for the big opening chord - and nothing happened. No power. Everybody in the audience was laughing. After a few seconds, we started all over again."

Steve wasn't the only Leppard with problems. Halfway through one song, Joe forgot the lyrics and began singing about carpet slippers, belting out the first thing that came into his head.
Despite Steve's technical difficulties and Joe's memory lapse, the Westfield show was a memorable beginning. All but one of the songs they played during the fifty-minute set were originals; they saved Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" for the encore. The audience demanded one too. Andy Smith recalls that a number of schoolgirls in attendance fell in love with Joe, who dazzled the dolls in his tight white jumpsuit (on which his mother had embroided the name "Zeff," short for Joseph, above the breast pocket).

After the show the Leppards plucked roses from a small garden outside the auditorium to give to their girlfriends. Someone took a photo of everyone together, the girls clutching their roses in celebration.

By the time Joe Elliott finally got home that night, his mum and dad were already in bed. "I was sneaking past their bedroom. Unfortunately, our floorboards creak and I woke them up. My Dad came out and said 'How did it go, Lad?' And I just went crazy, 'Oh, it was great! They were cheering for us, it was like a real band. They all clapped and came down to the front of the stage, just like they do on TV on Top of The Pops'
"He was real happy for me, too. From then on, I had their blessing to go out and play rock & roll."
Animal Instinct © Zomba 1987 - The first part refers to Steve saying he woud leave if the band didn't get out and play a gig instead of the constant rehearsals.

Recording -- Deaf Leopard Cassette