[ Def Leppard UK - Def Leppard | Whitesnake UK Tour 2008 ]
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[SETLIST]
[PA] - Sparkle Lounge Intro, [01] - Rocket, [02] - C'mon C'mon, [03] - Animal, [04] - Nine Lives, [05] - Make Love Like A Man, [06] - When Love & Hate Collide, [07] - Rick Savage Bass Solo, [08] - Rock On, [09] - Two Steps Behind (acoustic), [10] - Bringin' On The Heartbreak, [11] - Hysteria, [12] - Armageddon It, [13] - Photograph, [14] - Pour Some Sugar On Me, [15] - Rock Of Ages, [Encore] [16] - Bad Actress, [17] - Let's Get Rocked. ------------------------------- [Pic Galleries] - none yet. [Show Recording] - Manchester 2CD [Last Played City] - 23rd Feb 2003 [Venue Pic Link] - View [Capacity] - 17,245. [Tour Map] - View [Show News] - Here [Support Act] - Whitesnake [Support Act] - Black Stone Cherry Def Leppard Fan Videos - NEW 
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Show 28 - FRI 20th Jun 2008: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, ENGLAND. 
[Main Gallery] - 10 Pics by Marcin Dadello. [Show Notes] - The band last played Manchester in February 2003 during their first UK leg of the X/Ten world tour. They last played this venue in November 1996 on the Slang UK tour. This show will be their second time at this arena. The venue is home to the Manchester Storm Ice Hockey team and the Manchester Giants Basketball team. Setlist slightly re-arranged. Thanks to Andy/TEE-Phil for the reviews/Marcin for the pics. Buy Def Leppard's new album+single Songs From The Sparkle Lounge / C'mon C'mon Buy Man Raze's new album Surreal |
Fan Review - TEE - [ Add Yours ]
WOW
What a great night, kicked off by Black Stone Cherry, who I thought were a very good opening band, lots of twirling hair and twirling guitars, and the best damn drummer I have seen in a long while., Whitesnake next up after a very impressive turnaround. Mr Coverdale hasn't been in this business all this time without knowing how to get a crowd going, very interactive set, would have liked one less ballad and Don't Break My Heart instead of the guitar duel, but otherwise a classy set from the old timer, ably supported by a very tight team behind him, the blond haired guitarist (don't know his name) was superb.
Finally the star attraction, the last time I saw the Leps in Manchester was on the Slang tour and I thought that night lacked atmosphere, the crowd not getting behind the band with their stripped down stage set. No such problems tonight, huge video screens counted down the bands tracklist finishing with " That was then, This is now" cue Rocket. This band are like a good wine, they just get better with age, as you would expect Joe struggles sometimes with some of the higher notes but the rest of the band just play better and better. The set list was pretty much as the other UK shows, but they ripped into Animal after a brilliant C'mon C'mon and that for me set the tone for the evening, no chit chat just brilliant songs, almost everyone on their feet singing and clapping. This gig wasn't advertised as sold out but it was a close as didn't make any difference.
Loved Sav's bass solo lead up to the excellent Rock On, the souped up version of Sugar and Bad Actress is a riot with some cool guitar work by Viv & Phil ( love the mirrored Destroyer Viv)
Biggest shock no Promises, but I am being picky. An old Whitesnake fan stood next to me summed up the Leps gig " F*** me I didn't know they where that good" Yes they are, thank God they are coming back for a return leg. Get there if you can, you will not regret it.
The only downside for me is the merchandise very poor for a band of their standing.
Fan Review - Phil Kemp - [ Add Yours ]
After the quiet Birmingham crowd, I was hoping Manchester would be much better. And much better they were! The place was absoloutley packed, and people actually stood up in the standing sections!
Whitesnake went down very well indeed again tonight, and Coverdale worked the audience perfectly. A lot of crowd participation and clapping in sync. Another rocky setlist mixing old and new, and a real treat to watch again.
Tonight Leppard were even better than Birmingham, and I truly believe the audience helped this. They were loud from start to finish and clapped and sang along all night. You could tell Joe was really happy about this, and the rest of the band used the "thrust" more than in Birmingham.
The setlist was the same, apart from the order being changed slightly. Would still love a few different songs, and i'll be keeping my fingers crossed. The Sparkle Lounge songs went down far better, especially "C'Mon C'Mon" which really got the audience clapping and screaming.
Basically every song went down far far better tonight, "MLLAM" and "WLAHC" were well recieved, as were "Armageddon It" and "Photograph". "LGR" and "Animal" were obvious crowd favourites, but "Sugar" made the most impact all night. Not as much as Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" though (the impact that made was quite surreal!)
Leppard again were truly mesmerising! The sound, the energy, the whole package. They have it, and again showed why they were closing the show. Phil and Viv were fantastic as usual, and Viv's "Heartbreak" solo actually gave me goosebumps.
Joe was even better than in Birmingham, and his voice is just stunning live. His "feel a lot beeettteeeerrrr" at the end of "MLLAM" made the place go crazy!
Whilst Whitesnake were excellent, Leppard are just outclassing them. If the setlist was different, with this production, it would be the perfect show!
Here's to Sheffield!
Media Review - by Martin Hutchinson - [ Link Back ]
Snakes and Leppards Rock The Arena ::
The Premier League of British Heavy Metal was on show at the MEN Arena as metal monsters Whitesnake and Def Leppard shook the very foundations of the building.
First up (after guests Black Stone Cherry) were Whitesnake, and they really kicked the night off straight away with Best Years' and Fool For Your Loving'. The massive crowd lapped it up and frontman David Coverdale was in his element; after 30 years of fronting his own band following his departure from Deep Purple, he knows how to work an audience.
The voice was as strong as ever as the band ripped through their repertoire of classics. 'Ain't No Love In the Heart of The City', Is This Love', Love Ain't No Stranger', and Here I Go Again' to name but four had the crowd in ecstasy and the tracks from the new album were also well received.
Aside from Coverdale, what a rock band need is a good guitarist, Whitesnake has two and one of the highlights of their set was the duel between their twin axemen Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach.
After they had gone we had hardly drawn breath when Def Leppard crashed onto the stage, and if anything, were louder and rockier than the Snakes! They too played tracks from their new album, the pick being Nine Lives'.
Singer Joe Elliott is every bit as good a frontman as Coverdale as their cannon was given a good airing, from tracks like Hysteria', Armageddon It', When Love And Hate Collide' to Two Steps Behind' and Rock Of Ages'.
The highlight for many was a solo from bassist Rick Savage, whose mind-blowing solo immediately preceded the Lepps' version of Rock On' from their album of covers called Yeah!'.
The volume of the music was almost physical as the band received the adulation they thoroughly warranted.
Many of the audience were first-generation fans, who were - in some cases - a little long in the tooth, but that didn't stop them rocking the Arena to the rafters.
Both bands may be celebrating 30 years of rocking, but they certainly ain't gonna go away anytime soon.
And we should be thankful for that.
Martin Hutchinson © The Bolton News 2008.
Media Review - by Lee Meredith - [ Link Back ]
Whitesnake/Def Leppard @ M.E.N. Arena ::
AS AC/DC put it, 'For those about to rock, we salute you'.
No truer words could have been spoken to express the feelings of the audience at the MEN Arena as two of rock's most successful acts rolled into town: Whitesnake and Def Leppard.
To the unitiated, it probably seemed like a 'so what?' kind of pairing but the bands are very different beasts. David Coverdale and the boys in Whitesnake have a grittier, more blues-based catalogue to draw on. Def Leppard are, of course, the band that took America by storm with their pop-metal, hook-laden songs.
But first up were Whitesnake, with Coverdale looking every inch the straggly haired, lithe rock god.
Flanked by the unbelievable twin guitars of Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich,Coverdale's delivery on songs such as Fool For You Lovin', Here I Go Again and Is This Love? ensured that the crowd were hanging on his every word. The energy on stage was nothing short of phenomenal, especially when you consider that Coverdale has been keeping Whitesnake on the road for 30 years.
Out of the new stuff, from their latest album Good To Be Bad, Lay Down Your Love made the biggest impression with its slide guitar riff and Coverdale's wonderfully rich, smoky vocal.
Atmosphere
But the band knew what the fans were really there for and they delivered storming versions of Ain't No Love In The Heart of the City and Still of The Night. The atmosphere in the Arena was incredible, the whole place completely ecstatic watching and listening to a band at the top of their game.
So, one might think that Joe Elliott and the boys in Def Leppard might've been biting their fingernails backstage. How could anyone follow that?
But you don't hit the heights that the Sheffield lads have hit without good reason. From a stunning montage on screen of the history of the band backed by some virtuoso guitar work, out they came.
As soon as Joe took centre stage and cried: 'Geetar! Drums!' to signify their opener, Rocket, any doubts vanished.
Theirs was a set full of hits, delivering exactly what the fans wanted to hear: Animal, Hysteria, Make Love Like a Man, Rock of Ages and an awesome version of Bringin' On The Heartbreak, with its haunting, acoustic intro wrong-footing the listener when it beomes a full-blown belter of a song.
Guitarists Phil Collen and Phil Campbell play with incredible grace considering the massive sound that Def Lep are known for. Pour Some Sugar on Me had the audience punching the air as one and Let's Get Rocked hit the same dizzy heights. It was a masterclass in giving the crowd exactly what it wanted.
This sort of rock is the critics' easy target but, at the end of the day, it's all about having a good time and a damn good time was had by all those who were at the Arena to see these bands. As Def Lep say, 'Rock Of Ages, still rollin', keep a-rollin''.
Amen to that.
Lee Meredith © Manchester Evening News 2008.
Media Review - by Howard Jones - [ Link Back ]
Def Leppard, Whitesnake Manchester MEN Arena 20th June, 2008 ::
30 years of Whitesnake, and while the vocal cords sounded a little hoarse, DC hit the top notes with gut-wrenching venom. Mixing the best of new album tracks Can You Hear The Wind Blow, Lay Down Your Love and Good To Be Bad with timeless classics Fool For Your Lovin', Love Ain't No Stranger, an acoustic Deeper The Love and crowd-pleaser Is This Love, all hands were in the air. Ain’t No Love prompted the obligatory singalong followed by a thunderous Give Me All Your Love Tonight, anthemic Here I Go Again and blistering encore, Still Of The Night.
Joe Elliot and the boys brought the house down. A magnificent performance with a spectacular multimedia backdrop for opener Rocket, classics Animal, Make Love Like A Man, When Love And Hate Collide, an awesome acoustic Bringing On The Heartbreak, and perfect Hysteria followed. The sweet tone of Phil Collen's guitar heralded Armageddon It and the hits kept coming with the monumental Photograph and chorale of Pour Some Sugar On Me. Rock Of Ages and encores of Bad Actress and a tumultuous Let's Get Rocked left everyone in no doubt - they had been.
Howard Jones © Recodcollectormag 2008.
Media Review - by Greg Nixon - [ Link Back ]
Whitesnake & Def Leppard - MEN Arena - 20/06/08 ::
It's the heavyweight bout of the decade - two of the biggest names in rock co-headlining one of the largest indoor venues in the country. In the red corner we have a bunch of young bucks eager to prove their worth and fronted by one of the most charismatic and legendary figures in music. In the blue, a quintessentially English bunch of rockers with a line out forged out of tragedy. Both enter the arena on the backs of their best studio albums in 20 years.
It's the red corner first - Whitesnake hit the packed hall with singer David Coverdale in fine form - if not quite fine voice for the first couple of songs. Classics like Fool For Your Loving and Love Ain't No Stranger and material from latest album Good To Be Bad are rapturously received in equal measures.
Coverdale's young comrades - especially guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach - bring new vision to three decades of hard rockin'.
With barely a pause, it's the blue corner's time to grab the limelight. With many in the audience wondering just how Def Leppard can possibly top what has just happened, the National Anthem blares across the PA system to a hoisting of the Union flag.
And just as the patriotic are rising to their feet, Def Leppard hit the stage with Rocket, quickly followed by Come On from their latest album Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.
Frontman Joe Elliott leads the line with powerful vocals, with the rest of the band easing through the set with an almost arrogant swagger.
An acoustic segment threatens to pull the rug from under the whole performance, with the audience getting visibly restless, and it takes a mammoth effort to get the party cranked up again with old classics like Pour Some Sugar on Me and Armegeddon It.
They pull it off, but only just.
Greg Nixon © Lancashire Evening Post 2008.
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