Def Leppard UK.

[ X UK/Irish Tour 2003 Page 5 ]

THUR Feb 20th 2003: Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, ENGLAND.

Joe, Phil.
[Pic by Andy B/Powerplay scan.]

Media Review :: by Andy B

I was rather surprised and a little disappointed to see that this particular date of the Def Leppard World Tour was not sold out. By all accounts, the other dates over here had sold out, although it’s fair to mention that the venues were smaller, being Theatres and Civic halls etc, but this was Sheffield, the Lep’s hometown. And there were empty seats. Well, for the people who may have thought about going and didn’t bother. I have to tell you that you missed one hell of a show.
While it’s true that the band, and Joe Elliott in particular, always seem to get a little extra kick out of playing this venue, the show was a testament to their endurance and a perfect example of an old band (twenty-four years now) still enjoying what they do, and not just going through the motions.
Right from the kick off at 9pm there were broad grins on the faces of Elliott, Collen, Campbell, Allen and Savage as they tore through ‘Let it Go,’ a fairly old song from the ‘High ‘N’ Dry’ album. Then they breezed through, ‘Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)’, ‘Action’, ‘Foolin’’ and ‘Make Love Like a Man‘. before we got ‘You’re So Beautiful.’ the first of four new songs from the latest album ‘X’. And the grins remained throughout.

Elliott commented on playing at home: "It’s great to see so many friendly faces, went to school with ya, got beaten up by some of ya, bastards!," before the band discarded electrics, mounted stools and did an acoustic version of ‘Two Steps Behind’ which acted as a sort of half-time breather before they set off again with ‘Now’. Personally I think the show lost its momentum for a short while here, but all energies were firing again when they went into ‘Women’ followed by ‘Rocket,’ which was brilliantly extended with an atmospheric and powerful instrumental section led by Allen and Savage.
The second half was certainly the ‘Greatest Hits’ section (and even if you are not a big Leppard fan, chances are you would have known most of the set anyway), with these two songs being followed by ‘Armageddon It’, ‘Photograph’, ‘Animal’, ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ and ’Rock of Ages’ as the last song of the main set. Quickly coming back on stage, they finished off with ’When Love & Hate Collide’ and ‘Let’s Get Rocked’.
To my mind, this show was probably the best I have ever seen them play, and I’ve seen them a few times. They were tight, they enjoyed it, the fans enjoyed it, and the atmosphere was excellent. And the funny thing was, although it wasn’t a capacity crowd, it sounded bigger than one. What a pity if you missed it.
Andy B © Power Play 2003 - Powerpoints: 123456789. (out of 10).

Media Review :: by Dave Attrill

The third time I've seen this lot live is the first since the birth of Metalliville and so it gives me great pleasure to finally review a performance of this city's greatest export at work, and I mean greater than steel, even.
Of the two opening acts, the first is a very welcome surprise. Ricky Warwick was seen here a decade back fronting Brit rock faves, The Almighty when they were on tour with Iron Maiden. Tonight, the man goes it alone, walking in and strapping on his acoustic for what fellow Ulsterman, Leppard's Vivian Campbell introduces as 'totally different' material. Is it, my trousers! This stuff could have as easily been written for 'Soul Destruction' twelve years back but sounds bloody good though and that's what counts.
UK newcomers The Darkness bring with them a brave attempt to topple the headliners, belting out a lethal brand of retro saturated hard rock with front-man Justin committing that said to be most heinous of crimes in this day and age, of wearing a stripy open-chested catsuit on stage. They can get away comfortably with it with material of their quality, and 'Get Your Hands Off My Woman' looks set to thrive as their anthem.

Def Leppard usually save any pre-83 material for the end of their set but 'Let It Go', the sole Willis-era number opens tonight's performance. Following it up is the dual attack of 'Rock! Rock! ('til you drop)' and 'Action' which had kicked off proceedings on the band's two previous tours of the isle. For the first hour of the show, 'Hysteria' is the only tune aired from album of said name, but 'Women', 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', 'Rocket', 'Armageddon It' and least we forget 'Animal' come in almost complete succession in the last forty minutes of the two-hour slot. 'Pyromania' classics 'Photograph', 'Rock Of Ages' and 'Foolin' can not and will never be omitted from any Def Leppard show nor will Make Love like A Man', 'Slang', and 'Promises' by the looks of things.
A nice little handful from the excellent new 'X' album finds its space with 'Now', 'Four Letter Word', 'Long Long Way To Go' and 'You're So Beautiful' making themselves feel a lot more welcome on stage than on disc. Tonight, we witness a band who after twenty-five years, play more than solidly enough to stick two fingers at the rules about age, in the rock n' roll industry. Just before the end of the set, a very special guest in the shape of original Leps sticksman Frank Noon borrows the place behind the kit, brandishing a camera as Joe Elliott acquaints us with their old friend's current career. then asks us 'one last question DO YOU WANNA GET ROCKED???!!!" Well, what do you think?
Dave Attrill © 2003.

Media Review :: by Dave Simpsonhttp://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,11712,902259,00.html

In the mid-1990s, heavy metal seemed terminally unfashionable, swept away by rave culture and grunge. No band suffered more than Def Leppard. Once able to shift 50m albums, Sheffield's finest were reduced, at their lowest point (around 1996's Slang album), to changing their winning formula to include electronics, more modern beats and - shock, horror - short hair. Now, thanks to nu-metal and the Osbournes, old metal can once again strut its stuff in public without ridicule, and the Lepp have returned with leather trousers, endless guitar solos and hairstyles beyond most city barbers. Bassist Rick Savage even models a poodle perm.
The intro tape of 'We Will Rock You' is no idle boast: Def Leppard's masterstroke is returning to the blistering hard rock that made their name. Their first four numbers are so heavy that it feels like an enormous metal anvil has fallen through the stadium.
Anyone can rock - if not quite this hard - but the best heavy metal should also have a certain Spinal Tapness, and here the Lepp have an unbeatable trump card. Following drummer Rick Allen's loss of an arm in a 1984 car crash, they are the only band ever to boast three-and-three-quarters of their classic line-up. However, while Allen presumably inspired Tap's spontaneously combusting sticksmen, his big-hearted percussion gives the crowd a true modern-day hero.
Vocalist Joe Elliott - perhaps the only Sheffield United fan resident in Los Angeles - entertains the home crowd with believable tales of being beaten up as a youth for wearing pointy boots, which may explain the higher reaches of his gravelly wail. He also manages to look uncomfortable ("Get that scarf down!") during the acoustic ballad section.
Impressively, the band leave it almost an hour to wheel out the heavy artillery: hits such as Pyromania and 'Hysteria', which ruled the charts almost two decades ago. Songs from the recent album, entitled X, hold up well. However, while trends have come and gone, Def Leppard's big hits - 'Animal', 'Armageddon It', 'Rock of Ages', 'Let's Get Rocked' and other songs with "rock" in the title - still sound bigger than anybody else's. The stage is too far away to be certain, but it seems very likely that their amps actually go up to 12.
Dave Simpson © The Guardian 2003.