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Media Review - By Ian Ravensdale

Strangely, Def Leppard suffer the same problem. Despite a near as dammit full house, they're still having to prove themselves on this tour. Judging by the time it took the audience to get off and banging, I'd be very surprised if Leppard are the favourite band of many of tonight's attendees. No, for most of them it's just another heavy metal night out. They'll be back tomorrow to see Saxon, but the gig they're really looking forward to is Rush.

The Def 'Uns age is probably a contributing factor. Even HM fans must have inhibitions about letting it all rip when the kid playing the guitar looks as though he could still get half fare on the bus. But by far the most telling way that Leppard's youth holds them back is in their lack of any real identity. The 'Barron Knights Of HM' jibes are legitimate enough, but instead of one number sounding like Lizzy and the next like Priest and so on, it's as though they've tipped all their influences into a bag, stirred them up and shaken them out in a different order so that each song has traces but doesn't sound like any one band in particular. Just the whole lot, put through a mincing machine.

Leppard are exceptionally competent musicians for their age, no doubt about it. But while the first (Zeppelin, Purple) and second generation (UFO, Priest) of heavies had years to develop their personalities, the Defs were tossed in the deep end and haven't managed it yet. The absence of a direction that they could truly say was their own indicates that it could have been too much too soon. They're bright, down to earth, Northern lads, so I hope for their sake Leppard can hold it all together.

By Sounds 1980.

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