Wednesday, 5th June 2024
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45 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Play Crookes In SHEFFIELD (Review/Photos)

Def Leppard 2014. Def Leppard

Def Leppard played a local show in Sheffield, England on 5th June 1979 and an archive concert review is available to read.

Sounds magazine journalist Geoff Barton reviewed the show which took place at the Crookes Workingmen's Club.

This was the first time the band met him and photographer Ross Halfin.

View the iconic photo of the band on stage below along with others Ross has posted online since joining Instagram.

Joe recalled the meeting in his foreword for 'The Definitive Visual History' book.

Geoff later helped to put together the Classic Rock Fan Pack Edition magazine for the 2015 'Def Leppard' album.

Rick Savage went back to the club to film an interview in December 2014.

He recalled the show to journalist Sam Dunn who later posted the footage on YouTube (as Sam Dunn's Metal Journeys) which was filmed for use in the April 2015 'Rock Icons: Joe Elliott' documentary for VH1 Classic TV.

Watch the full 3 minute video below along with photos and a transcript.


Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).


Sheffield, England December 2014 Fan Photos

Screenshots by dltourhistory from Sav's visit to the venue for a Joe Elliott documentary.


Rick Savage December 2014 - Interview Quotes

"Woah. 2014, December 2014. I've not stepped in this place since 1979 I believe. It's bigger than I remember."

"Fortunately it was not as empty as this the last time I was here."

"It's now called the Crookes Social Club. Previously known as Crookes Workingmen's Club. I was actually born five minutes walk from here. It's the hub of the Community."

"We played here back in '79. I think it was like the 7th or the 8th gig we ever did. We would do gigs like this just to try and raise a few pounds to buy musical equipment."

"It was actually quite a big gig for us because me and Joe literally stone throw away - lived here. Grew up here. So that in itself created its own little pressures. It was like you're playing in your own community. Just wondering how the gig's gonna go you know. You're parents are gonna be there and their friends and our friends as well you know. I would've been 18 at the time. It holds a lot of found memories for us this place. It was one of the stepping stones for us to get to the next level."


Def Leppard 1979. 5th June 1979

The Definitive Visual History - Joe Elliott Quotes

"This shot was taken the day we met Ross for the very first time, at the Crookes Working Men's Club , Sheffield, in 1979. Hopefully this was the very last time we put our fists up at the request of a photographer."

"I first met Ross Halfin on the 5th of June 1979 when I picked him and Sounds journalist Geoff Barton up from Sheffield's Sheaf Street train station to take them to Crookes Working Men's Club to watch a fledgling Def Leppard perform that night. I don't remember much about the actual journey that day, but as I was driving my work van, which only had two seats in it, and at the time I would have considered Geoff Barton more important, I can only surmise that Ross was in the back getting thrown around all over the place, holding on for dear life and trying to protect all his camera equipment from any damage!. Ah, rock 'n' roll people, it isn't all limos and five-star hotels; well, it certainly wasn't back then."

"Both Ross and Geoff were pleasantly surprised at how cheap the drinks were at the club and consequently were pretty loaded when they came back to our dressing room after the gig. Geoff was waxing lyrically about how great the gig was and how sorry he was for not taking the letters I'd been sending to him more seriously. Ross was just shouting loudly in agreement and pissing in the sink. This is my lasting image of Ross. Loud, opinionated, oblivious to the more conventional bathroom habits that most of us adhere to but more importantly, possessing an uncanny knack for taking GREAT photos."


Sounds - Geoff Barton Review Quotes

"Kicking off with the punchy 'Glad I'm Alive' the band cavort around the stage with wild abandon, belying their tender years by exuding confidence and professionalism. 'Rosalie' follows, making the Thin Lizzy version sound like something off a 99p Woolworths album, and before you have time to catch your breath 'Ride Into The Sun' erupts from the PA, the hoary old 'driving at high speed' lyrical chestnut sounding fresh and alive once more: 'It's such an easy feelin' with the wind in my hair/I'm burnin' up the rubber and I don't really care/'Cos I'm riding into the sun'."

"Joe Elliott hasn't got a great voice but he has got presence and, really, that's half the battle. "This next song is about destruction, like all heavy metal songs," he says, announcing the masterful 'The Day The Walls Came Tumbling Down', musically fast and ambitious with words that somehow bring to mind Sabbath's 'Into The Void'. Synth rumbles (meant to indicate the collapse of 'the walls') lead us into 'Answer To The Master' which in turn acts as a scene-setter for the evening's highlight, 'Overture'. So much stronger than the EP version, tonight 'Overture' is given the magnum opus treatment, its words - 'The sun, the moon, the darkened sky/The morning dew reflecting in my eye/The rising mist, the dampened earth/They're just reminders of what life's worth' - recalling the bleak optimism of Rush's classic '2112'."



A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on

A photo posted by Ross Halfin (@rosshalfin) on


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