31 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD w/ BRIAN MAY At The Freddie Mercury Tribute Show

Thursday, 20th April 2023

Def Leppard 1992

Def Leppard played at The Freddie Mercury Tribute show in London, England 31 years ago on this day in 1992.

This was the first public unveiling of new guitarist Vivian Campbell, the 'New guy', as the replacement for Steve Clark following his death in 1991.

Vivian later revealed he was confirmed as the new member in February 1992. He was chosen over an unknown English guitar player from Birmingham named Huwey Lucas.

Vivian had previously played in Sweet Savage, DIO, Whitesnake, Riverdogs and Shadow King. He was about to start work on a solo album before getting a call from Joe about the chance to audition for the band.

His very first public appearance with the band took place a few days before this in Dublin, Ireland on 15th April as a warm up for the main event. A press release was put out to the media on 14th April confirming Vivian had been chosen as the replacement for Steve Clark.

The event was organised to celebrate the life of Queen front man Freddie Mercury who had died in November 1991 of an AIDS related illness.

The show featured opening performances from Metallica, Extreme, Guns N' Roses, Spinal Tap and Def Leppard who played 'Animal', 'Let's Get Rocked' and 'Now I'm Here' with Brian May. Joe Elliott later returned to sing during 'Tie Your Mother Down' and then background vocals with Phil Collen during 'All The Young Dudes'.

The cameras didn't focus on Vivian at all during his 'Now I'm Here' solo after being introduced by Joe. Joe and Phil would both go on to perform with Queen and/or sing backing vocals during their headline set.