Sheffield, England - Media Reviews

Def Leppard @ Crookes By Geoff Barton

But sadly this night at the Workingmen's Club the punters are a little thin on the ground, most of the Sheffield fans have taken their imaginary guitars with them down to the City Hall to see Status Quo.

The club initially reminds me of my old school dining room: uninviting, high ceilinged, lots of light coloured wooden tables and chairs, little cliques of people huddled haphazardly around. But then again you could never buy a scotch and coke for 30p there (let alone a double for 54p) and so it is that the scholastic comparisons fade rapidly and the atmosphere becomes warm, comfortable...and more than a little hazy.

Def Leppard burst onstage at about 10 p.m. and your immediate impression is how good they look: from left to right guitarist Pete Willis, diminutive but cool in white shirt and grey satin strides; tall, lanky Joe Elliott, garbed in full silk shirt and the aforementioned narrow, figure-hugging 'leather' pants; drummer Rick Allen, barechested and already slick with sweat atop his riser; and bass player Rick Savage and guitarist Steve Clark, resplendent in leather/leopard skin combination outfits, both possessors of fine heads of tightly curled blond hair. Eminently presentable, not a single pair of time warp Angel Witch-style loon pants in evidence, thank God.

And the music? High powered heavy rock played to a degree of tightness usually only achieved after a half-dozen gruelling American tours. Neat duelling guitars and a titanic rhythm section, the skinsmen putting weaklings like Les Binks to shame with his mallet to the skull drumwork. I must admit to being surprised again: the EP, good as it is, doesn't even hint at Def Leppard's live dynamism.

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'.

The rest of the set passes by in a flash: 'Beyond The Temple'. 'Sorrow Is A Woman', 'Emerald' (out-Lizzying the original once again), 'Heat Street' ("If anybody's ever walked down a street at night and been really scared 'cos you think there's somebody following you, then you know what this song's about"), 'Good Morning Freedom', ending with my second favourite number of the set 'Wasted' ("I thought you might like that one," said Joe Elliott afterwards, "It reminds me of Kiss") and returning to play 'Getcha Rocks Off' as the encore.

Def Leppard leave the stage for the final time and Joe Elliott's mum comes over and with a glum face says "I don't know how you stood the noise". But at the same time you couldn't help but notice the twinkle of excitement in her eyes.

Geoff Barton @ Sounds 1979.

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