Pittsburgh, PA - Media Reviews
Def Leppard's Musical Magic Turns Heavy Metal To Heavy Melody By Pete Bishop
There's nothing namby-pamby about any of them, and the tight quintet served them hot and heavy to an excellent Sunday night turnout of 15,800.
Yet even the most gun-slamming of them weren't mindless, and so much more of Def Leppard's music is so much more...well, musical while still delivering physically.
Guitarists Steve Clark and Phil Collen played tastefully.
From a band lead singer Joe Elliott once called 'Five people shouting their heads off,' they've progressed to one that can offer close five-part harmonies.
Many pieces have strong melody above the muscle...in truth 'heavy melody' fits Def Leppard as much if not more than does 'heavy metal'.
That's what sets them above most similar bands, and those songs were the highlights last night.
Add a very good light show designed by Howard Ungerleider, Rush's road manager and lighting director.
The well barricaded theater-in-the-round setting that more Civic Arena acts should adopt to create a greater degree of intimacy and Elliott himself, a poised, friendly and surprisingly gracious (for this type of band) front man, and it was a triumphant return for Def Leppard.
It wasn't perfect. Elliott turned 'Rock Of Ages' into drudgery by dragging it out with a 'battle of the fans' call-and-response segment that only served to let parts of the audience boo the part that was responding.
But it was triumphant and entertaining.
By Pittsburgh Press 1988.
Pittsburgh, PA - Media Reviews
Leppard Brings Hysteria To Deft Arena Set By Mark Madden
So, after four long years of promises and tragedy with very few triumphs, was Def Leppard worth the wait? Most certainly. Can a virtually sold out Civic Arena be wrong?.
Leppard practically disappeared after 1983, when its LP 'Pyromania' sold 6.7 million copies.
The band captured headlines only with bad news - the worst being a car crash that cost drummer Rick Allen his left arm on New Year's Eve 1984.
But now, they're back and Deffer than ever.
Not many heavy rock groups have been more popular, and not many have been better either.
The English quintet demonstrated that at the Arena last night by spawning both Zeppelinesque hysteria and cathedral-like reverence with a well-paced set that showcased their mixture of melody and metal.
Although the set dragged for a short time after opener 'Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)' Leppard absolutely sizzled from the show's midpoint on.
The Leppard frontline of singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Steve Clark and bassist Rick Savage scrambled all over the four-sided, in-the-round stage, making certain no one had a bad seat (like the ads said).
There were plenty of hits and plenty of lights, including lasers that scribbled geometric designs on the Arena roof and drew images on a screen above the stage.
'Animal' and 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' stood out, as well as a primarily acoustic 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak'.
Collen and Clark are a quality 1-2 guitar punch with no onstage friction, as each gave the other room to churn out riffs and solos.
Elliott isn't spectacularly unique as a frontman. But his gravelly voice was in good form, and no one this side of Mick Jagger (Stones version, not the wimp cavorting on MTV with Jeff Beck) works a crowd harder or better.
And Allen?. Well, the twin electronic drumkits (upper and lower) were by Simmons but the talent was all Rick Allen's.
With his left leg handling his lost arm's chore, Allen was - well, perhaps the best I can say is at times I forgot.
'Photograph' ended it, ending as well a weekend of heavy metal at the Arena.
Leppard openers Tesla played a fine set last night, while KISS cleaned up after Ted Nugent died a slow and (boringly) painful death onstage Saturday night before about 9,500.
If heavy metal's dead, there sure are a lot of people breathing life into the corpse.
By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1988.
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