Sheffield, England - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Andylgr

The bands first ITR show in England and the atmosphere was electric in and around the venue. It seemed that the new ITR stage provided a better view across to the other side of the stage than the one used on the Hysteria tour and it looks massive and my seats were right at the front - where one of the diamond points of the stage went down to crowd level.

After support band Gun, who went down well, the stage was covered by what can only be described as a large black tent curtain. As the lights went down for the Clint Eastwood intro, gun sight shaped lights were being fired at the curtain from the inside before the opening of 'Stagefright' kicks in and holy shit the sound quality is amazing. The tent curtain covering the stage is suddenly pulled up into the roof and the band are out, the light show is impressive, the sound is crystal clear and that was the best entrance of a band I've ever witnessed at a concert.

The arena went absolutely wild and surprisingly the second song is a new(ish) one, 'Tear it Down' which goes down really well. My personal favourite, 'Women', was next followed by 'Too Late For Love' and 'Hysteria'. During the first chorus of Hysteria the sound goes out, except for the drums and Joe. Was it part of the show? I thought so until a rather embarrassed Joe says "we've lost the power". After a few moments the sound is back and to be fair the band seemed to take it in their stride, plus it didn't bother the crowd too much.

'Make Like Love A Man' is next up and considering its not one of my favourites, was a great singalong and again a new song is well received and sung loudly by the crowd.

Phils solo, the awesome 'White Lightning', Foolin' and the UK favourite 'Animal' are wheeled out before Joes speech about the last 4 years and Steve's death bring a temporary halt to the show. Viv's solo and the epic 'Gods of War' preceed the highlight of the evening, 'Rocket'. The new middle section is nothing short of superb and the lights, coupled with the drum riser effects make this the spectacle of the show.

We then get an acoustic break with a track that at the time hadn't yet been released 'S.M.C.', before the new acoustic version of 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' which is nowhere near as good as the Hysteria tour version. During the next track, 'Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad' there are a few more sound problems after which a visibly pissed off Joe grabbed an acoustic and played 'From the Inside'. Not many people knew this one, it had only been on a little known TV show and hadn't been released yet. Credit to Joe for keeping the crowd happy whilst the sound problems were repaired.

'Photograph' followed, which surprised me by being earlier in the set than I expected, but again there are a few sound problems. 'Armageddon It' with new intro and the usual crowd pleaser 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' complete with full laser show are next before 'Let's Get Rocked', the bands biggest hit at that time in the UK, and possibly the most well received song of the evening closes the show.

For the encore, the sound problems continued with Rick drums not working for the majority of 'Rock of Ages'. During the solo Joe could be seen going to each member of the band, I can only assume it was to tell them that they wouldn't be doing the crowd sing-a-long tonight, which we didn't get. Sure enough the only encore was ROA due to the sound problems that they were experiencing.

I had just been to without a doubt the best arena show that I have ever witnessed. The ITR stage set up is unsurpassed, especially as I had a position at the foot of the stage, where the band regularly came down to crowd level during the show. My first ever Leps concert with some sound problems, was it a disappointment? No way.

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