Boston/Mansfield, MA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard Stages Headbanger Clinic By Steve Morse

The theme of the night was not hard to spot. British hard-rockers Def Leppard came out during a tape of Queen's "We Will Rock You." Then they launched into "Rock Rock Til You Drop." And another two hours and many decibels later they bookended the show with "Let's Get Rocked" and "Rock of Ages," with its wailing refrain: "Still rolling, still rolling, still rock 'n' rolling."

No hidden messages there, right?

No way.

It was a headbanger clinic last night at Great Woods, where 6,800 fans - down from the numbers of Def Leppard's glory years in the '80s, but still just as loud and leather-lunged -- were given another highly efficient power blast from merry old England.

Def Leppard has been doing it for 18 years - and they let everyone know that they're nowhere close to playing out the string. The band dragged out a stack of Marshall amps, cut down on the stage effects (no lasers or other Spinal Tap borrowings this time) and let it rip with the same straight-ahead rock passion of yore.

Leppard has played some memorable shows in these parts, including one at the Cape Cod Coliseum in the early '80s where people still swear they saw the building levitating by night's end. Nothing of the sort happened at Great Woods, but Leppard still staked its claim as metal-rock survivors to be reckoned with. These guys are still only in their mid-30s -- and they were always among the younger breed of rock imports that included the likes of AC/DC and Judas Priest.

Leppard cranked up the guitar amps bigtime last night between Viv Campbell and Phil Collen, who both ran around casually in summertime shorts (and no shirts near the end), while unleashing riffs that sheared away a few brain cells. Their boogie instrumental of "Switch 625" was particularly effective, as was their rampage through climactic hits "Rockit," "Armaggedon-It" and the ultimate car speaker/beach day boomfest, "Pour Some Sugar On It." Campbell, the former Ronnie James Dio guitarist and a latecomer to Leppard in the wake of Steve Clark's death, showed himself to be more integrated into the band this time.

But the star of the show was Joe Elliott, who can sing as though doing the soundtrack to a Pier 6 brawl, but can also range higher than almost any other hard-rock frontman. His forte may well be romantic power ballads, shown last night by the new "All I Want is Everything," from Leppard's very respectable (and not complacent) new disc, "Slang."

In fact, Leppard dared to challenge this classic-rock-hungry crowd with five new songs from the disc, among them the thoughtful "Where Does Love Go When It Dies" (played during a short unplugged set in which Elliott joined Collen and Campbell on acoustic guitars) and the title track "Slang," an industrial-sounding, boundary- pushing tune in which one-armed drummer Rick Allen grabbed attention with an unyielding beat aided by customized foot pads. The show may have had nostalgic elements, but it also showed that Leppard is pushing into the '90s and not resting on laurels. It may not be hip to like them anymore, but these English gents still rock.

Opener Tripping Daisy was rather indecipherable. The Dallas- based band mixed pop and punk-psychedelia with a mishmash of results. There were high points (the song "True Love") surrounded by a sludgy lack of originality. Singer Tim DeLaughter, though, lived up to the second half of his name, coming out in a red bathrobe and then sparking more laughs when he doffed his blond wig to reveal blue-dyed hair. But the band needs more than court- jester antics to be remembered.

By Steve Morse @ The Boston Globe 1996.

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