Davenport, IA - Media Reviews

Def Lep rocks on By Adam Wodon

'80s metal makes a resurgance, but these guys never left.

Raised on the often sublime, often cheesy, now-rejuvenated metal music of the 1980s, it was nevertheless a revelation to see the so-called grunge scene take over and give rock and roll a kick in the ass.

But there are two rules to rock and roll: Every genre will eventually sellout to a progressively worsening group of rip-offs, and every one of its originators will eventually rise from the ashes to be heard again.

Def Leppard proved that at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds on Thursday night, showing its rock for the ages is still rollin'. It also provided a swift kick to a weekend lineup that includes Aaron Tippin, Ricky Van Shelton and Glen Campbell.

"There's all these country bands on the ticket, and us," said lead singer Joe Elliott late in the show. "We figured that you'd like us here."

And they did.

An overflow crowd jammed the fairgrounds. Like refugees venturing out of the underground after years of hibernation, thousands of graduates from life in the '80s pilgrammaged to see the band that once sold more records than anyone but Michael Jackson.

The look, and the lyrical and video content, makes people chuckle today. But in reality, quintissential '80s bands like Winger, Bon Jovi, Dokken, Motley Crue and Def Leppard all could hold their own musically. The hyper-charged rap-metal seen at Woodstock owes itself more to the '80s than the politically correct grunge scene.

There seems to be more room for everyone these days, and that's a good thing.

The seasoned rockers mixed with many kids not yet born when Def Leppard started, just like I used to do at Aerosmith concerts in the '80s. At least they were wise enough not to confuse the opening gibberish of "Rock of Ages" with Offspring's "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" -- just like I knew that RunDMC did not do the original "Walk This Way.

Of course, Def Leppard never really went away. After the overwhelming success of 1987's Hysteria, they followed up with Adrenalize, an album that seemed to signal the beginning of the end. But with Retroactive and Slang, DefLep dropped long-time producer Mutt Lange and went for a less-polished sound to claim critical success, even if no one heard the releases above the noise of grunge.

The most recent release, Euphoria, was lucky enough to be released during this summer of reunion-like resurgence of '80s metal, not to mention the always-fortuitous VH1 Behind the Music Special. They could always spin out pop metal classics, but they now do it with a bit more '90s of a sound.

The crowd was into Euphoria's "Paper Sun," a song getting significant airplay and helping DefLep get back on the charts. The band played two others from the new album.

But mostly, it was a crowd-pleasing set of 19 songs that included every hit imaginable from the multi-platinum Pyromania and Hysteria albums, and that's a lot. They avoided the aforementioned cheesy ballads of the early '90s, but disappointed by skipping "Bringing on the Heartbreak," their first hit.

Elliott proved he can still screech with the best of them, and the band of Ric Savage, Phil Collen, Viv Campbell and Rick Allen showed no signs of rust -- though it's still odd seeing the black-haired Campbell, a replacement following the 1991 death of Steve Clarke, on a stage full of blondes.

Thursday's stage show wasn't going to match the laser-light extravaganzas from their big arena events, and it took a while for the band to warm-up the crowd in the grandstand.

There was no such problem, however, for those on the track, who were raucous from the beginning, and by the time the band finished its first set with "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Rock of Ages," the entire crowd was in a frenzy.

The encore included the token Adrenalize song, "Let's Get Rocked," and the lone tune from High ‘N' Dry, "Let it Go."

The band seemed pleased.

"I think we'll definitely be coming here again," said Elliott.

Not soon enough.

By The Wodon 1999.

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