St. Louis/Maryland Heights, MO - Media Reviews

Def Leppard Does What It Does Best - The Expected By Brian Newcomb

Sunday night's performance for a near capacity Riverport Amphitheatre crowd found British rockers Def Leppard delivering up exactly what their fans have come to expect-a big professional rock show laced heavily with the band's most memorable hits. Playing a set that mirrored one posted on the Web from the July 22 show in Massachusetts, the Lep played 12 of the 15 songs on its '95 best-of collection, "Vault," emphasizing what this pop metal quintet has always done best.

Drums and guitars are central to the Leppard connection, but it's their truly durable songcraft that has forged a lasting relationship with fans. Producing a wall of sound, Leppard's forte is sing-along anthemic rock that's heavy enough to attract the boys and sweet and sexy enough to bring on the girls. Of course, given that the band's heyday was in the mid- to late '80s, most of their fans are men and women now, but still they came out and sang on early offerings like "Rock! Rock! ('Til You Drop)," "Action" and the sexually charged "Women" and "Make Love Like a Man." The payoff came with "Foolin'" and "Animal," which are dominated by the band's wall of sound, crunchy guitars and big grooves, plus four-part vocal harmonies on hooks big enough to drive a truck through.

Def Leppard creates a smooth, polished sound that walks a fine line between reliability and predictability. That didn't seem to bother most of the fans, who stood through the entire concert, even when the band brought out acoustic guitars for "Two Steps Behind" and the first half of "Bringin' On the Heartbreak."

Two from the band's '99 release "Euphoria" - "Paper Sun" and "Promises" - were well received, but the title track from the experimental "Slang" provided many a chance to grab another beer. The band was chastised for flirting with modern sounds, allowing industrial and funk sounds into the mix, with poor album and concert sales. Which explains "Euphoria's" return to more familiar territory. As always in pop music, no daring move or bold attempt goes unpunished.

The golden oldie, "Gods of War," was followed by "Excitable," which featured vocalist Joe Elliot working the crowd up for the big push of hits that ended the set: "Photograph", "Rocket", "Armageddon It", "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Rock of Ages." Guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell both offered up fiery solos, and one-armed drummer Rick Allen provided a rock solid bottom that gives Def Leppard one of the only danceable sounds in metal.

The band returned to offer up a solid two song encore, "Love Bites" and "Let's Get Rocked." With so many '80s bands on the reunion touring circuit, it's probably best that Def Leppard stuck to the formula and delivered the expected paint-by-numbers rock and roll show with few surprises. Clearly it's what the fans demand.

Opening was Unband, a derivative power trio that rocked hard in a way that was finally unimpressive.

By St. Louis Post-Dispatch 2000.

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