Cadott, WI - Media Reviews

Showing its spots By Leader-Telegram

Def Leppard refuses to go away. The band has bucked off numerous tragedies and ever-changing music trends for 23 years to remain a top concert draw.

Friday night at Chippewa Valley Rock Fest, it drove the crowd wild with a string of hits that went on forever.

Def Leppard works hard to make music that would appeal to the masses. It's not too hard, it's not too soft and the chorus is always catchy. That's how the band has sold more than 45 million records.

It's ideal music for entertaining a festival crowd filled with young and old, male and female. Fans know the words to nearly every song.

As it did at Rock Fest in 1999, Def Leppard drew a huge and vocal crowd - one of the loudest and most enthusiastic in memory.

Its stage show isn't spectacular. Lead singer Joe Elliott isn't a master at working a crowd. Yet Def Leppard has an endless cache of hit songs with the ability to duplicate studio sound - layered vocals and all.

Some Rock Fest acts start off with a bang and end with a string of hits, leaving the middle for filler.

Def Leppard never lets up.

The group didn't include too many ballads. "Hysteria" and "Love Bites" were enough from that department. Rockers such as Photograph", "Animal" and "Rock of Ages" are just more fun in concert.

Def Leppard gave the crowd exactly what it wanted. Promising to return to the festival someday, Elliott urged, "Don't forget us, and we won't forget you."

The way those songs are engraved into everyone's psyche, Def Leppard won't be forgotten anytime soon.

By Eau Claire Leader-Telegram 2003.

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