Estero, FL - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Terri

We arrived at the Teco Arena at exactly 7:30. Malvin came out around 7:45, said hello, said they had a great day off the day before and introduced Ricky Warwick. I LIKED HIM! Call me crazy, but that boy's got a great voice and can really play guitar! This was my first time to see him, and he reminded me of an Irish Bruce Springsteen. He didn't swear too awfully much, was really into what he was playing and had a good rapport with the crowd, I thought. Of course there were those that were bouncing the beach balls in the air across the floor, (yes, I participated!) but overall, I really, really enjoyed him. He told some good stories and did I mention that he has a really great voice? He probably doesn't get the exposure he deserves, though, because everyone is waiting for Def Leppard and their music really is different. Viv came out and the song they did together was great. Everyone really got into the performance they did. They sounded great together!

The guys didn't come on till almost 8:40pm, like the whole schedule was about 25 minutes off...that was ok, though, more time to socialize and get my t-shirt and program. They played the usual music in between, Queen, AC/DC, Van Halen, GnR, etc. Then when "We Will Rock You" came on, we knew it was getting close....then Rock & Roll Part whatever by Gary Glitter...then the Disintegrate intro came on and everyone went crazy! This show was much more intimate than the Livestock show was in terms of these fans being there ONLY here to see Def Leppard and they got such a warm reception!

Now, I'm not crazy about 'MLLAM', most of you know...lol...BUT, everyone got really into it, Phil did his rap, and it was FUN! When they first started it, I was like "Noooooo!" lol But I really enjoyed it! They played the first side of High N Dry again, which was fine, anytime I hear Let It Go live works for me! 'LLWTG' sounded great live. I was wondering what I would think of seeing it live for the first time, because I don't really care for the "electric" version, but I cried my eyes out!! It was just beautiful and I guess it meant more because I was seeing them do it, not just hearing it. I noticed though, that it seems to be a difficult one for Joe to sing live, he also admitted to a vocal infection, which is probably from all the humidity here. He was wielding the mic stand and running around so much, you'd never know he was in so much pain, as I found out later. He still did a great job, though, and when a note was high for him to sing, Phil kicked in. So it was great!! I was of course thrilled about '4LW' and 'Promises' again, twice in one week to see some of my favorite songs!! When Joe went into 'Sweet Home Alabama', he explained that his voice was a little under the weather and asked us all to sing along. He said we could all be the lead singer of Def Leppard for a few minutes. Cute.

'Two Steps Behind' was another one that everyone went crazy for. It was nice to be with a crowd that knew all the songs as opposed to Saturday. Last night was also my first time to see 'Now' done live, and it was awesome! They did a great job, told the story of the video, and everyone was just perfect on it! I love that song even more Now than I did before! Rocket was great, because they did the extended version with Phil and Viv's duel, and yes, Phil laid down for it this time! Joe came back out and sang 'Whole Lotta Love', which always gets me every time!! They really took their time to make a big production of that song! Awesome! I always want him to just do the whole song!!! The place lit up even more for 'PSSOM', and nearly exploded with 'Rock Of Ages'. Sav actually made a point to step up to the front and say "Ft. Myers, you guys have been f@#king awesome!!"

We got our Encore, 'Love Bites' and 'Let's Get Rocked'. Both of these songs are ones I thought I could do without live now, since I've seen them done so many times before. But they were great! Everyone went crazy for Love Bites, I enjoyed it more live last night than ever before! And 'Let's Get Rocked' really was a lot of fun. Even though it's not one we would choose to close with, everyone was really high on it and singing along! It was a really fun way to end the show.

I heard a lot of people saying "That really rocked! Those guys are great!" I think they were happy with the reception they got, although early on, Joe did ask some people on the other side why they were sitting. They didn't do that again. lol Overall, I'd say everyone that was there got more than their money's worth. The guys looked and sounded great and were much more themselves with lots of room to run around the stage like usual.

After The Show -- Sounds like a pretty good night so far, huh? Well, it gets even better!!!! I got AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!! First Viv came out, borrowed MY pen to sign everyone else's. I figured I'd never see the pen again, and didn't care, but he sought me out, and my date was sweet enough to take my picture with him! And when he was done signing all his autographs, he gave me my pen back!

Next was Rick Allen! He spent SO much time with everyone, looked completely exhausted, but spent I'd say about 40 minutes with everyone! He signed my other playbill, I took pics of him, he was so bombarded by everyone else that I didn't have the heart to ask him to pose with me. He was very popular with everyone, and I could tell he wanted to just go, but he was good enough to sign something for EVERYONE out there. One girl next to me had all her cd's and he stood there and signed everyone of them. I said "Hey, can I do that too? I just need to run to my car!" He said "Huh?" I told him I was kidding and he gave me that cute little boy smile! We talked about the setlist, he said he was trying to get Cry or Scar in there instead of the same old sh!t, as he called it...he said he knows they need to add some other new stuff, and will get around to it, and I said I never get tired of hearing any of it. It was actually a decent conversation!

I thought that was all pretty great, I got to talk to and get autographs of two Leps!! Wooo Hooo! Then lo and behold, out came Sav! I was shocked he came out at all, but he was so gracious! He signed everything for everyone and signed the back of my ticket. I took pics of him as he was signing my ticket, but I could tell he wasn't crazy about all the flashes around him, so again, I wimped out on asking for a pic with him. He was so nice to everyone, although obviously tired. He spent about 20 minutes, I'd say. I've never been that close to him before, and I just have to say, he is alarmingly good looking for his age!! Many of the women were just in awe of him when they got so close to him, just like they were 20 years ago! I admit I was taken aback by how great he looked myself!

Then out strolls Phil! He comes out and everyone says "What took you so long?" and he proudly answers, "I got a massage!" In that wonderful accent. He was making jokes, laughing with everyone. When I got up to him, he got this huge smile and said "Oh! Hey you!" He remembered me? Maybe, maybe not. He said he did! He signed the playbill that Rick signed, I got pics and a kiss on the cheek! We swapped REAL ones that time! And a great hug! He was in the best mood of everyone, refreshed after his shower and massage. He spent quite a long time with everyone as well, we talked for a bit, I don't really remember about what, it's kind of a blur after the kiss he gave me on my cheek. lol Everyone bombarded him too with wanting pics with him and sign this, sign that... Phil had borrowed someone's pen and tried to give it back before he left, and no one claimed it, so he said "Free pen! cool!" Then he and Malvin got on the bus.

You may be wondering why I haven't gotten to Joe yet...well, the sad fact is, he didn't come out. Apparently they all were out signing and taking pics around 4pm and he did it then. We were still driving down there at that point! We waited for a very long time and Malvin told us he wasn't up to coming out, he was on painkillers for his shoulder and exhausted. I should have been so upset, but I wasn't. I met all the others, got pics and autographs, and I understood.

Overall, upon meeting them all and getting pics, etc, I was cool! I didn't get overly crazy, like some of the other females did, and I had good intelligent exchanges with each of them, well, OK, Viv and I did talk hair, but that's to be expected! It was just so amazing to finally meet these guys I have adored for so long! And I'm sure I'll catch up with Joe someday. I'd say that for both shows, I got my money's worth and quite a bit more! And I had someone great to go with that enjoyed himself just as much as I did! All in all, these 2 shows have been among the best I've seen them do! Can't wait till they come back to Florida!!!!! I'll be there!! Sorry this was so long, but hey, this is ME we're talking about here!.

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Fan Review - By Kimmy

This show was awesome. The only bad thing was that Joe had what he called a "bronchial infection" and swore a couple of times that it wasn't SARS. You could tell he was getting a bit annoyed with the not being able to hit some notes and some random coughing.

The crowd was pretty much into the music during the High N Dry set, but kind of looked disinterested in the new stuff. Once 'Foolin'' came on though, they were right back into it. There was a lucky little 7ish year old looking girl in the front row who caught everyone's attention in the band. She held up a hand written note to please throw a pic - Phil practically handed her one. Later, during 'Armageddon It', Joe pointed at her asking her if she was getting it. And at the end, she had a card for Sav that Rick reached over and got - and mouthed to the girl, "I'll make sure Sav gets this". That was truly a lucky little girl. I was told this would be a hard venue to take pics at - they weren't kidding. These people were camera nazis for sure. I did get a couple, though and was only told to put it away once...phew!.

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