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Sunday, 23rd February 2003
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Manchester, England - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Jenny

I got to Manchester with my sister at 12.30pm (a little too early, me thinks!) and saw the Def Leppard crew coming out of their coaches and disappearing behind the Apollo. Me, being the bigger fan of the two, decided to have a peek, but was told that I couldn't, unless I had a backstage pass. But there was no-one else there!

A few hours passed between us going to the local McDonald's because we were bored and a few more fans waiting for the doors to open. I noticed that Frank Noon was there again, and he was taking photographs of the small crowd queuing up. Look out for me looking straight into the camera, if he ever publishes them! I'm the only one who noticed him!!

When they finally did open, people were running to the stalls to see who could get the best possible view. In my opinion, every view was great, because the Apollo itself is a small venue. I took my seat, and waited patiently for Ricky Warwick to appear on stage. Malvin gave a quick speech as to who were the support acts, and then to a welcoming round of applause, Ricky did his set.

He was better second time round (I saw him in Sheffield on the previous Thursday), and to me, he looked like a guy who was doing a set in a local Irish bar, with his witty stories about the next song, or just having a beer mid-set. Very entertaining.

Next, were The Darkness, a cross between Spinal Tap and The Young Ones. I think their music was pure comedy, but if they were trying to be serious, they failed miserably! Someone stop giving him helium!!!

Finally, the Leps came on stage at about 9pm. Because it was a small venue, the sound seemed louder, so it was time to don the earplugs, I'm afraid! They tore through the first 3 songs before they said "Good evening Manchester!". I think I was the only one who had a seat but who actually stood up for 2 hours, and was acknowledged by waves of hello from the band.

The sound quality was superb, and Joe made my night by remarking how badly the local Manchester Utd football team did the previous afternoon! Definitely the better show between here and Sheffield, and one that's going to take me awhile to forget.


Fan Review - By Jo

As the doors finally opened (after waiting for 40min in the cold), I legged it to the stage and managed to get a place right at the front by the left speaker.

We listened to a couple of songs by GnR, The Donnas, Queen etc.. until the first act was introduced which was Ricky Warwick. Ricky, who originates from Ireland looks more like he belongs on a ranch in Texas. He was alright but a bit one-dimensional as he had no band with him and just played on an acoustic guitar. The second support act was a bizarre band called The Darkness. The singer wore all pink and had hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for a year. The bass player looks like he belongs in Dire Straits, the drummer looks like an uglier, fatter version of Nikki Sixx and the guitarist looked like he belongs in Led Zeppelin. Their sound was alright but I couldn't stand the vocals, they were awful!

After reluctantly watching the support acts for an hour, the lights dimmed and Def Leppard took to the stage with Disintegrate. During the show, DL played a range of songs from their earliest albums to their latest release X though the songs off Hysteria seemed to get the most applause. Surprisingly, they only played 4 songs off the new album. Joe Elliott spoke to the crowd a couple of times and made a few light hearted jokes about the people sitting being lazy.

The encore was my favourite part of the show as they played, 'Let's Get Rocked' which is probably my fav DL song. The lighting was brilliant and the sound was pretty good generally but it is hard to judge as I was right next to one of the speakers! I knew this wasn't the best place to stand sound-wise but I didn't care, I just wanted to see them all close up! Overall I think they put on a wicked show, it was well-worth the money. I definitely want to see them again, and as Joe Elliott promised at the end of the show, they will be back!.


Fan Review - By Andy

No need to go through it song by song, but it wasn't too different from previous nights with Too Late for Love and the excellent Slang being added. Highlights again were Women and Rocket, in fact all the old songs seem to have been given new live by what seems a rejuvenated Leppard. Judging by the 3 shows I've seen on the X tour, if Now, LLWTG and 4LW don't become future live standards then there is something wrong, they all stood out and they went down really well too, which is rare for new material at a concert.

I had great seats and a chance to see how good the bands performance was and also how good the whole show is, plus the sound in the Manchester Apollo was the best I've heard in a venue for a long time. I can safely say that was the best sounding Leps concert I've been to.

The bands performance, crowd interaction and the whole spectacle make them well worth seeing and in my opinion they seem better than ever on this tour.


Fan Review - By Andy B

I must start off by saying that I send my best wishes to Sav who was full of a cold when I met him earlier this afternoon so 'GET WELL SOON SAV'.

Right on with the gig and I must say that the feeling around the theatre that this going to be better then the previous concert that I attended on Thursday in Sheffield and that was confirmed when I got in and saw that the fans were really fired up for the gig and coupled with the fact the band have not played here since 1987. It was long overdue for a concert in Manchester because the last time they actually did a gig here was in 1996 at the M.E.N Arena and the band rocked that night so what was I expecting tonight.

I was expecting the same set as Sheffield but as written above I was pleasantly surprised that the set had changed round and some songs dropped like "Rock! Rock!" which I heard in Sheffield and replaced with "Too Late For Love" which I have not witnessed live since the the Seven Day Weekend Tour in Sheffield in 1992 so that was a pleasant surprise for them to play it and I loved it as I do every other Def Leppard song.

They were really loud yet again tonight and I wasn't complaining. Joe even said to us at the beginning of the encore that the band had said that tonight's concert was the loudest in terms of people (the audience) shouting & singing they have witnessed so far on this tour and I must agree with them because it was Definitely louder then Sheffield, and I hope it isn't that long till they come back and tour again real soon hopefully before the end of this tour not. I think more then likely it'll be 2005 when they release a new studio album.

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