Everett, WA - Fan Reviews
Fan Review - By Michael J. Perry
Bryan Adams and Def Leppard performed at the Everett Events Center or I should say "ROCKED THE EVERETT EVENTS CENTER!!! First I am impressed that both acts said "Hello Everett!!" and not Seattle. Yeah you can say that I'm proud to be a resident of Everett. Both acts played about a 90 minute set each. There was a tiny opening act of a singer by the name of Ricky Warwick from Ireland. He did about five songs on an acoustic guitar and on the last two songs Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard joined him on stage to play electric guitar. It was a nice change of pace I guess.
Bryan Adams started his show with "Room Service" off his new CD by the same title an ended his set with "Run To You." In between those songs he performed "This Time", "Somebody", "Everything I Do" "Summer of '69" (crowd sang the first part of the song), "Back To You", "Cuts Like A Knife" (na na na na sing along), "Open Road", "Hearts On Fire", "Heaven", "18 Til I Die" (sort of how I'm living right now), "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You", "Kids Wanna Rock", and others. Now one song he performed he got a young lady from the crowd to sing along which was "When You're Gone" in which she knew, surprise, the words to. She seemed to be getting into the song while singing it. The crowd got into the song while they were singing together. Now I do not know if it was a set-up but this young lady was still in the crowd during the Def Leppard set.
The last time I saw Bryan Adams in concert was in New Orleans like 20 years ago and he still can rock the house even if some his songs started getting a little mushy. He had two mikes set up on both sides of the stage so he can move around and interact with the crowd. From time to time he would take the mike in the center of the stage and move it up closer to the audience. The band played well, tight, and with a lot of energy. The crowd got into his show in which I'm sure quite a few were only there to see Def Leppard. Bryan Adams said this was the first time performing in Everett and will come back again to do another show. Now I wonder if he says that at all his shows??
Def Leppard started their show with "Action" which was first recorded by Sweet back in the '70's and ended with their encore song "Pour Some Sugar On Me." In between they played "Rocket", "Hysteria", "Photograph", "Let's Get Rock", "Let It Go", "Armageddon It", "Bringing On the Heartache", "Love Bites", "Animal", and others. Joe Elliott's voice sounded pretty good even with a slight cold. Now they did play "Rock On" which is a cover tune from the '70's also but I can't quite recall who first did the song. That song should of not been played but one of their original songs like "Slang", "Hit and Run", "Billy Got A Gun", "Too Late For Love" just to name a few. Just my opinion on that. Other than that the group sounded great.
On a couple of songs they extended the song but on the most part the songs were basically played on how they were recorded with no long leads in the middle or at the end. "Rock Of Ages" in the past was a crowd participation singing "I want rock and roll" but basically it was the crowd singing like a backup singers with the band. This show to me was performed well even with a short set-list because of the group played tight and it seemed that Joe Elliott did not force himself to try hit the high notes like he was able to do back in the day. Just my opinion. Joe also commented that this was the first time in Everett and he would like to come back and perform again here. He also noted that we have a nice building and he likes it. He did say the group will be releasing a covers album of different groups they enjoyed listening too while growing up in the spring and will be doing a summer tour so maybe they will come back and rock Everett again.
Fan Review - By Melissa Baar
All I can say is "Def Leppard still rocks!!!" It was an interesting day to say the least. The show was in Everett WA in the US which is a 3 hour drive plus a Ferry ride for me to get there. I caught the 3 PM Ferry and was worried about getting caught in rush hour, but got lucky and cruised on down the freeway.
When we pulled up at 6 PM there was a large crowd forming at the door, this was 1 ½ hours before the show started. Just shows you that there is still a very large fan base for these guys. I left my camera in the car because it said on the website for the Event Center that no cameras were allowed and I didn’t want to take a chance on loosing it or having to walk all the way back to the car to put it away and not get in on time. What and idiot for doing that, everyone had cameras! Apparently they just mean no professional cameras with removable lenses. Live and learn, ran back out and got my camera.
Ricky Warwick was there also, he sounded great. I am not too familiar with him, but from what I heard, he is on the right track. Bryan Adams played next, they were great. Can’t remember the other guitar players name [Keith Scott], but he was awesome. They played for 90 minutes. Bryan brought a girl from the audience up and she sang with him for one song, she did pretty good really, took a lot of guts getting up there as far as I was concerned.
The Leps came on about 10 PM and everyone went crazy. Queen’s we will rock you came on the intercom system and there was a frenzy of people running to get to there seats. Then the place went dark and on came Def Leppard.
Set list was the same as the last few shows (see above)
Everyone played and/or sang great as far as I was concerned. Joe and Rick Allen both were sick, so I think it was tough for Joe to get through the night, but he didn’t seem to falter any. Some really nice playing from all three guitarists. Well Rick Allen, what can you say, he is the Thunder God!
We were in the 4th row, but with everyone moving in it seemed like the 10th but still had a great view for most of the show. Loved that Phil became “The Shirtless One” after the second song. Joe said that they would be doing a world tour starting in March and I for one will look forward to it.
They played for 2 hours and it was midnight when we were getting out the door. All in all, the show was great. Since I am a Steve fan from way back, some of it was kind of strange. The last concert I saw them it was the Hysteria Tour, yes it has been a while. I can honestly say there were some songs I didn’t like them playing, it just didn’t sound like it should. You could say it was a different guitarist, but then again, guitarists change the way they do things all the time. Either way I did have a blast and got some good pictures.
Fan Review - By Glynes
This was my first time to see either of them. I’m a huge fan of both Bryan Adams and Def Leppard. I’m also a drummer, and so especially excited to see Mickey Curry (I’m working on lots of BA stuff), and Rick Allen (can there be anyone any more inspirational than a one-armed drummer??!! My husband, the former British Sailor, saw Def Leppard in 1979 before the release of their first album (Rick Allen was 16 years old!), at the Gaumount (sp?) Theatre, Southampton, where they opened for AC/DC. He was excited to get to see them again 36 years later! It was our first visit to the Everett Events Center … I’d envisioned a more theater-like setting … it’s basically a hockey arena, occasionally dressed up for other stuff. Nothing special, but turned out to have excellent acoustics.
The show opened with a guy named Ricky Warrick, from Belfast, Ireland. Interesting dude. Looked like a cross between a biker (lots of tattoos!) and a cowboy (interesting hat, that dipped down in the front to cover his entire face … never did see what he actually looked like!). He played an electric/acoustic guitar, and let me tell you, this dude did not need drums. He laid down a dynamite beat with the lower strings, and did a kind of folk/rock style, all original songs from his new CD. He did about 45 minutes, and on his last two songs DL’s Viv Campbell joined him on stage, which pretty much put an end to any “folk” influence in the music!! Together the two of them rocked the place.
Next up was Bryan Adams and his band. And, well, if you want to talk about rockin’ the joint, these are the guys to do it. They slammed us for about 90 minutes, with new stuff, classic stuff, lots of audience sing-alongs, wailing vocals, a bass beat that knocked me out, and the drums … well, if I thought I was ready to strike out on some BA songs, … HA! … I’ll back to the woodshed to do a lot more work! They had mic’s set up clear across the front of the stage, so there was lots of running back-and-forth, changing places, and generally keeping things at break-neck speed, hardly stopped to take a breath, and just kept the music coming at us. There wasn’t much of the soulful Bryan … even the slow songs just kicked it. It was a full concert in itself.
There was break of about half-an-hour, while the roadies did their thing, clearing out BA’s gear and bring in DL’s. Our seats were pretty far away, so I couldn’t get a real good look at Rick’s drum set-up, and didn’t know what to expect. The crowd went moderately nuts when the lights went down, and the boys hit the stage amid smoke and flashing lights, and if we thought Bryan Adams had rocked the place, well we knew this lot was going to blow the roof right off.
The energy was at fever pitch, and it didn’t let up for the next hour-and-a-half. I can say that Def Leppard has definitely brought their music into the 21st century!! We recognized the classics, but they’d sure been kicked up a notch or two from the original versions!! The only hold-over from the “old days” was a light-and-video show screen at the back of the stage … just downright psychedelic (and yes, I do remember when psychedelic was brand new!!) … some rather cheesy videos, but overlaid with live shots of the stage, and sometimes old-time pictures of them as kids. They too were all over the stage, hardly standing still in one spot for more than a second … and I’m not sure if I was left more breathless by the music or the frantic pace of things!!
The set list went something like this: (see main page)
They too did a full 90 minutes, so we ended up basically seeing two full concerts and an opening act by the end of the night. The only thing that disappointed me was the audience, who were already heading for the doors before the second encore song was over. I thought it was downright rude, but that’s Seattle audiences for you. We stayed put in our seats, and watched the roadies tearing things down. Can’t say we’re not dedicated fans!!
And in closing, being a drummer I just have to say that Rick Allen was simply phenomenal. If I ever want to learn better foot technique, he’s the guy I’ll look to!! Absolutely blew me away. Had a big grin on his face the whole time, and just pounded out a beat to kill for. What a guy.
Thanks for the opportunity to report on this most excellent show. One good part is that the Everett Events Center is only 10 minutes from my house. The bad thing was we still didn’t get home till after midnight and I had to be up the next morning at 4:30 … but it was well worth it!! The adrenalin didn’t stop pumping for about a day-and-a-half!! Glynes (rock-n-roll’s most unexpected girl drummer).
Fan Review - By Sean
I thought the show was fine I'm sure it would have been great had Joe not had a cold and been able to sing. The band sounded real good and did a superb job of carrying Joe when he wasn't able to sing. I'm only 5'6 and had floor seats so I actually didn't see much and my wife didn't see anything (5'5) but it sounded good. The Bryan Adams set was waaaay toooo loooong geeez he played practically every hit he had, I'm sure it was so that Def could buy some time for Joe to try and help his throat.
share this page:
get def leppard news
Stay in touch with the latest updates.
explore def leppard tour history
