Oklahoma City, OK - Media Reviews

Def Leppard & Bryan Adams In Oklahoma City By Jeb Wright

Oklahoma City has taken an area of town that was crime ridden and overrun with drug addicts and prostitution and turned it into one of the most happening places in town. The old, abandon warehouses and shops have been refurbished and now house the most popular restaurants and clubs in the city. From Hooters to the Bourbon Street Café, Bricktown is the place to be. There is a huge concert hall, The Ford Center, and a beautiful minor league baseball stadium, Bricktown Ballpark, as well as a water canal that features tour boats riding right through the heart of the multi-block area. Top all of this off with the hottest nightspots and you have the hustle and bustle not seen in this area of the city in decades. Tonight, we were headed to the ballpark to catch two of the 80’s most successful rock bands; Def Leppard and Bryan Adams.

I recently did an interview with Def Lep’s Phil Collen. The interview was a smashing success and Phil and I stayed in touch. I invited myself down to cover the show. Collen left us passes at the gate and after an hour long wait in line, we finally were in. The first order of business was to find the stage manager who would then get word to the tour manager that we were there so we could find the VIP area and go back and say hello to the boys. Immediately, it was noticeable that the stage was in the outfield and most of the crowd was in the stands. That seemed a bit odd as only the few hundred field seats allowed a good view of the stage. Imagine going to a baseball game and sitting in right field. Sure, it is still a fun time but you wish like hell you were sitting behind home plate! After a few failed attempts by the inept event staff, we finally found the man we were looking for. We told him who we were there to see and after checking our passes out, he walked across right field and into the bowels of the stadium.

After what seemed like a half hour, our man came to the opening he has disappeared into and waved us back. We met up and began our journey down the dark cement corridor underneath the grandstand. We walked in a semi-circle for about ten minutes before coming face-to-face with a security guard outside of Def Leppard’s dressing room. The man went in and found Phil who escorted us to a small office just off the dressing room. We spent a half an hour shooting the bull and Phil handed me some copies of the new Def Leppard double-disc Rock of Ages autographed by the entire band. Look for these in an upcoming giveaway on Classic Rock Revisited.

Now, backstage life is not nearly as glamorous as people have been led to believe. The dressing room was dark and rather dingy. There were no grand buffets or scantily glad groupies to be found anywhere. In fact, the only nudity came in way of singer Joe Elliott fresh from a shower with a bath towel tied around his waste. Guitarist Viv Campbell sat warming up on an acoustic guitar while drummer Rick Allen chatted with someone on a computer on the other side of the room. Phil was very gracious and introduced us to his son, Rory, who is accompanying Dad on tour as part of his summer high school break. After talking for a while we let Phil go to rehearse some acoustic versions of Def Leppard classics for an upcoming project.

All in all, Adams was much better live than I imagined him to be. His set was fun and the crowd that was there was into it. Most of the audience, however, was there to see Def Leppard. When Def Lep took the stage the stands had twice as many bodies in them and they were twice as loud. The band responded to the enthusiastic crowd by showcasing their greatest hits in support of their new CD Rock of Ages. It was almost like seeing a combination of the Pyromania and Hysteria tours! Some of the best highlights, however, came from other albums including a killer version of Badfinger’s “No Matter What” from the new CD. It was almost eerie how much this sounded like the original version. The only real difference was that the guitars rocked harder.

"Promises" was also performed and the crowd ate it up. This is an oft overlooked song from the album Euphoria. The song is classic Def Lep from the opening guitar lick to the anthem chorus. If you have not discovered this album then take it from me, you will love it! The band closed the show with Joe Elliott saying, “I never thought I would introduce this song as the title track of our new album: ‘Rock of Ages.’” The two-song encore consisted of “Bringing on the Heartbreak” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The former rocked so hard the crowed worked itself into a frenzy and the latter saw the bikini tops flung off the bodies of the drunken party girls atop of their boyfriends shoulders. Both events were very welcome to rock journalists standing at the side of the stage!

Rick Allen’s one arm drumming technique continues to be an amazing sight to behold. The man has more talent in one arm then most drummers have with two! Bassist Rick Savage was obviously having a good time. He communicated with the audience through a series of smiles and grins the entire show. Viv Campbell takes a backseat to Collen in the number of solos played onstage but don’t be fooled; he gets plenty of moments to shine. Whereas Collen is a tasteful, melodic lead player, Viv rips your face off with blues based riffs performed with the speed of lightening and the force of a freight train. Campbell continues to prove he is one of the best metal players in the history of the genre. For the few out there who still don’t know, Viv was the man on DIO’s classic Holy Diver and Last in Line albums. Joe Elliott still commands a strong strange presence and while he does not banter with the crowd, it is obvious he is leading the show. His vocals were solid and the band tore it up throughout the entire show.

Phil Colllen struggled with his inner ear monitors early on. After the show he explained they had patched in Joe’s monitor into his ears so he could not hear a note of what he was playing. After several nods, glances and hand signals to his guitar technician, Collen finally pulled the monitors out of his ears and was forced to play with only the PA as his guide. The man is amazing because despite the troubles he had, he didn’t miss a note. Phil is a very underrated player. His lead playing is very melodic and he chooses to use his skills to accent the song instead of showing off. His rhythm playing is second to none as Leppard may say they play three-chord power anthems but both Collen and Campbell are doing way more than hitting power chords on their guitars. Add to this the classic Def Leppard harmonies being sung by everyone onstage and you have talented musicians playing complex songs flawlessly. Def Leppard maintains the integrity of the sounds found on their albums. Their classics are very studio oriented so the fact they can replicate the songs onstage is a testament to their musicianship.

After the show, we sauntered backstage and found Collen and the boys. We spend time talking about family, traveling and music and eventually spent a few moments with Rick Allen and Joe Elliott. It was impressive to see the band as both rock stars and real people. Onstage, they were rock stars. Offstage, however, they became people just hanging out and enjoying the atmosphere. I eventually snuck up to the press boxes and luxury seats and made it down into the teams dugouts as well. After all, just how many times in life is one allowed to roam the underbelly of a baseball stadium? As cool as that was, it was the music and the musicians that made the show. While Bryan Adams was good, Def Leppard was great. Classic Rock Revisited highly recommends this tour. You will definitely rock till ya drop!.

By Jeb Wright @ classicrockrevisited 2005.

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