Portland, OR - Fan Reviews
Fan Review - By Mark
I'm pretty sure these are the songs, but I'm sure some of these are out of order. They played it pretty safe with the set list. Joe said they hadn't played Have You Ever... in 12 years. He also commented when introducing Rock of Ages, something like "I never thought I'd be introducing this next song as the title track from our new album. Very comfortable evening for a show - no rain or wind. I ended up dead center with two people in front of me. Estimated 10,000+ crowd. Take that for what it is worth. Bigger crowd than I expected. Bryan Adams went down well I thought. Sounded good - all the hits.
Fan Review - By Sharoney
It was totally awesome!!! The rain held off until we were on our way home. It was perfect weather. They only played for approx. 90 minutes, but they really rocked. They looked great. It was kind of hard to hear them because the audience sang along to every song.
While I like Bryan Adams and even have an album or two, I am not a huge fan. DL is of course my favorite band. He played the most popular hits and there was a song that I am not familiar with that he asked the audience if anyone knew the words to. (this is 'When You're Gone' Bryan gets a female fan up at every show to sing it) He picked a young lady from the audience, she was about 22 or 23, and she went up on stage and sang the song with him. She did a really good job. He gave her and her boyfriend some t-shirts. Bryan played for about 90 minutes also.
There was an opening act, who of course, I had never heard of before. I think his name was Randy Coleman. He played the acoustic guitar and sang a few songs.
Fan Review - By Tammy
The show began at 6:00 pm with the opening act Randy Coleman an acoustic duo. To be honest I wasn’t really listening, but they sure seemed enthusiastic.
Bryan Adams came on about 6:30 PM and really put on an energetic show. His guitar player seemed to use a different guitar for every song and it was fun to watch Bryan and the guitar and bass player playing together in their matching outfits; black t-shirts, boots and what appeared to be exactly the same jeans. One lucky lady got to come up on stage and sing with Bryan because she knew the words to the song he was about to sing. She was absolutely beaming. What an awesome fan moment. Bryan’s set was done around 7:55 pm and then the crews went into action. Bryan’s crew totally dismantled everything and Def Leppard’s crew set up their equipment. They had approximately a half and hour to do it, but they appeared to be ready in less than ten minutes. They worked like a well-oiled machine; it was hard to believe it was the first show.
Def Leppard came out at about 8:35 and from the first moment on stage rocked the house. The crowd went wild. The lights made a difference in the performances between the first two sets and Def Leppard’s set. Everything seemed to come alive. The entire band looked lean and ready, everyone seemed genuinely happy to be there. They played “all the hits”: Action, Let's Get Rocked, Women, Foolin’, Hysteria, Promises… there was very little break between songs. The lights would dim and then come right back up again. Joe announced No Matter What and the audience seemed to sing along to it just as they had for all of the standards. The show continued with Love Bites, Armageddon It, Rocket, Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad, Photograph and Animal. Joe announced that he never thought he would introduce the next song as the title of their new album Rock of Ages and then after playing it with all their hearts they took their bows and asked the audience to come and see them again and left the stage. The lights only dimmed slightly and the audience continued to clap and scream, although not as much as some concerts that I have been to where you really feel that you are calling them back on stage. I think everyone expects an encore these days. Def Leppard delivered with a rendition of Bringin' on the Heartbreak began by Vivian that actually gave me chills. They finished the night with Pour Some Sugar On Me and left the stage. It was over so quickly - a true fan always wants more. Def Leppard has such a great catalog of songs and to me each one is a hit even if it wasn’t ever on the charts. I could have danced all night.
Fan Review - By Janet Crum
The opening date in Portland rocked!! Couldn't get the set list b/c a bunch of drunks nearly squashed me, trying to push their way up front. When will these idiots learn that you can't dislodge women from the front of a Def Lep show?? Sheesh. Now for a few random observations about the show. I hope others who were there will share their notes too. The set is totally different, not to mention short. They opened with 'Action', played 'Let's Get Rocked' early in the show (and did the clean version like last tour), and encored with Bringin' On The Heartbreak' and 'Pour Some Sugar On Me'. Oh, and they played Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad'! Joe said it was the first time they'd played it live in about 12 years, but I think I remember them playing it in Vancouver BC on the Euphoria tour. But maybe I just dreamt that - not sure.
Newer stuff - not much. They played 'No Matter What', nothing from X, 'Promises' from Euphoria, and nothing from Slang. But then this is the greatest hits tour. Bryan Adams rocked. I hadn't seen him live since 1985 (yeah, I'm old), and he can still rock with the best of them. He even pulled a fan out of the crowd to sing with him on one song. Very cool.
And now for some shallow comments on the boys' appearance. Guys, you can skip this part :-) In no particular order... Phil looks the same as always, and his shirt was off by the second song (maybe sooner - I was distracted by the obnoxious drunks). Viv wore a DL shirt and jeans and also looked the same as always. He was very smiley and adorable. I could hardly see Rick except when he came out to say farewell at the end. Joe proved that he still looks great in leather pants. And Sav is still into the vests. I won't say anything else about him, in the interest of keeping this post family-friendly ;-)
It's wonderful having the first show on the tour but also a little sad, because already I don't have another show to look forward to. *Sniff* (3 of Janet's shots were also used in the 2nd gallery).
Fan Review -By Anon
After 25 years of waiting to see Def Leppard (which is one of my favorite bands) I would have to say they Delivered in Style. They mixed a lot of their older hits with the newer ones but did not play anything from "On Thru The Night" that's O.K. They rocked us and I hope I get another chance to see them again. They played at PGE Park in Portland Oregon with Bryan Adams on June 1st 2005.
Fan Review - By KJ
The Portland, Oregon show was the first of the summer tour. Def and Bryan Adams both performed extremely well. I managed to get within ten yards of the stage just left of center. The sound was excellent, not too loud, and Joe's voice seems to be in top form. Only disappointment was not hearing a song from X. That will probably change as the tour proceeds. Bryan Adams pulled a girl out of the audience to sing one of his obscure songs with him...I'm sure that made her day! I was hoping Joe would pull me up for Sugar...no such luck.
This was the first time I had attended a Def concert without chairs or assigned seating. Lots of pushing ad shoving and a few fights, however this ended after the fourth song when the drunks burned out.
The band is in top form and I'm looking forward to the covers cd this fall and eventually a new original next year hopefully!.
Fan Review - By Andrea
Just wanna let all you Lep Lovers know how they rocked the house here in Portland on June 1. I had the chance to meet Viv and Rick Allen backstage and they were polite and generous with the autographs of shirts and cd's. To hell with all those who say Lep is washed up. I am only 28 and prefer to listen to their old and new albums over some of todays processed garbage. I look forward to seeing them in Vancouver Canada in August - I paid a hefty price on Ebay to get 3rd row tix, but I would pay any price to hear the melodic voice of Elliott and an extended version of Rocket again!! Rock on guys and thanx for the autographs - you really made my year!!!.
Fan Review - By Ramona
I arrive at the venue about 12:30 in the afternoon and try and find a place to park and anyone who's lived in Portland or been to Portland knows this isn't easy. I finally find a place to park and head to the venue. First thing I see is a HUGE sign saying "Rock N Roll Double Header Def Leppard Bryan Adams in Concert Wednesday"
There is only like 8 people lined up at the doors but I'm not interested in hanging out there, I head immediately to the buses and I found them when searching for a place to park.
Anyway, I get there and only the roadie buses are there at the time. I see a guy that had been at the Clark County the last time I saw the Leps and I go up and we start talking. Along about an hour later, the Boys buses arrive but NO ONE gets off and I find this a bit odd.
We wait and wait and it begins to POUR. I think, “Great, if they come out they won’t want to sign anything in the rain.” Eventually it lets up and time is ticking. Finally I see Mal and think the boys aren’t far behind. I wave to him and say Hi and he waves back and says “Hi, how are you?” I tell him fine and he goes about his business. Later, he gets in this white van and I hear him talking about the hotel and know he’s going to get Joe.
I figured maybe the other boys were there too since Phil always comes out and hangs around when he comes on the bus.
While I'm standing there waiting, a DL roadie comes by and I'm wearing this shirt I painted and it says “Get Down On Your Knees and Let me Know You’re Hear to Please” and the roadie comes by and asks me if anyone’s dropped to his knees yet.” I laugh and say no and he quickly says “I’m not saying I’m going to but I had to ask.” LMAO
Then a few minutes later, another roadie comes by and he wants a picture of me with my shirt on. I let him take the picture and he makes sure I’m smiling for it and then he leaves. Not too long after that, a news crew comes by and they give the guy I’m standing next to a mic and they start asking him questions about Def Leppard and how long he’s been a fan, etc and I’m standing next to him and they tell me to look for myself on the 10 o clock news. How cool is that?
I wait until about 6 and still no boys so I decide to go into the venue. By this time over 9,000 fans have been let into the venue and this venue is HUGE. This venue, they use for all games including football, soccer, baseball. I’d say it was about as big as a major league baseball park only this is minor league. The stands were pretty crowded by this time and I make my way down to the stage. In front of the stage is pretty crowded too and at first I am way back but eventually I make my way closer as the first guy comes on.
I do not remember his name but he played acoustic and did a few songs, kind of like Ricky did and he’s not bad but not really my type of music. He plays for about half hour I’d say and then goes off stage and says he’s signing CD’s in front if anyone wants to go there.
We wait for Bryan Adams to come on and by this time, I had bought my t shirt(s) and also a Keychain. I bought two shirts, Hysteria and a Rock of Ages one. They had a lot of cool merchandise including thongs, tank tops, keychains, several different kinds of shirts including a Union Jack shirt with sequins in the lettering of Def Leppard and they had a REALLY cool Def Leppard denim jacket. On the front, it had a Def Leppard patch and on the back, an even bigger patch that said “Def Leppard Rock of Ages” and it had the cover picture on it. They had Bryan Adams shirts too. Unfortunately, they do not have any program books but it is early in the tour so they may show up later, however being the tour is so short, they may not.
Anyway, it's 6:30 and Bryan Adams hits the stage. There is a piano on one side of the stage and he has the symbols of his new album 'Room Service' in the background. He looks good. Woman with Bryan by Ramona. During the set, Bryan is in between songs and he is talking about a song he's going to do and he says that he knows someone in the audience knows this song and he’s going to drag them up onstage to sing it with him and they’d better know the song. He picks out this lucky gal and she gets up on stage and she gets to sing an ENTIRE song with Bryan Adams. She is actually pretty good and she is in total Heaven, you can tell and Bryan and her sung very close together. He also did this little dance together where they were back to back and he rubbed his butt with hers. Lol Anyway, she had a great time and she couldn’t believe she was onstage with Bryan Adams.
Bryan Adams finishes about 8 and we are standing there waiting for Def Leppard. 8:30 comes around and the Boys hit the stage and OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD!!! Joe looks INCREDIBLE. He is wearing the outfit he wore on the Today show, Black Leather pants and that dark short-sleeved shirt. He has lost so much weight. Joe looks great. Phil as usual, isn’t wearing a shirt and is wearing jeans. Although he did wear a shirt at one point, a black one. He’s looking sexy, Sav comes out wearing black pants and a black vest with nothing underneath, and the vest is cut so that it gives you a peek of his sexy belly button. Lol Rick is wearing the new Raven Drum shirt and a pair of pants. Viv is wearing a brown Def Leppard shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
This is all the songs including the encore songs. They played 1 song less than Bryan Adams. I was disappointed they did not play Slang since that was their usual set and I had hoped to hear When Love and Hate Collide but they did do Have You Ever Needed Someone so Bad and Joe had said they hadn’t done that song in about 12 years live Joe talked about this being the first gig of the new tour and the audience goes wild. He also talked about the fact that the Rock of Ages Album is representing 25 Years of Def Leppard and again the audience goes wild. Every time one of the boys would come to the front of the stage, the crowd would go absolutely NUTS, especially for Joe and Phil. Lol Viv was welcomed with great applause and that made me happy since the last time I saw them on tour, I heard boo’s in the audience.
Joe during 'Let's Get Rocked', Joe says “I suppose a Rock’s out of the Question Portland Oregon” He included Portland into his talks between songs a few times and surprisingly, he’s not as talkative as he usually is. Now with Sav, he was very relaxed and happy. He SMILED at least 6 times during the show I could see. I saw those pearly whites several times and he was having fun. Joe was having fun too you could tell. Phil was his usual happy self and he was really into the gig, as they all were. Viv was more quiet and reserved, kind of like Sav usually is and stayed to his side of the stage most of the time. Tell me, do the boys switch roles or something? I could swear they take turns doing this. Lol
This is not your typical Def Leppard show because it was shorter and they seemed to stick to a strict regimen of songs and didn’t offer that much in an encore. The concert was great and I had a total blast, it’s just different from the usual gig. Oh and Phil was really strutting his stuff, shaking those hips and doing a sexy dance which the women went wild over. Sav did his thing with his hand where he has it on his forehead and scans the audience with his eyes. Sav is looking good with his hair a little long but not too long and he looks more fit than usual as well. During the Bryan Adams gig, one woman in front of me held up a sign for Bryan which he never saw and it annoyed people in the back. I had a sign but decided not to hold it up.
For one thing, it was dark by the time the boys came out, they wouldn’t see it, and it was bigger than the other signs I saw in the crowd. Lol One woman got on this guys shoulders and was trying to get Bryan’s attention and he didn’t see her and she kept waving and another woman behind her was getting ticked and she came up behind her and Yanked her off the guys shoulders and there was almost a fight.
During DL, one woman tried crowd surfing but that was about as wild as the concert got, which is okay by me because I don’t want to deal with it. There were several kids in the crowd and they couldn’t see because of how many people were in front of them but you could tell they loved Def Leppard. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any flashing going on, which is probably good cause of the kids and Joe never cursed once. He’s keeping everything in check because of the kids in the crowd. As Phil said on Rockline, Joe's going to have to watch his potty mouth.
I had the most Fantastic time and I cannot wait to see another Lep show. Thanks for reading.
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