Salt Lake City, UT - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Geoff, Utah

Call me a pessimist, but I guess I'm the only one that was disappointed with the Leps last night. The band did the exact same setlist as Denver, which isn't why I'm disappointed (more on that in a minute...) They came out with "Let's Get Rocked," which I really like but the volume was down really low and Joe's voice sounded like crap, and I don't understand why as this was only the 2nd show after a two week break. Next I heard the opening cords of "Let it Go" but barely recognized it at first because they were playing it so damn slow. Way slower than the album version and it didn't sound right. Still good, but not it's normal self. Usually that song gives me chills it's so great.

This was the 5th time I've seen the leps, and it was by far the biggest crowd (20,000 people sold out-not bad considering NO songs from YEAH have been played on Salt Lake City radio), but this was also the lowest energy given by the band, along with the crappiest sound from the mixboard. I'm not sure what really happened, maybe the guys were a little worn out from playing in the high elevation of Denver the night before, but they came out really flat and with not much energy. 3rd song was Promises, and they played that slower than normal as well, which kind of ruined it for me. The bands lack of opening energy, volume, and sound mix kind of reflected on the audiences response as well, as the crowd pretty much just cheered after the songs only, and nobody was really going crazy during the songs themselves. I think the crowd was as shocked as I was with what I described up above. I was starting to wonder if my favorite band since I was 10 years old (33 now) is starting to lose a few steps.

Fortunitely, by the time they played the 4th or so song (Foolin') their energy increased, the volume was finally up, and Joe's voice got a little better. It was still strange however with their lack of usual energy. Sav, Viv and Joe weren't all over the entire stage going nuts like usual, and quite frankly it was a little strange to see. Even still, this was a Def Leppard show, and they still kicked ass compared to a lot of other bands, and as the show progressed, their energy level picked up a bit too, as did the volume and (for the most part) Joe's voice.

As others have mentioned in previous reviews, the visual show on the backscreen was AWESOME, and really added a nice demension to the show. The leps still rocked the house, but after attending this show, I'm starting to understand what all of the die-hard Journey fans were saying on their board about the negative things. I originally thought they were just being biased and trying to make their band look better, etc., but out of the 5 lep performances I've seen ('96 Slang tour, Irvine Meadows, Ca...'99 Jingle Ball SLC, UT...2000 Utah State Fair, SLC, Ut...2002 X Tour, E-Center SLC, UT, and last night's show), last night had the biggest crowd by far, but was their shottiest performance. I really hope that last night the guys were just tired, and that they aren't losing a step or two or three.

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