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Sunday, 2nd November 2008
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Adelaide, SA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard and Cheap Trick rock Adelaide By Patrick McDonald

LET'S Get Rocked declared Def Leppard as their parting gesture on Sunday night - and Adelaide had been, to the very foundations of its Entertainment Centre.

Opening with an orchestral recording of God Save The Queen, red curtains drew back in a replica of the UK hair metal band's latest CD cover Songs from the Sparkle Lounge to reveal a gigantic video screen with a montage of its history, before a missile emblazoned with the Union Jack blasted off to the crunching chords of Rocket. Keeping with the carnival theme, the band was portrayed as animated circus freaks on Animal, then joined by an all-star cast of thousands for C'Mon C'mon. Like the metal anthem Go, it showed the instantly catchy quality and strength of the group's new material.

The big power ballads - Love Bites, Two Steps Behind - built from gentle intros to spectacular conclusions, aided by a light show that mixed flash with fury. All the big hits were there, from Armageddon It to the hundreds of cascading band images project during Photograph, the thundering call-and-response of Pour Some Sugar on Me and Rock of Ages. We even got "footcam" close-ups to see the fancy pedal work of one-armed drummer Rick Allen, who also scored an impromptu chorus of Happy Birthday from the audience.

By Adelaide Now 2008.


By Bobby Tyger

Do you wanna get rocked!! British rock heavy weights Def Leppard made a triumphant return to our shores after a sixteen year absence after rocking the Entertainment Centre back in 1992. With more than sixty five million record sales, playing to more than fifty million fans over their career and a back catalogue of killer albums such as Hysteria, Pyromania and Adrenalize the stage was set for an awesome night of rock music.

Adelaide should be counting its lucky stars that we were included on their Australia tour after initially not making the itinerary. With that in mind I would have thought that the Entertainment Centre would have been packed to the rafters but a small die hard legion of fans made sure it was a night to remember. The band everyone wanted to see was Def Leppard who hit the stage bang on 9.30pm. The staging was typical for a massive stadium rock show with three massive video screens fired up to show the Def Leppard timeline from conception right up to now.

The crowd went bunter as they opened with Rocket followed closely by Animal. I thought the tendency could have been to load the set with Songs From The Sparkle Lounge but there was a good balance with a handful being played. C'Mon, C'Mon was the first taste of the new album and fortunately most of the crowd knew the words and sung along. The runway down the middle was a great idea giving more people the chance to get closer to the band.

It was great to see that Go made the set with Love Bites receiving rapturous applause. For me the acoustic set was a little hum drum for my liking with Two Steps Behind and Bringin' On The Heartbreak being stripped back and a chance to regroup before launching in to Hysteria, Armageddon It and the very popular Photograph. Rick Allen celebrated his birthday the night before and Joe told a story about how he was playing drums on his sixteenth birthday, opening for AC/DC. The crowd sung happy birthday with Joe holding out the microphone for full effect.

The set closed out with Pour Some Sugar On Me and Rock Of Ages before returning for a one song encore with Let's Get Rocked. I'm sure they could have done a couple more but did seem like a timely point to exit. Interestingly enough once the band left the stage the lights dimmed giving a false impression that there would be more but not be... hopefully it's not another sixteen years before another return.

By Fasterlouder 2008.


Leppard roars in Adelaide By Craig Farmer

FAITHFUL fans had waited 16 years for the return to Adelaide of British monsters of rock, Def Leppard. Consumate showman Joe Elliott and the boys emerged onto the Entertainment Centre stage on Sunday, November 1 and extracted every ounce of energy that they could from a typically reserved Adelaide crowd that was decent, but not capacity.

It had been disappointing earlier in the night when US legends Cheap Trick took so long to get into its set, appearing to lack intensity. Guitarist Rick Nielsen stumbled about, throwing picks in his customary manner, and his collection of guitars, including a five-necked behemoth, was a collector's dream. Those high enough in the stands to see behind the stack of amps could see vocalist Robin Zander amusingly fixing his long hair mid-set. He also made the rock faux-pas of wearing his own band's t-shirt.

Later, Joe Elliott was also spotted behind the stack, having his straightened hair 'seen to'. Who said hair bands were dead? Def Leppard put on a visual spectacle from the word go, with a Union Jack appearing on a huge screen, to God Save the Queen. Rocket got the crowd wound up and predictably it was all the old favourites that hit the spot, such as Animal, Love Bites and Pour Some Sugar on Me. It wasn't until the encore, Let's Get Rocked, that the band seemed sure that they had brought the timid Adelaide crowd out of its shell.

Earlier, Australian up-and-comers The Galvatrons had warmed the crowd sufficiently, led by the hilarious, arm-raising guitar-hero antics of Johnny Galvatron.

By Leader Messenger 2008.

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