Tokyo, Japan - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By ymsf

OK, so I just arrived in Tokyo and after much deliberation, decided to go and catch the Def Leppard/Whitesnake show in the legendary Budokan Hall. I had problems getting the ticket (if you know no Japanese, good luck trying to score tickets here), but thanks to a friendly Japanese colleague, I managed to buy a ticket. I bought the cheapest one and it was still expensive!

Budokan Hall isn't as big as I had thought, therefore it is an excellent venue to catch a show! It was definitely one of the best venues I have ever been at. And all the things you heard about Japanese crowds? They were all true - it was a sight to behold (if you really want to know, go watch Judas Priest live in Budokan or Ozzy live in Budokan, it was exactly like that). I am glad I had the chance to experience "LIVE IN BUDOKAN".

Whitesnake went first. Here's the setlist:

Best Years, Fool For Your Loving, Can You Hear The Wind, Love Ain't No Stranger, Lay Down Your Love, The Deeper The Love (acoustic), Is This Love, Guitar Solos, A Fool In Love, Ain't Gonna Cry No More, Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City, Give Me All Your Love, Here I Go Again, Still Of The Night.

I actually went to this show for Whitesnake; I never saw them live and I didn't like Def Leppard splitting their time with another band because DL has too many legendary songs (which explains why I skipped all tours after X tour). I was impressed with Whitesnake (although I don't know the names of two songs - somebody help!). Reb and Doug are killer guitar players. The highlight of the show is the acoustic "The Deeper The Love" - I didn't expect to hear this one! Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Lovin went very well. Some of the downers in Whitesnake set included Coverdale's vocals (which was mixed a bit too low) and the fact that they didn't play Burn (come on guys, no matter how blasphemous this is: you guys do it better than Deep Purple!) and they didn't sing We Wish You Well live (it was on an outro tape).

Next is Def Leppard! Here's the (very bland) setlist: (see above right)

What happened to the old adage "Japan gets better setlist than USA"????? I'll comment on setlist more later. Performance wise they did really well. This is my fourth Def Leppard concert and Rick/Sav/Phil/Viv never failed to deliver a top notch and energetic performance. Surprisingly Joe sounded much much better than he had been in the previous tours. The last tour I caught was X tour and he was mixed low. I wasn't surprised because he struggled then (but the setlist made up for everything). After that I saw some TV performances, heard some boots, and some of those were quite brutal (case in point was the VH1 rock honors - the chick singers saved the whole thing). This time Joe sang very well, his vocals were mixed appropriately with the instruments - I could hear him very well and I liked what I heard. Great job!

Unfortunately they moved me to a section on the side of the stage and I could not see the screen behind the stage very well. However, from what I could see, it was a very good presentation. Lightshow was very well done. I am not sure whether it's the venue or the soundmen, but the sound was excellent as well - it was loud enough without being overbearing. Perfect.

Highlights of the show included: Hysteria (their greatest song ever), the acoustic/electric Bringing On The Heartbreak followed by Switch 625 and Animal. Nine Lives went very well, and C'mon C'mon did too (I never liked this song and on the CD it's still lame - but live, it worked out just fine).

Now, the setlist. It was, in short, quite disappointing. How the hell is the stupid Rock On still there? Only 2 songs from the new album? Granted it's a relatively short show, but another one (preferably the all excellent Hallucinate) would be nice! Make Love Like A Man? I think Adrenalize is well represented by Let's Get Rocked (don't get me wrong, I like the album very much unlike those who think it's a weak follow up after Hysteria, but this is a short show, 1 Adrenalize tune is enough). I understand they need to do the hit parade, but I think they should mix it up, especially in Japan. People here love their Def Leppard, they were not there just for the hits. As far as I can tell, Japanese crowd appreciated everything that they played - rarities or hits.

If I had control over the setlist I'd add more song, cut some of the fat, consider all the hits and mix it up like this:

Let's Get Rocked, Cmon Cmon, Photograph, Nine Lives, Promises, Love Bites, Armageddon It, When Love And Hate Collide (acoustic), Bringing On The Heartbreak (half acoustic half electric), Switch 625, Hysteria, Ring of Fire, Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rocket. Encores: Hallucinate, Rock Of Ages.

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