Toronto, ON - Media Reviews

Def Leppard Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto - July 4, 2009 By Jane Stevenson

Def Leppard, whose only Canadian date of their current tour is Toronto, clearly had its work cut out for them but rose to the occasion.

Major man candy was provided by shirtless and buff guitarist Phil Collen and equally attractive fellow axeman Vivian Campbell, with both men providing exciting solos that elevated every song in the band's 90-minute set.

The group, who hail from Sheffield, opened with a few bars of God Save The Queen and Union Jacks figured prominently whether on bassist Rick Savage's instrument or one-armed drummer Rick Allen's vest.

Frontman Joe Elliott, meanwhile, held down the singing end nicely, frequently venturing out on a catwalk to get closer to the crowd as did the other band members, most memorably during a two-song acoustic set of Two Steps Behind and Bringin' On The Heartbreak.

After covering David Essex's Rock On, Def Leppard's performance slowly climaxed toward the end with huge hits like Photograph, Pour Some Sugar on Me and Rock Of Ages with the show's finale punctuated by a previously planned fireworks display at Ontario Place.

By Jam Showbiz 2009.

Ear Poison Rock of Love hype takes away from otherwise great efforts by Cheap Trick and Def Leppard By Carla Gillis

It's hard not to have a good time at a concert where old rockers play back-to-back hits, hits you lost your mind over when you were 12.

Cheap Trick kept things breezy and pro, onstage for just a blink, but delivering pitch-perfect versions of Dream Police, a cover of the Beatles' A Day In The Life (in advance of their September Las Vegas stint) and, of course, Surrender. Robin Zander can still hit the high notes and Rick Nielsen's still zany. (He played a five-necked guitar for final song Hello There, making the jaw of the tenish-year-old boy in front of me hit the floor.)

Poison. Oh god, Poison. I have to imagine they only got on this bill due to Bret Michaels's success with the VH1 series Rock Of Love. Basically Michaels huffs and puffs out a few inaudible cliched lyrics while C.C. DeVille - looking like a strip of burnt bacon wearing a hat of exploding linguine - pinches his guitar strings until they squeal. There's pyro, gratuitous guitar solos, crowd pandering and lots of running back and forth across the stage. Still, the 14-year-old in me went slightly nuts during Talk Dirty To Me.

Following Poison, Def Leppard seem like the most sophisticated band on earth. Aside from double-chinned singer Joe Elliott, they've remained svelte and dapper, with guitarist Phil Collen, shirtless and greased at 51, even going so far as to become Chippendale material. As the moon rose high in the sky, they played fan faves primarily from Hysteria and Pyromania, and sounded powerful, genuine and original. Love Bites made every middle-aged couple in the amphitheatre plunge their tongues down each other's throats. Twenty years later, it's still a sexy song. Twenty years later, bassist Rick Savage still makes me swoon.

By NOW Magazine 2009.

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