Auburn, WA - Media Reviews

Def Leppard Turn the Time Machine Back to the 1980s at White River Amphitheater By Dave Lake

Def Leppard straddle both sides of the line. Early in their career they leveraged their working-class roots to earn themselves street cred with hard rock audiences which they parlayed into mega-stardom thanks to pop hooks, double entendre, and a slicker production than the rest of their pop metal peers. It was a good move, and one that has kept the band in amphitheaters and arenas for 30 years now, including the White River Amphitheater on Thursday.

Def Leppard can thank their mostly mindless lyrics for some of their longevity, which isn't an insult as much as a saving grace, allowing their many hits to be preserved in a perpetual state of rock radio glory, a collection the band dusts off every few summers for another trip around the globe. Lines like "Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on," may not yield any new wisdom in the decades since it was written, but at least it sounds good when sung by 15,000 people.

Beyond their songs, the other thing that has aged Def Leppard gracefully is their aesthetic and approach to performing. They've always been a no-frills band. They never got lots of tattoos or got heavy into spandex and hairspray, always seeming closer to Journey than Poison. And they never relied on pyro blasts or other production elements, preferring a relatively simple stage set and a kickass light show. And little has changed. The band didn't hydraulically blast themselves onto the stage Thursday night or obscure themselves behind fog, they just walked on and went to work. And kudos to guitarist Phil Collen, who cut out the pretense by arriving on stage shirtless, saving him that requisite step later in the set.

The band opened with a song from their recent Mirrorball album, but beyond that, nearly every other song in the set was a hit, including six, count 'em six, from their Hysteria album alone, including "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me." There was a short acoustic portion of the show too, featuring "Two Steps Behind" and the first half of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," which concluded with the band plugging back in for the bridge and the epic final chorus.

Singer Joe Elliott, who still sounds good all these years later, said the tour was winding down, which he could tell because it was getting colder on stage each night. "It was 111 five days ago in Phoenix," he said. "And tonight its shrivel time." Elliott was ably backed-up by his bandmates, who provided powerful harmonies, another signature of the Def Leppard sound. Other set highlights included a trio of tracks from the band's breakthrough Pyromania record, "Foolin'," "Photograph," which featured old photos of the band on the screens behind them, and show-closer "Rock of Ages," a title now befitting of the band, one of the reigning kings of arena rock.

Fellow rock radio favorites Heart opened, playing a somewhat puzzling set that combined several classic rock covers with their own hits like "Barracuda" and "Magic Man." "Does anybody remember the '80s," singer Ann Wilson asked, before launching into "These Dreams," one of several power ballads the band found success with in the decade. Though the band lacked the power and craft of the headliners, the local heroes had plenty of fans who were eager to sing along and dance. Heart turned their time machine back even further, ending their set with a pair of covers, one from Led Zeppelin ("The Battle of Evermore") and one from The Who ("Love, Reign O'er Me").

By Dave Lake @ Seattle Weekly 2011.

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Heart, Def Leppard rock hard at White River By Christy Karras

Heart's girl-powered all-American rock ballads and Def Leppard's flamboyant British hard-rock boys might seem an odd combination.

But they have a lot in common. Both are known for strong vocals, harmonies and hard-charging guitar riffs. Both honor the iconic Led Zeppelin. Both rocked the '80s.

And both can still draw an enthusiastic crowd, as they did on Thursday at the White River Amphitheatre, playing to a nearly full house of screaming fans who rocked it old school.

Although Def Leppard was the headliner, the hometown crowd leapt to its feet when Ann and Nancy Wilson and their crew hit the stage with a stirring rendition of Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." From there, Heart went straight into a string of its own greatest hits: "Magic Man," "Heartless," "What About Love," "These Dreams," "Alone," "Crazy on You" and "Barracuda."

Ann Wilson, whose distinctive pipes are largely responsible for Heart's sound, strutted about, tossing her long black locks and belting out hits with her trademark electric vibrato and barely a hint of lost luster. Nancy Wilson playfully scissor-kicked and pelted the stage and fellow guitarist Craig Bartock with an apparently endless supply of guitar picks. The rest of Heart matched the sisters' energy.

For an encore, the sisters returned to Zeppelin, playing acoustic instruments and singing sans band on a worthy "Battle of Evermore." They closed with The Who's "Rain on Me."

"We've been all around the country, and boy, this sure feels good," Ann Wilson said, later adding, "Thank you for letting us go out there and say we're from Seattle."

Def Leppard brought an impressive show complete with a multitiered stage, video projections and a lot of sparkle, playing its own string of giant hits, most of which combine upbeat rhythms and grinding guitar: "Let's Get Rocked," "Foolin,' " "Love Bites," "Rocket" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

The bands have slowed a teeny bit. But both still prance around the stage, massage their guitars, wave their microphones, swing their hair and demand applause.

That is, both bands play rock the way they and everybody did in the '80s: full of exuberance and enthusiasm the 1990s pushed out of vogue in favor of today's tortured-artist stereotype.

These bands aren't tortured. They're having fun, with big hair, big licks and big rock. And why not? This is the kind of obvious joy in performing that's kept them going for decades and that keeps audiences on their feet in appreciation.

By Christy Karras @ Seattle Times 2011.

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