home > tour history > 2011 > cincinnati > Media Reviews

Wednesday, 27th July 2011
Back  

Cincinnati, OH - Media Reviews

Def Leppard Does Riverbend In Cincy With Heart By Kara

HOT all around! Not only the temperature, but the performances were sizzling on July 27th at Riverbend in Cincinnati! Heart opened the show with the Led Zeppelin classic "Rock and Roll." Wow! Is it possible that Ann Wilson's voice is BETTER than it was 20 years ago? They went on to play some of their 70's stuff like "Magic Man," "Heartless," and "Straight On." I noticed Nancy wasn't playing lead guitar and then I discovered that she had a fractured wrist so they had another guitar player helping her out. She was still incredible when she played lead on a few of the songs. The group of ballads in the middle ("What About Love," "These Dreams," and "Alone") were good but slowed the pace of the concert down considerably. "Alone" was done acoustically and, once again, Ann ripped it up on the vocals. Of course they had to perform "Crazy on You" and "Barracuda" but the arrangements were different enough from the originals to make it interesting. Right in the middle of "Crazy on You" they transformed into this bluesy, acoustic section that was mind-blowing. The encore was an incredible cover of The Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me." Vocally, this is the best group that I have seen live; Ann and Nancy Wilson get better with age and I would definitely go see them over and over!

And that was just the opening band!!! Def Leppard's lead singer, Joe Elliot, mentioned at one point in the concert that the group has been together 34 years!! They all actually looked amazing. For those of you who haven't heard already, Joe Elliot's father passed away the beginning of July. They postponed Riverbend and several other concerts. This was actually their first performance back since the tragedy. So it seemed pretty appropriate to open with "Undefeated," one of their new studio tracks. Next up were "Let's Get Rocked," "Animal," "Foolin'," and "Love Bites." I have to say that Def Leppard was not one of my favorite bands from the 80's/90's but they really impressed me live. Their vocals and harmonies were spot on and the band was really tight. The only cover they did for the night was a cool version of David Essex's "Rock On." Rick Savage played a mean bass for that one.

Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell took turns shredding in the extended version of "Rocket." You'd be hard pressed these days to find a band with TWO lead guitar players that good. That was by far my favorite song of the night with the big instrumental break in the middle. Joe dedicated an acoustic version of "Two Steps Behind" to his father and an instrumental piece to Steve Clark, their guitar player that passed away in 1991; very touching moments. Before the evening ended they played the title song from the album "Hysteria" along with "Armageddon It" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" from the same album. Funniest moment was when Joe Elliot introduced Vivian Campbell, the guitarist who replaced Steve Clark in '91, and said he's tired of being called "the new guy" when he's been with the group for 191/2 years! The band closed with "Rock of Ages" and, although you could tell Joe's voice was getting tired, the crowd loved it. You have to catch this concert and, lucky for all of you, they will be coming back to Ohio August 24th at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland. Don't miss it!

By Pazz Magazine 2011.

Back

share this page:



get def leppard news

Stay in touch with the latest updates.




explore def leppard tour history
All News
Tour News
Album News
All Tours