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Friday, 17th August 2012
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Darien Center/Buffalo, NY - Media Reviews

Def Leppard, Poison and Lita Ford @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien, New York By Gus Griesinger

The Rock of Ages 2012 Tour came through Darien Lake, in Western New York, last Friday night featuring Def Leppard with Poison and special guest Lita Ford. With a resurgence of the Broadway play "Rock of Ages" now turned into a movie, Def Leppard headlined this appropriately named tour. With '80s rockers Poison and Lita Ford in tow, Darien Lake seemed to be in good hands this past Friday night.

Lita Ford, who has a new album titled "Living Like a Runaway," opened the night with a solid six song set. Yes, the set was short but Lita packed a punch with her limited times slot. The bonus track off her latest release is a cover version of Elton John's "The Bitch is Back" and it was a very appropriate way to start things off. Dressed in all black leather, Lita played her white BC Rich double neck guitar on her two closing songs "Close My Eyes Forever " and "Kiss Me Deadly." She engaged the audience and looked like she was having fun again! That "fun" seemed to be lacking the last few times we saw her in concert.

Next up was Poison. What's summer without a Poison tour and they are familiar with the WNY area. The band took the stage without their famed frontman Bret Michaels. Michaels levitated from beneath the stage to a mass amount of fireworks as "Look What the Cat Dragged In" was played. Watching a Poison show, you know what you're going to get, a high energy set with lots of balls! This was no exception. Poison still has all of its original members: Bret Michaels, CC Deville, Bobby Dall and Rill Rockett. The drawback of Poison's set was since they weren't a headlining, they didn't cover much material. I think they should have skipped the drum and guitar solos for more material. Michaels didn't play much guitar, except on "Fallen Angel." Dall, being a huge football fan, came out towards the end of the set wearing a Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo Bills) jersey.

Def Leppard took the stage at about 9:15pm to a mass of smoke. Both bassist Rick Savage and vocalist Joe Elliot also levitated from the stage joining the other members while they were playing "Undefeated." The entire band (especially Elliott), worked the thrust that was at the center of the stage the entire night. Much has been made on how Elliott's voice lacked the quality and punch in recent years/tours but, to me, it held strong for most of the set. In fact, I haven't seen Def Leppard in a few years and they sounded better than the last time I saw them back in 2008. Hearing "Gods of War" was the highlight of the night for me. From true Leppard fans, they said this song hasn't been preformed since the Hysteria tour. On "Make Love Like a Man," guitarist Phil Colin took the lead vocals on one of the verses. The band came out one by one for a acoustic jam at the end of the thrust, playing snippets of some of their ballads and classic songs along with a Rolling Stones cover "You can't Always get What You Want." All sitting on a road case, the band played and interacted very heavily with the crowd. The tune "Women" sounded amazing! It may have been the gem of the night. During "Photograph," old band images were displayed on the video backdrop. All in all, a great night of music for ages young and old alike!

By Backstageaxxess 2012.


Def Leppard Rock For The Ages By Joe Russo

It's fitting that the musical, "Rock of Ages", chose the title of a Def Leppard song to define the music of a generation. Even though Tom Cruise and the cast butchered pretty much every song in the movie version, it's still a testament to the band's enduring power.

While you can pretty much anticipate what you are going to hear at a Def Leppard show, Friday night at Darien Lake, the band led the crowd through a tight set of great songs, a few remakes, and even a few surprises.

First off they fooled us with the intro to "Pour Some Sugar on Me", before they launched into the newer song "Undefeated". But it only took a few songs into the set before you knew these guys were in top form.

The band is in the middle of re-recording "digital forgeries" of some of their classic songs in an effort to battle thier label over compensation issues and it showed on songs like "Love Bites", "Armageddon It" and the predictable encore song "Rock of Ages".

You could argue that Def Leppard's success inadvertntly led to the demise of 80's metal. Inevitably as a band rises to fame, record companies roll out the copy cats until the genre is destroyed. A decade that started with Def Leppard, Van Halen and Bon Jovi, ended with Slaughter and Skid Row and left the door open for grunge to takeover.

Def Leppard has never shied away from their classic roots like Mott the Hoople and the Rolling Stones, and paid homage on Friday night with a remake of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" during the acoustic portion of the show. Perhaps that's why Def Leppard continues to sound so good. They really aren't just a hair band. They are an extension of the music that came before them and influenced them. They are one of a handful of hair bands who still seem relevant today.

Def Leppard's "Hysteria" album turned 25 years old earlier this month (still remember being a rockin' mullet wearin' 17 year-old and walking to Cavages in the Seneca Mall to buy the cassette) and is arguably one of the biggest albums of the 80's. It sounds as fresh today as when it was released in 1987. It was a daring project with the infusion of electronic drums, MIDI effects and pop melodies. It could have easily drove their hard-rocking fan base away, but instead catapaulted the band to legend.

Ironcially, the new sound came as a result of tragedy with drummer Rick Allen flipping his car and losing his arm. He built a new kit, had to relearn to play and electronic drums were added to help him continue to get the sounds he needed.

They could have kicked Allen out of the band after his accident, they could have called it quits after the band's original guitarist, Steve Clark, died of a drug overdose in 1991. They didn't. Allen continues to play and Vivian Campbell, a guitar legend in his own right, has been with the band no for 20 years.

On Friday night Def Leppard proved, despite turmoil and changing musical trends, they are Rock for the Ages. No burn out or fading away in sight. Lucky for us.

By 92.9 Jack FM 2012.


Media Review - Poison, Def Leppard double dose of fun By Joe Sweeney

They say that in pop culture, as in life, everything's cyclical. That, for example, the things we loved un-ironically in the '80s are bound to be considered hip again if we just wait long enough.

But although kids these days sport mullets, listen to moody synth bands and buy Goonies T-shirts at Kohl's, they don't seem to have found a place in their heart quite yet for the pop metal bands of yore, who dominated the '80s rock landscape with their unapologetically huge, completely nonsarcastic anthems about girls and sad cowboys.

So Friday night's Def Leppard and Poison double bill at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center wasn't what a critic would call "relevant." But critics can be wet blankets. This was a haven for thousands of music fans who could care less what the mainstream dictates - and isn't that pretty much the definition of "cool"?

After a punchy opening set from former Runaways guitarist and '80s metal queen Lita Ford - in which she impressively sang all the parts of her Ozzy duet "Close My Eyes Forever," handling its clean and distorted sections on a double-neck guitar - Poison took the stage.

Millennials probably know Poison mostly for its reality show-starring, perpetually doo-ragged lead singer, Bret Michaels. But in the late '80s, this was one of rock's hottest tickets, its dumbed-down Cheap Trick party anthems resonating with kids who couldn't understand why their parents loved that "Graceland" album so damn much. And the group brought us back to that simpler, sillier time with aplomb on Friday.

"This is about freedom of the soul," Michaels shared as the band ripped into its cliche-addled biker anthem "Ride the Wind." It was a hilarious sentiment for sure, but an endearing one as well. On ensuing tunes like "Fallen Angel" and the Godzilla of the monster ballads, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," the lead singer's sincere, boyish enthusiasm made up for his middling vocal abilities. Guitarist C.C. DeVille possessed a similarly infectious energy - every time he ran up the catwalk for a solo, he had a maniacally gleeful look on his face, like he'd just won an Oscar.

Speaking of which, over the course of its 50-minute set, Poison found time for extended guitar and drum solos, a wonderfully absurd thing to witness in 2012.

Then came Def Leppard, with little fanfare other than a countdown clock. After getting their 2011 single "Undefeated" out of the way, the band rolled out the thunderous pop of "Rocket," its massive stops and starts a close cousin to Billy Squier's addictive hit "The Stroke." It was all smooth sailing from there, as the band celebrated its 35 years of existence by mixing the she-ditched-me-at-the-prom melodrama of tunes like "Love Bites" with candy-coated hard rock anthems like "Let's Get Rocked." Singer Joe Elliott didn't do much chatting, but his voice can still hit the high notes, and his glitter-spackled Chuck Taylors made me envious.

It was a more workmanlike set than Poison's - even the midset acoustic breakdown felt a bit too rehearsed - but Def Leppard still played all its hits with agility and skill, the crowd delighting in it all. I admit I personally found it hard to delight in "Make Love Like A Man," which could be the un-sexiest rock song of all time. Even when the cool kids of 2012 declare its ironic awesomeness, I won't be on board.

By Buffalo News 2012.


Def Leppard Redeem Themselves With New Set List By Joseph Suto

Last year when Def Leppard played the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, their set seemed quite stagnant and very stale. Much of that was attributed to vocalist Joe Elliott's Dad passing away which limited the band from rehearsals. Flash forward to Friday evening and everything about last year is now a mere memory as Def Leppard more than made up for it with a blistering set that capped off the Rock Of Ages Tour.

Leppard opened with "Undefeated" as they did the previous year, but by the third song "Let It Go" the diehards started to reap the rewards and it was full speed ahead from there. Hit after hit, "Animal", "Love Bites" and "Let's Get Rocked" the songs just kept on coming. This year Def Leppard added some gems that had fallen out of the set in recent years. Two of the more recent glaring omissions were "Women" and "Gods Of War" both found their way back in, to the delight of the Buffalo crowd.

The double power tandem of guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell received their chance to shine on several occasions throughout the night. Bassist Rick Savage seemed to be the most active member as he roamed the stage. Drummer Rick Allen stood behind his kit until the acoustic segment. It was during that time which all five members came out to the end of the center ramp as they performed a medley that started off with a Stones cover of "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Other songs included a rare play of the 2003 song "Now" and "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad", before ending with the traditional "Two Steps Behind".

Second on the triple bill was Poison. Bret Michaels and gang delivered a fifty minute set that featured everything one would expect in that short span. Opening with the traditional "Look What The Cat Dragged In", the band immediately ripped into "Ride The Wind". Guitarist CC DeVille took his turn in the spotlight during his solo per usual. Drummer Rikki Rockett did a drum solo that ended with him clocking his gong cymbal.

Even though the band hasn’t made any changes to their set over the past few years, Bret Michaels had a giddiness to him all night. Bret appeared to be having the time of his life all night and his performance showed.

Opening the show was Lita Ford, who began her thirty minute set with the Elton John cover of "The Bitch Is Back". Ford's band included bassist Marty O'Brien, drummer Scott Coogan and guitarist Mitch Perry. Keen eyes would also recognize that is also the same Mitch Perry who at one time played in Talas for a short while during the Phil Naro era. Lita also managed to slip in a pair of new tracks "Relentless" and the title track from her latest release Living Like A Runaway. Ford saved her two biggest songs for last as she ended with "Close My Eyes Forever" and "Kiss Me Deadly".

With several tours out on the road this summer, it is always hard for the fans to decide which ones they can attend. There are several factors in choosing which concerts to see especially in this economy. Perhaps some stayed away due to the ticket prices or some because they thought the show would be basically the same as it had been considering Leppard and Poison just toured together in 2009. Those that decided to come out were rewarded with a first rate show and left totally satisfied.

By Rock Show Critique 2012.

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