Newark, NJ - Fan Reviews

Fan Review - By Giovanni Magistrelli from Milan, Italy

Thanks to the "wonderful" service provided by the US immigration at JFK (three hours to go through the customs!) we cannot make it to the Prudential Center in Newark on time to watch Lita Ford. All we hear, talking with other punters, is that the set was pretty short (six songs) and mainly based on her 80's heydays.

Poison are good and Bret Michaels shakes and dances and sings as if we were all in 1990, age-wise. Being the rest of the band in the same state of grace we wonder why there is the need for the infamous guitar- and drum-solos (though C.C. DeVille shows taste and melody during his own display) to stretch the gig time. Moreover we get their unnecessary cover of Grand Funk's "We're an American band", pretty well played indeed, but this obliges the Pennsylvania band not to deliver songs like "Something to believe in" or "Stand" or "I won't forget you", as they are allowed only an hour on stage due to tight schedule time, and this looks like a missed chance for them as they could have played more songs of their own history. So for Poison a concert with pros and cons.

Def Leppard headline this "Rock of Ages Tour" (is it after the recent Tom Cruise movie's or after the song's title, actually?) and sometimes it is pleasantly hard for us to think that these young- looking dudes have been around since the late 70's. "Undefeated" from "Mirrorball" has been the usual well-received opener for the last two tours, but could you blame the audience for the overwhelming shouts and chants that go along the following winning streak, "Rocket", "Let it go", "Foolin'", "Animal" and their sole US number 1 "Love bites"?

Joe Elliott is in a far better vocal shape than in last year's tour, so even the other guys may shine on (whereas sometimes in the past they were more worried about hiding the singer's missteps). Rick Allen on drums and Rick Savage on bass are really essential, but they create the solid carpet for the two six-string players, Vivian Campbell, sometimes a bit restrained, but doing so very elegantly, and Phil Collen, the real virtuoso of the English line-up, they weave chords and solos to create, together with all the majestic harmony vocals, the Def Leppard sound no tribute band can reproduce exactly.

Through the gig Elliott reminds us that on this very day thirty years ago Collen joined the band (gosh, we are getting old!), and that 20 years later it was Campbell who replaced the late Steve Clark, notwithstanding as well twenty years since "Adrenalize" was issued. After "Let's get rocked", "Gods of war" is finally back into the setlist after a few years of absence (so is "Women") and then the unplugged number (Elliott, Savage, Collen, Campbell, all with acoustic guitars, and Allen with a tambourine) that becomes a medley running through some of the sometimes least understood songs of Def Leps; so we listen to "Where does love go when it dies" and "Now", together with "Have you ever needed someone so bad", "Two steps behind" and "When love and hate collide".

After this slow break, it is a rollercoaster for us all; the before mentioned "Women", then "Bringin' on the heartbreak/Switch625", "Hysteria", "Armageddon it", "Photograph" (oh, that starting riff!), to end up with the strip dancing "Pour some Sugar on me". A short pause and the five guys are back for the encore, "Rock of ages" (what else?), that shows no sign of 80's nostalgia, while Elliott sings "It is better to burn out than fade away…".

A great gig (maybe the only disappointment is that it was just not too long, as it ends one hour and half after its beginning), and while Elliott thanks the crowd with his usual phrase "don't forget us and we will not forget you", we are sure that we will not forget Def Leppard real soon.

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