Syracuse, NY - Media Reviews

Def Leppard makes it feel like 1977 isn't so far away (review) By Chris Baker

There was a point halfway through Def Leppard's Lakeview Amphitheater set Monday night where Joe Elliott stopped to survey his crowd. He paused in the middle of a story about his band's late 1970s origins to pore over the sea of unsleeved men and tank-topped women with a smile.

"Who was alive in 1977?" he asked. A roar erupted from the crowd. He chuckled in a droll English manner. "Who wasn't alive in 1977?" A few muted whoops and ageful snickers rung out.

Why was he asking? Well it was 1977 when he and Rick Savage (who he called his "best mate") laid the foundation for the band that would later find a smash of success in the States with hits like "Pour Some Sugar On Me." They were a couple of kids who liked The Clash and the Sex Pistols, Elliott said, and they've been making music together ever since.

Fast forward 39 years to Monday night, when Elliott, Savage et al drew a crowd of more than 10,000 -- most of whom experienced 1977 -- to the Lakeview Amphitheater. The band has seen some members go and has suffered devastating challenges (drummer Rick Allen lost an arm in a car crash in 1985). But they've persevered, played on, and gave fans 90 minutes of old school, new wave rock at Syracuse's newest concert shed.

Def Leppard headlined the show, which also featured Tesla and REO Speedwagon on a particularly steamy Monday.

"This is our fourth show of the tour and it's by far the hottest one," Elliott said while cursing the heat. "It doesn't bother us. We sweat."

And sweat they did.

Tesla led off with sinewy singer Jeff Keith delivering a piercing set of chic rock. After that, REO Speedwagon gave an hourlong performance. That band's frontman, Kevin Cronin, sang with the boyish clarity that is forever associated with the group's sound. And though the pure force of his voice seemed faded, he made up for it with tireless energy as a showman: telling stories and prancing about the stage with the effervescence of a teenager.

Def Leppard took the stage at 9:25 p.m. Guitarist Phil Collen came out sans shirt, roaring onstage already glistening as if he'd oiled up beforehand or was, perhaps, just naturally slick. Rick Allen towered above the stage on a drum set drenched in British iconography. Savage (bass) and Vivian Campbell (guitar) rounded out the front four and led an assault of electric noise and layered vocals.

The enthusiasm from Leppard was a bit of a comedown after Cronin's relentless energy. In comparison, Elliott's demeanor came off more subdued, as he offered dry witticisms every few songs and belted out each track from center stage.

Yet his presence was undeniable. He showed off the little things gleaned from a lifetime onstage. When he descended a staircase, for example, he timed each footstep to the beat of the bass drum. When a hydraulic platform he was riding faltered, he didn't flinch. When Allen tore into a blazing one-armed drum solo, he knew to step aside and let the man shine.

He even gave a very subtle nod to the late David Bowie at the end of "Hysteria" by sneaking in a lyric from "Heroes."

The group covered, as Elliott put it, "some old stuff, some new stuff, some borrowed stuff." (He tried to make a joke about "some blue stuff" too, but didn't quite get the setup right.) They played "Dangerous," from a new album, as well as fan favorites like "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

As for that 1977-and-beyond crowd, they soaked it up, dancing in the aisles, screeching along and flailing limbs excitedly in the air. There was an aura of nostalgia in the house -- though Leppard is by no means a nostalgia act.

Still, the band drew a crowd eager to revel in the days when rock 'n roll meant long untamed hair, tight black pants and thrusting guitar solos. The days when tight black t-shirts showed you were part of the counterculture, as did jewelry with skulls on it.

The days when you could party with your favorite glam rockers on a Monday night without another care in the world. And this Monday, for just a little while, it almost felt like 1977 wasn't so long gone.

By Syracuse 2016.

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