Def Leppard News - 30 Years Ago JOE ELLIOTT Injures Back On DEF LEPPARD's HYSTERIA Tour

Tuesday, 29th August 2017

30 Years Ago JOE ELLIOTT Injures Back On DEF LEPPARD's HYSTERIA Tour

Def Leppard 1987

Def Leppard played a show in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 29th August 1987 and Joe Elliott suffered an on stage injury.

This was the third show of the Hysteria world tour which had started on 27th August in Dublin and the second night at the Ulster Hall.

It was also the night the Joe jumped off the drum riser during 'Die Hard The Hunter' and injured his back.

The lively crowd (including a few idiots) also made this a very memorable show for the band as heard in the audience recording that exists.

Joe talked at great length on stage at this show, perhaps more than any other in the band's history. Listen to one moment below just before 'Don't Shoot Shotgun' where Joe fires back at either Sav, Phil or Steve for "taking the piss" out of him.

In typical Leppard fashion this incident happened on the same day as the Hysteria album entered the UK chart at Number One.

Joe's face when he landed may have been similar to the photo below - taken in mid August 1988 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver, CO. This incident was mentioned in a review of the 1st September show in Nottingham.

Joe Elliott 1988

Joe Elliott Belfast 29th August 1987 - On Stage Quotes

"We've got a couple of morons down here. That are gobbing on us. I'd just like to say that spitting at a band is about as mature as shitting in your nappy. If you're stood at the side of anybody that's spitting on us give 'em a good kicking in the bollocks will ya. 'Cause they're probably a Terence Trent Darby fan anyway."

"So that's a little bit of a cry for help from the band. Here's a song which is a cry for help off the last album. I said this last night it actually it fits a lot of circumstances, it could be London, it could be Belfast, it could be New York, this is Billy's Got a Gun."

After Die Hard The Hunter

"I need a bottle of Brandy now!" - "I just really f**ked my back up, but the show must go on. You alright? He's alright."

He then introduced Steve with:

"Steve's got a...Steve's got a new double neck. And we'd like to play you right now one of our earlier songs a brand new way. Hope you like it it goes like this.".

He sounds in pain on the show recording but carries on singing, not taking a break until the encore. And has continued to have recurring back trouble since this gig. He had to wear a brace for the rest of the tour and later told of going to hospital right after this show.

Posted by Def Leppard Tour History on Saturday, August 29, 2015

Joe Elliott 1988

Before Don't Shoot Shotgun

"I tell ya it comes to something when you're own f**king best mate takes the piss out of you on stage!. I hope that your f**king strings break!."

Read more of Joe's quotes on the Belfast show page.

Joe Elliott 10th September 1987 - TV Interview Quotes

Your tour started in Dublin didn't it a couple of weeks ago. How did you feel the first night before you got onstage?.

"But it went really well and I must admit as well that the following two gigs in Belfast were just really amazing. I'd like to take the time actually to say any bands out there watching. If you've never been to Belfast, go because they're a brilliant crowd. They really are."

"They were so good I got a bit over enthusiastic and jumped off the drum riser and landed weird and trapped a nerve in my back. That did me in for a couple of days."

A friend of mine said he saw you at the Nottingham and he said that you almost couldn't walk or something.

"I was actually, I'd had an epidural the day before which they normally give pregnant women. To try and relax the muscle and untrap the nerve. I was in hospital overnight having massages and needles in the back. All sorts of things. It's OK now."

1st September 1987 Nottingham - Review Quotes

"What else could possibly go wrong for this band? Doomed ain't the word! But once again, disaster strikes, leaving vocalist Joe Elliott with a trapped nerve in his back following an enthusiastic leap from the drum riser in Belfast."

"The man is in pain. He looks it, a face the colour of clay. But this is their most important UK tour to date, so Joe has to grin and bear it, before being rushed away to the attentions of an Osteopath. Again the show goes on..."

Def Leppard - Belfast 1987 Show Page
Def Leppard - Hysteria Tour 1987/1988
Previous Show - 27th August 2017
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