Cardiff, Wales - Media Reviews
DEF LEPPARD Get It On In Cardiff By Happy Metal Geek
The third show on Leppard’s 2019 UK and Ireland tour sees Sheffield’s finest arrive in Cardiff on a date that had sold out months ago. Such was the demand for access to the gig tickets were being sold outside the venue for upwards of £200 a ticket!
The support was the ever excellent Cheap Trick, who delivered a blistering set with the likes of “Hello There”, “You Got It Going On”, and “Big Eyes”. The place was rocking out in style. I know they did quite a few songs that had everybody in the zone, but when they played “I Want You To Want Me” that hit the sweet spot.
Cheap Trick showed Cardiff that they still had their rock mojo, and no one was left in any doubt that they did indeed. What a great performance and a fantastic way to start the night.
With a suitably warmed up crowd after the rather impressive Cheap Trick had delivered a well-honed performance it was on with the main act.
Def Leppard promised to play the classic Hysteria album from 1987 in its entirety! And so it was straight into the opener “Woman”. It soon becomes apparent that the production was out of this world with a impressive light show, huge rear image screens and a massive sound. Everything about it announced a huge band and a huge budget using every technical gadget to hand. This was a show!
As Joe Elliot introduces the second song “Rocket”, the crowd goes ballistic with the appearance of drummer Rick Allen doing his solid drum beat as the backing tapes blast out the exact rocket sounds which first appeared on the album all those years ago. Bare chested and tartan trousered, Phil Collen peeled off meaty riffs and it really is a sight to behold. With bassist Rick Savage proving to be the vital cog in the Leppard wheel, he laid down a solid bass and proved he should not be underestimated.
Then we had “Animal”, “Pour some sugar on me”, and “Love bites”. Staple songs in the bands live set for many a year and always crowd favourites, but tonight they were outclassed by the lesser played ”Run Riot”, “Excitable”, “Don’t shoot shotgun”, and the best song from the album, and in fact the whole live performance, “ Gods Of War”. With its poignant lyrics, harrowing video imagery of the horrors of war and how pointless it really is.
Def Leppard is a band with incredible highs and tragic lows play and paid the ultimate respect to original guitarist Steve Clarke with the screens lighting up his image alongside a beautiful guitar solo playing in the background. A lovely salute from Rick Savage and a touching moment from the band members. It was an emotional moment and couldn’t fail to affect even the most hardened person present, which hit home with the packed crowd roaring with approval and clapping with respect.
As the main part of the set winds down with” Excitable” and “Love and affection” it was apparent to me that Rick Allen has not stopped smiling through the first half of the show and is truly loving the gig.
People were left guessing as to what the extra songs were going to be that completed the show. First up was the Tongue in cheek “Make Love Like A Man” from Adrenalize with Vivian Campbell taking centre stage showing off his skilled guitar work. Slowing things down a touch came the note perfect ”When Love And Hate Collide” and had the crowd yelling for more. Def Leppard duly responded with a triple blast of “Lets Get Rocked”, “Rock Of Ages”, and ”Photograph”. How many bands can boast a repertoire that strong? Such a professional well executed performance shows years of experience, with not a foot out of place and everything running like its on WD40.
The show left me with the opinion that there are two sorts of rock shows. The rock show with down and dirty bands that ground you to the earth and makes you feel like getting in touch with the tribal part of your soul. The other, like Def Leppard, that take you soaring into the clouds, lifting up your soul and touching your higher emotions with crystal clear sound.
On tonight’s evidence, Leppard are astonishingly accurate to their material, entertaining and unmissable.
So as the lights slow down and the final chords blast out, Joe Elliot makes it quite clear to Cardiff that “There Will Be A Next Time”. I for one would love to be there because I can guarantee myself a entertaining 90 minutes of some of the best sugar coated, spirit raising, smile inducing rock music released over the past 40 years. It was, without doubt, an incredible evening and worth every penny. Def Leppard still create the Hysteria, making all the fans Excitable and all done with Love And Affection. If you can get your tickets for any shows near you NOW!! You will kick yourself if you miss out.
By Happy Metal Geek 2018.
Def Leppard Cardiff Motorpoint Arena By Jeff Oram
IN 1987 Def Leppard released their fourth studio album, writes Jeff Oram.
Hysteria became a number one in the UK & US. To date, it has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
To celebrate, more than 30 years since its original release, The Lepps have gone on a December major city UK tour, playing the Hysteria album in its entirety.
Supporting are their old pals Cheap Trick, opening with Hello There, warming the crowd up and closing their set with Goodnight Now.
As the lights fall, everything goes still, before launching into Women and the powerfully drummed Rocket.
It’s more than evident by now, Def Leppard want to recreate the studio sound of the album live working hard to get everything sounding right as they move through track list including the hits Animal and Pour Some Sugar On Me to a very extravagant and lavish video show playing behind them.
Performing an accurate and energy-driven show, they complete the whole album.
To a rapturous crowd, chanting and hungry for more, they pull out a barrage of an encore – Make Love Like A Man, Let’s Get Rocked and finally Photograph.
By South Wales Argus 2018.
DEF LEPPARD / CHEAP TRICK | LIVE REVIEW By John-Paul davies
This night was all about the history. Def Leppard playing their biggest selling album, Hysteria, in its entirety, 31 years after it was released, 41 years after the band officially formed. Frontman Joe Elliott was brimming with pride the whole way through, and rightly so: for any band to survive as long as The Lepps have is a feat. As is well known, either side of Hysteria they suffered the twin tragedies of drummer Rick Allen losing his arm in a car accident and the death of guitarist Steve Clark after years of alcohol abuse. ‘New boy’ Vivian Campbell has now been with this unchanged lineup for 26 years.
So how well does this classic album, from Def Leppard’s Mutt Lange-produced 1980s glory days, stand up onstage over three decades later? No one can deny the killer first seven songs. Behemoth opener Women is everything wrong and right with hair metal; then comes the incredible string of hits: Rocket, Animal, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Armegeddon It and the epic Gods Of War. The visuals are stunning, just the right mix of nostalgic and new, and at their best the songs actually sound better performed by a mature band, given new meaning by the passing of time and the relevance of a modern message. Picture montages and a moving tribute to Clark adds poignancy.
The rest of Hysteria doesn’t stand up so well live. The title track aside, its remaining four songs jar with Elliott’s now weaker vocal; in the low range he’s still great but the full-throat delivery of his heyday has given over to a lighter head voice that just doesn’t cut through the band’s huge sound. The fact that Campbell, bass stalwart Rick Savage and the ludicrously ripped, technically incredible guitarist Phil Collen still belt out the backing vocals like they’re auditioning for Queen only shows up Elliott’s limited projection more. Still, he is always in tune and at least he can still tour, unlike some of his contemporaries.
Not a charge that can be levied at openers Cheap Trick. Most of the audience didn’t know what to make of guitarist Rick Nielsen – dressed like Michael Moore in stealth mode, throwing out records and pics to the audience by the fistful. Each of his dozen or so guitars looks ill-fitting around his huge frame, until he unleashed the band’s infamous five-neck monstrosity that suited him perfectly. Singer Robin Zander belted brilliantly through a set of excellent songs, If You Want My Love genuinely moving and hit I Want You to Want Me an inevitable highlight. Like Def Leppard, Cheap Trick are there for the audience – both bands seem totally devoid of ego, every musician looking comfortable with their place in their band.
The Lepp’s encore set was huge, featuring their last big hits of the 90s and the breakthrough singles from Pyromania. One problem with performing a whole album in order is that live, it might not have the rise and fall of a perfectly-paced setlist. Elliott reminisced with the audience over the lost art of the album and insisted that Hysteria had to be performed in sequence. But any small quibbles are nothing compared to the genuine love shown by the audience for this collection of songs and the band’s appreciation for their fans’ continued support.
By Buzz Mag 2018.
Def Leppard - Hysteria and More, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff By Entertainment South Wales
Going by the size of the queue to enter Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena on Tuesday evening, there was a lot of excitement for Def Leppard’s Hysteria and more tour.
I arrived in time to see the support band, Cheap Trick and although I wasn’t aware of them previously, I was pleasantly surprised the quality of their sound. I learned that the band had been around since 1973 and highlights of their set included the hit, I Want You to Want Me, I know and The Flame. In an interesting twist, they had a guest drummer from Flaming Lips join them for one number and his drumming was outstanding.
As the stage was reset for Def Leppard the excitement took precedent as announcements informed the audience how long we would have to wait for the band to take the stage. As the countdown ended, we were thrown into darkness as the walkthrough of the Hysteria album commenced.
From the opening to the end of the Hysteria album each song took on an individual performance and identity of its own. The audience really enjoyed some of the bigger hits like Rocket and Animal but for me the highlights were when the set and song came together as in Gods of War where the band played as well as film footage video from different wars played on the projection screen in the background. Another favourite was the track Animal with a larger than life neon graffiti background.
Each of the songs were accompanied by awesome light design. Lighting effects were manipulated to full capacity to create different looks and designs on the stage and projected out from the band above the auditorium. For the lighting design my favourite was Love Bites which contained a multi coloured laser light show.
Approximately half way through the album the was a tribute to Def Leppard’s late principal songwriter and lead guitarist Steve Clark. It was lovely to see the archived footage of him in this section as well as during the song Hysteria which was accompanied by videos of the boys in concert back in the 1980s.
Ultimately Def Leppard projected the atmosphere of a celebration throughout the evening, closing the show with a favourites old and new including Let’s Get Rocked. Without a doubt, the hysteria was more than justified!
By Entertainment South Wales 2018.
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