Def Leppard News - 11 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD UK SPARKLE LOUNGE Launch Gig In LONDON

Monday, 6th May 2019

11 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD UK SPARKLE LOUNGE Launch Gig In LONDON

By dltourhistory

Def Leppard played an intimate club show on 6th May 2008 in London, England to launch the Sparkle Lounge album in the UK.

The show took place at the Carling Academy Islington in London, England.

The first show in London since the June 2006 show at Hammersmith Odeon on the YEAH! tour.

A show that was announced exclusively to ticket holders for the main June 2008 UK tour dates. Ticketmaster ticket holders were notified of the show by email with a link to purchase up to two tickets for this secret show.

It was billed as 'Into The Sparkle Lounge' and as used as a launch party for the album which had been released on CD/DVD on 5th May. The band also talked to the UK press during the day at the venue including many TV interviews.

Footage from the show was recorded officially and added as bonus material on the UK Sparkle Lounge album website for a short time.

The live footage for the 'C'mon C'mon' promo video was also filmed at this gig which saw that song and 'Hallucinate' performed for the first time in concert having been debuted a couple of weeks before for fans attending the taping of the Jimmy Kimmel show in the USA.

View footage of these songs via the YouTube playlist link. 'Hallucinate' was never performed again after this show.

The rare intimate concert did not feature any ballads in the planned 13 song setlist. As an extra treat for attendees they added two unplanned encore tracks with 'Mirror, Mirror' and 'Wasted' played for the only time in the UK in 2008. In fact 'Mirror, Mirror' was performed here for the only time in the UK since the December 1983 Pyromania tour.

Two songs, 'Action' and 'Bad Actress', were included on the 2011 'Mirrorball (Live & More)' album.

View photos below that have now been re-added to the site.

6th May 2008 - London, England Fan Photos

By dltourhistory.

6th May 2008 - London, England Fan Photos

Submitted by Dave.

The Daily Star - Media Review Quote

"And seriously - Def Leppard have nothing to prove. The venue is so small you can smell each drop of sweat dripping from the five-piece's pores, but the rock icons - albeit with a group age of 200-plus years - still acrobat on stage like it's 1987. Singer Joe Elliot pumps his mike stand like a lever in between hitting notes so high they make Prince seem almost baritone. And his band mates show that being of rock walrus age doesn't mean you have to sit back and rely on back catalogues. With the new album destined for dizzy chart heights, along with a live show that hasn't lost an ounce of chutzpah 30 years into their career, it seems they'll be bringing in the bacon over the summer. A triumphant return from Sheffield's most cherished hard rockers."

Kerrang! - Media Review Quote

"Tonight is a launch show for that album, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, with a free bar for the media upstairs and just a few hundred hardcore fans downstairs in a venue with a capacity less than one tenth of the 10,000 who'll be checking out the quintet next month. And tonight Def Leppard are fantastic. If this was only about nostalgia and '80s uber anthems - Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Photograph, Rocket - it'd still be great, but the best thing about tonight is how strong Leppard's new songs are. Bad Actress - "not about Lindsay Lohan...though it could be..." quips frontman Joe Elliott - Hallucinate and the excellent C'mon C'mon sound like stadium slayers already, all immaculately stacked melodies and buffed riffs...and they're not even the best songs on the new album. Songs From The Sparkle Lounge won't make Def Leppard 'cool' either, but the mile-wide smiles on the faces of both band and audience at the end of this special 75-minute show suggests that this isn't really gonna matter much to anyone at all."

Watch all the available fan videos on this YouTube playlist.