Friday, 7th August 2019
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34 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Play With Two Drummers In Limerick (Photos)

Rick Allen 1986. By Mick Barry Enterprises

Def Leppard played a warm up show in Limerick, Ireland on this day in 1986 and a tour story and rare photos are available.

The show took place at the 1,400 capacity Savoy in Limerick, a former cinema. The third of six Irish warm up dates attended by around 300 fans.

The venue was located in Bedford Row. It closed as a cinema in 1974 and was then used for live concerts. The building was demolished in 1988.

Two rare photos were posted online by a former Irish sound engineer/tour manager who attended or worked at this show.

One of the photos is significant as it's the only known photo of Def Leppard with two drummers.

Back up drummer Jeff Rich, then of Status Quo, is shown to the left of Rick (right side of the photo) on his acoustic kit.

View both full size photos via the link below.

Rick was playing the first three songs of the show on his own. At the following show Rick played the first five songs and by show number five Jeff was no longer needed.

Read the story of the show as told by the band in the 1987 'Animal Instinct' biography book.


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Show Story - From Animal Instinct 1987

"After again raising the roof of Leisure Land in Galway the next evening - same set, a shot of courage from the same bottle of brandy - Def Leppard headed for the town of Limerick. They were booked into a 1400-seat venue called the Savoy, Unfortunately, the promoter, Denis Desmond, had sold less than two hundred tickets in advance.

The band was enjoying a little pre-show beverage at a pub next to the Savoy when Desmond informed the band that if ticket sales didn't improve by show time, he was just going to give the damn things away. At least it would make the place look a little fuller (and probably improve the evening's take at the bar)."

"By 8:30, one of Desmond's assistants was stopping into every pub in Limerick handing out Def Leppard tickets. The idea of giving the tickets away was hardly a blow to the band's ego. They thought it was hysterical - "Can you believe this? In America in '83, what what people would have done for these tickets! Here, we can't even give them away."

"When Leppard hit the stage at nine, there were less than three hundred people in attendance in the audience, at least a third of them out of curiosity since they hadn't paid to get in. "We went out there," Joe says, "thinking ''There's nobody here, just a few kids down in front. But they deserve a good one.'" They got it. Leppard consensus is that Limerick was one of the hottest shows on the whole tour."




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