This section looks at the 'Rock Of Ages' tour opening night in Salt Lake City, UT. A tour named after the band's association with the Tom Cruise movie of the same name.
"We had such a good time going out with Poison in 2009."
Def Leppard played the first show of the Rock Of Ages tour in Salt Lake City, UT on this day in 2012.
The show took place at the 19,500 capacity USANA Amphitheatre.
A venue where most of the 2011 'Mirrorball (Live & More)' album had been recorded.
The tour had been first announced on 9th March 2012 following months of rumours which were initially started by Poison frontman Bret Michaels.
The tour featured Poison and Lita Ford as the opening acts and tied in with the release of the 'Rock Of Ages' movie starring Tom Cruise and featuring two Lep songs.
The second tour to have this title with the first taking place in 2005 in support of the Rock Of Ages The Definitive Collection album.
The 43 date tour was the second straight US summer tour following the year off in 2010.
The first leg of the tour ran until 22nd July and consisted of 20 shows. The second leg of 23 shows began on 9th August and ended on 15th September in Santa Barbara, CA.
The band would return to Mexico for two shows in Monterrey and Mexico City. Their first in the country since November 2005 on the first Rock Of Ages tour.
The band had warmed up for the tour with two promo events on 6th June for YouTube Presents and then on 8th June at the Rock Of Ages movie premiere.
New Song Debut
Mirrorball album track and then current radio single 'It's All About Believin'' made it's full concert debut during the 18 song show.
It had been rehearsed in the soundcheck for the Rock Of Ages movie premiere on 7th June and was then played live in public for the first time on the Fox and Friends TV show in New York City on 15th June.
New Stage Design
A new stage was used for this tour which included two sets of stairs at either side and floor light panels bought from Phil Collins. These panels were placed at the front of the stage and all along the Thrust stage and lit up during the show. They continue to be used on the current 2016 tour.
The lighting rig was designed in a Union Jack shape. Five vertical video screens were used above and behind Rick's drum kit and 12 square video panels were placed either side of him.
Show Intro
The two side video screens showed the classic Def Leppard logo over Union Jack flags and a countdown before the start of the show. As The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' played on the PA the time counted down to zero and the band's entrance with 'Undefeated'. As the song intro was played on the PA Joe and Sav rose up from behind Rick's drum riser on a hydraulic platform which is still being used by Joe in 2016 at the start of 'Rock On'.
SLC 2012 By Brett
Def Leppard Salt Lake City, UT - 20th June 2012 Setlist
- 01 - Undefeated
- 02 - Rocket (Single Version)
- 03 - Let It Go
- 04 - Foolin'
- 05 - Animal
- 06 - Love Bites
- 07 - Gods Of War
Acoustic Medley 2012
Joe, Sav, Phil and Vivian on acoustic guitars/vocals sat on fight case at end of Thrust Stage.
- 08(1) - Where Does Love Go When It Dies
- 08(2) - Now - (Rick Allen joins on percussion)
- 08(3) - When Love & Hate Collide
- 08(4) - Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
- 08(5) - Two Steps Behind (Soundcheck Version)
- 09 - Women
- 10 - It's All About Believin' - (Full Concert Debut)
- 11 - Let's Get Rocked
- 12 - Bringin' On The Heartbreak (electric)
- 13 - Switch 625 (Instrumental)
- 14 - Hysteria
- 15 - Armageddon It
- 16 - Photograph
- 17 - Pour Some Sugar On Me
- 18 - Rock Of Ages
SLC 2012 By Brett
2012 Acoustic Medley Section
For the acoustic section of this show and new medley was unveiled. It featured short snippets of four classic songs before the Soundcheck Version of 'Two Steps Behind' was played.
Initially Joe would introduce the medley by playing a verse and chorus of 'Where Does Love Go When It Dies' which had not been played since the 1996 'Slang' tour. He would be joined by the other band members who all sat at the end of the Thrust stage on an equipment case wheeled out by a roadie.
Rick Allen joined the rest of the band holding a shaker during the second song 'Now' - unplayed since the 2003 X/Ten tour.
Versions of 'When Love & Hate Collide' and the Adrenalize ballad 'Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad' followed before 'TSB'.
This medley got rave reviews from fans and became a highlight of the 2012 tour.
It was recorded by the band and released as a digital download on 18th December 2012 after the tour ended.
Joe Elliott - 2012 Press Release Quote
"We had such a good time going out with Poison in 2009 that we thought it only right to do it again!."
Phil Collen (Pre-Announcement) - March 2012 Interview Quotes
"We toured with them a couple of years ago and we’ve obviously known them since the ’80s. When you’re a band that’s successful and there’s other bands in your genre, at some point you’re going to bump into them one time or another. So we’ve known those guys for years, they’re great and we get on well with them. I actually just played guitar on Bret Michaels’ solo record, I just did guitar solos and backing vocals and some rhythm guitars. I really admire Bret. I think he’s fantastic and [I respect] how much energy he puts into it. A lot of people give him a hard time, but he works his ass off. We don’t know who the third act [of the tour] is yet, [but] we are going to take a third act out."
"We got this movie ‘Rock of Ages’ - it’s being released with Tom Cruise - we’d like it if the third act was kind of featured in that movie, so it’d be like three bands with all these songs that are going to be played all over the place on this movie on tour. We haven’t gotten any dates per say but it’s probably going to start around mid May and then going into the summer I think we’re going to be touring somewhere else. We only just got off the road like two months ago; we had just played London, we had Motley Crue and Steel Panther with us, which was fantastic."
Media Review Quotes - By Doug Fox
One down, 42 to go.
The first show of the Def Leppard/Poison "Rock of Ages" tour is in the books, and if opening night was any indication, fans in the remaining 42 cities across North America can expect nothing but a good time. The two bands toured together previously in 2009 and the pairing seems to make even more sense now since it coincides nicely with the Friday premiere of the "Rock of Ages" movie, which features the music of both bands prominently in its 1980s story line.
British rockers Def Leppard seemed especially at home Wednesday night at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City -- and why not? The band has now performed there five of the past six years, and as lead singer Joe Elliott pointed out during the show, it is a little-known fact that much of the group's live "Mirrorball" album, released last year, was recorded at the venerable outdoor amphitheater, which is marking its 10th anniversary this summer.
As such, there were many aspects of the live Lepp show that had begun to seem familiar, you know, things such as setlist structure, stage design, video board content and the overall live presentation. But just as things seemed on the verge of settling in to the same routine, Def Leppard unveiled some new wrinkles that longtime fans should find especially exciting this summer.
The addition of adrenaline-inducing "Let It Go" early in the set was not a total surprise, but it's always a welcome addition whenever it makes an appearance. Things took a complete left turn several songs later, however, when the band launched into "Gods of War," a deep cut off the band's tremendously successful 1987 album, "Hysteria."
Immediately following "Gods of War," the band slipped into its popular mid-set acoustic breakdown -- a standard section of the past several tours. But that was where the band dramatically switched things up again. Instead of the "Two Steps Behind" into "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" acoustic treatment of recent memory, the band instead played a five-song medley featuring, as Elliott noted, "Some songs we haven't played in a long time and some songs we've never played."
The acoustic set exuded an extremely casual vibe, starting out with Elliott at the end of a ramp jutting about 10 rows deep into the audience sitting on a tour equipment storage case. He was subsequently joined, one by one, by the rest of the band, until everyone was parked on the rolling tour case playing acoustic guitar, except for drummer Rick Allen, who was shaking maracas. The just-under-10-minutes medley included parts of "Where Does Love Go When It Dies," "Now," "When Love and Hate Collide," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and "Two Steps Behind." Elliott remained on the ramp alone to finish the latter song as the others repositioned themselves to play the traditional electric treatment of "Women."
Read more reviews on the show page.
View all the available footage from the show on this YouTube playlist.
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