This section looks at the 'His Vegas Sin City Residency' closing night in Las Vegas, NV.
"What a way to end it. You guys have been amazing."
Def Leppard played the final night of the 12 show Sin City Residency in Las Vegas, NV on this day in 2019.
The show took place at the 7,000 capacity Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood.
The final night of the 12 show residency. The second of the band's career after 2013's VIVA! Hysteria.
The first visit to Las Vegas since September 2018 and a return to the site of their first Las Vegas show in September 1982 of the Pyromania tour (see below).
A stage featuring an array of video screen, ramps and a satellite thrust stage were used along with lasers and the usual impressive light show.
Two songs were played for the very first time and others included for the first time in many years.
'Die Hard The Hunter' was played for the first time since Vivian's first show in Dublin 1992.
The second night of filming for a DVD/Blu-ray of the show with another lengthy setlist played.
Setlist Changes
A 24 song setlist played.
'Billy's Got A Gun', 'Slang', 'Too Late For Love' and 'Let's Go' all returned to the setlist for the final night.
All songs played during the residency were taped for the DVD.
Joe spoke about the end of the residency on his weekly Planet Rock radio show at the time.
Rick Allen came out for the Semi Acoustic section dressed as a King.
All of the 28 different songs played at the 12 shows were performed for the DVD taping on Nights 11 and 12.
The 'London To Vegas' CD/DVD/Blu-ray/Digital package was eventually released in May 2019.
The 37th time overall that the band have played in Las Vegas.
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Joe Elliott - Band Intros
"We don't do this very often. We've only done this since we've been doing this residency. This is the last time for a while that we're gonna be doing this so I'm kinda feeling a bit emotional actually because it's been such an amazing experience. Not just...the whole night, the whole gig. This whole three weeks has been fantastic but us doing what we're about to do here has been very special for us. Given us the chance to do something a little bit different."
"What we've got for you right now essentially is a couple of songs that until we arrived in Vegas we had never played in front of an audience ever. And a song that we haven't done for so long we've actually forgotten how it went. But we've brought them back. We hope you enjoy them and of course I can't do this on my own so let's bring every body out one at a time. Ready for this?. Alongside myself a 42 year veteran of this band on the bass guitar Mr. Rick Savage."
"Ah who's next? 27 year veteran of the band from Belfast in Northern Ireland make some noise for Mr. Vivian Campbell!. Ah what we got next?. 37 years veteran of the band. From Walthamstow in East London Mr. Phil Collen! Looking very dapper, very dapper."
"And last but not least from Dronfield in Derbyshire on the drums. 41 year veteran of the band Mr. Rick Allen!. Oh shit. Do we have to learn Bohemian Rhapsody now?. No let's not do that let's do this instead."
Joe Elliott - End Of Show Speech
"Las Vegas, Nevada or wherever you have travelled from to be here tonight. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having us. We'll see you next time. Goodnight."
"That's it we're done. For now. 12 out of 12. What a way to end it. You guys have been amazing. Thank you so much. You may have noticed we've been filming it so you might see yourselves in the future sometime. From all of us to all of you thanks for coming. Thanks for having us and until next time. And there will be a next time!. Do us a big favour yeah. Don't forget us and we won't forget you. Goodnight."
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The Joe Elliott Show - 7th September 2019 Quotes
"And it's been a fantastic experience being based in Las Vegas for the best part of three and a half weeks. 12 shows. Amazing audiences. We changed up the setlist every single night and had an absolute blast doing it. And we will do this again one day. I'm out of here tomorrow but I will be back here in a couple of weeks time for a one-off show. Until then though I'm going on holiday."
Def Leppard 2019 - Las Vegas, NV #12 Setlist
- 00 - Video Countdown/Personal Jesus Intro
- 00 - Die Hard The Hunter Album Intro
- 01 - Die Hard The Hunter
- 02 - Animal
- 03 - Excitable
- 04 - Foolin'
- 05 - Too Late For Love
- 06 - Billy's Got A Gun
- 07 - Slang
- 08 - Promises
- 09 - Bringin' On The Heartbreak (electric)
- 10 - Switch 625 (Instrumental)
Semi-Acoustic Section
- 11 - Let Me Be The One
- 12 - We Belong
- 13 - Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
- 14 - Two Steps Behind
- 15 - Now
- 16 - Rocket (Album Version)
- 17 - Let's Get Rocked
- 18 - Hysteria
- 19 - Love Bites
- 20 - Armageddon It
- 21 - Pour Some Sugar On Me
- 22 - Let's Go
- 23 - Rock Of Ages
- 24 - Photograph
Las Vegas Weekly - The Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
Residency Production
"It’s going to be a vastly different show, a really big production because that’s the whole point of doing these shows these days. It has to be a visual feast."
Residency Setlist
"And even though it’s a bigger [room] than last time, it’s a theater, not a massive arena, so we’ll be closer to the crowd and they’ll give us a different energy as well. We can change up the set as often as we like."
Def Leppard Sin City Residency - Press Release Quotes
Joe Elliott - “Five years ago, we played our first ever residency in Las Vegas which was relatively new ground for a rock band giving this kind of experience…I have to say, we really enjoyed it! Being in one place for the best part of a month is vastly different to our normal city to city touring routine. Breaking this cycle adds another element to the experience for both us and the audience. We look forward to seeing you at the Zappos Theater this summer!”
“Planet Hollywood transformed the entertainment landscape in Las Vegas with the first pop residency,” said Jason Gastwirth, president of entertainment at Caesars Entertainment. “We are proud to be at the forefront of rock residencies as well and treat the city’s visitors to a new type of experience with Def Leppard.”
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Julie's Rock Block - August 2019 Interview Quotes
2019 Sin City Residency Opening Night
Phil - "I was exhausted, I nap before we went on, absolutely. I usually do anyway but yeah no it's longer than we normally play. Yeah we had all these extra songs we were rehearsing and planning. So yeah that was a lot. It was great though."
"No it's all gonna be like that. But when we realised we was gonna do a residency we wanted it to look very different from a tour. We've been, we're always on tour and we wanted it to be a production. The lights, the lasers, the songs. Just a different vibe completely. And when you do this it's a lot more theatrical than say running around in a stadium or a sports arena. That's very rock an droll and all that but this is different. So we actually wanted it to be ."
Lighting Show
Phil - "Thank you. Kenji our Japanese lighting designer who's been with us for like 20 years. Me and Joe done a club tour in Japan and he done the lighting and we went oh my god this looks like a stadium, this is crazy. So he's been with us ever since. He's amazing."
Rick - "I can speak for our entire crew just what they've done to create this look and just how dimensional this whole thing is. This is really special. I'm not sure anybody could get to see something like this outside of say a venue like this."
Phil - "It's a real team thing like Rick said. It's our crew, production, arrangement. The band It's been so great. And I think 'cause everyone wants it to be better. Everyone and it's such a team so we're kind of proud of that."
Rare Songs In Setlist
Phil - "Yeah like we were rehearsing these acoustic songs. We actually wanted to do a proper acoustic set, you know, with produced acoustic songs as opposed to sitting around a camp fire type vibe. So while we was in Canada we were rehearsing on the days off. We'd be in there like four hours sometimes just sitting around getting the arrangements right. So again just very special and something that we don't normally do. So that was really cool."
Phil - "It did seem seamless unlike the day before. We were like oh my god are we gonna be able to pull this off. So yeah it actually works and now we've got that under our belt I think it's gonna get even better."
August 2019 - Joe Elliott Interview Quotes
"We dug deep into our catalog and we're going back [as recent as] the latest album. And songs from High 'n' Dry that we don't play on a regular basis, songs from Pyromania that we haven't played in decades, and a couple of songs we've never played at all,”
"It's 12 shows in the same building, we're not going to play the same set twice.”
Stsge Production
"We wanted to bring big, brash, Las Vegas-style theatrical visuals. And because we don't have to keep stripping this down every night and moving it to the next town, we could really go completely hog-wild. It stays there for the three weeks that we're here, so, we could really go to town with it."
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August 2019 - Rick Allen Interview Quotes
2019 Residency Opening Night
Phil - "We've really been putting a lot of time in for this reason. So that we could actually get this like that. And our crew and production and everything. A lot of the stuff was surprising to us. I mean the lasers and everything was shocking. It was amazing."
Bigger Production For Vegas
Rick - "That's what we figured. We figured it needed to be a real show and present the band in a completely different way that we've never done before. Some of the equipment that we use it doesn't always travel that well. So people are getting a real treat."
Phil - "Yeah I don't know how they'd get that in the truck on tour."
I hope this turns into a longer run
Phil - "It will. We're loving it so much. We like the vibe. We like being here and we dig it, it's great. So yes we'll be back."
Rick - "One of the most important things is my bed doesn't move."
Watch some Fan Videos from the show here.
related pages/releases
explore def leppard tour history
