home > tour history > 2000 > hutchinson > Media Reviews

Friday, 15th September 2000
Back  

Hutchinson, KS - Media Reviews

Big Hair, Guitar Flair Transport State Fair Crowd Back To '80s By Denise Neil

With only slightly less hair, and just a little worse for the wear, members of the 1980s rock band Def Leppard reminded a sold-out Kansas State Fair grandstand why they're still drawing crowds while their former competitors languish in nightclubs.

The band, whose popularity peaked with the 1987 album "Hysteria," found itself in the 1990s suffering the same anti-hairband backlash that buried Poison, Warrant and Ratt.

But Def Leppard, formed by charismatic lead singer Joe Elliott and bassist Rick Savage in 1977, had much more rock 'n' roll experience than most of the other flash-in-the-pan outfits producing hits in the '80s. And they had something else, too -- a little substance in their strut.

Almost 23 years later, the band still has that substance.

Perhaps the secret to Def Leppard's lingering success is its ability to keep crowds happy. And it did so Friday by not even attempting to push its more recent, but far-less-known, material from its latest album, "Euphoria," released in 1999. In fact, "Promises" was the only new song the band played.

Instead, Def Leppard filled its almost two-hour, 16-song show with radio hits and crowd favorites, with heavy emphasis on its two most successful albums, 1983's "Pyromania" and 1987's "Hysteria."

Members of the State Fair crowd, made up mostly of men 25 to 35 years old, showed their appreciation for hits such as "Photograph," "Foolin' " and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by enthusiastically playing air guitars and pumping their fists in the air. Many donned worn-out Def Leppard concert T- shirts, ancient purchases no doubt excavated from the bottom drawer.

The five-man band, led by Elliott (still a master of microphone stand manipulation) and supported by famed drummer Rick Allen, who lost an arm in a 1984 car accident, sounded radio-ready, never missing a beat or a note while bringing musical memories flooding back for the fans.

A highlight was a pair of acoustic songs, "Two Steps Behind" followed by "Bringin' On the Heartbreak," which exploded into the full-blown, electric-guitar hit fans remember.

For the encore, demanded by a then-rowdy audience, the band performed two of its most popular singles, "Love Bites" and "Let's Get Rocked."

By Wichita Eagle 2000.

Back

share this page:



get def leppard news

Stay in touch with the latest updates.




explore def leppard tour history
All News
Tour News
Album News
All Tours