Uncasville, CT - Media Review Quotes
By Kenneth Partridge
Getting back to how to classify the British quintet - after all, everything must fit neatly into categories - the group may have made a case for a simpler and more accurate label altogether: "rock." During the evening, the band played "Let's Get Rocked," "Rocket," "Rock of Ages," and a cover of David Essex's "Rock On." The pre-show intro music was "We Will Rock You" by Queen.
The band made good on Freddie Mercury's promise, deciding not to alter its sound for the modern day and playing its hits loud and proud. Between the thudding bass and shredding guitars of tunes such as "Armageddon It" and the standout "Photograph," the group found time for the aching power ballads "Hysteria" and "Love Bites." With these, the crowd revisited two-decade-old heartbreaks with giant sing-alongs (younger fans presumably reminisced about second grade).
After the encore run-through of "Pour Some Sugar on Me," which featured shirtless guitar hero Phil Collen and one-armed drummer Rick Allen in all their pop (or schlock, or rock) glory, singer Joe Elliott ended by saying, rather earnestly, "Don't forget about us, and we won't forget about you." No worries, Joe. Like 5 o'clock, it's always 1987 somewhere.
By Kenneth Partridge @ ctnow 2005.
Read the full review at - courant.com
By Donnie Moorhouse
Def Leppard primed the pump by blasting Queen's "We Will Rock You" through the sound system before taking the stage to "Action." Lead singer Joe Elliot led the way, directing the band through "Let's Get Rocked" and "Women," before turning the stage over to guitarist Phil Collen, who worked up the intro to "Foolin'."
The group delivered the first bit of delirium with "Hysteria," then surprised the crowd with a cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What."
The band broke down to the acoustic format and delivered "Two Steps Behind" with Elliot asking the crowd to "join the band for four minutes" and sing along. The cover of the David Essex hit "Rock On" was a bit odd, as Elliot came out and sang to a recorded track, but the band helped him recover with a very live and raw version of "Rocket," which featured Collen and second guitarist Vivian Campbell trading licks.
The band rode a string of hits to the end with "Photograph," "Rock of Ages" - which also serves as the title of its just-released "best of" compilation - and an encore of "Bringing on the Heartache" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."
By The Republican 2005.
By David Pencek
After opening the night with "Action," Def Leppard performed nearly indecipherable versions of "Let's Get Rocked" followed by "Women." The rest of the band -- drummer Rick Allen, bassist Rick Savage and guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell -- performed on auto-pilot, deviating little from the original recordings. Known for its high-tech shows two decades ago, Def Leppard kept the stage setting pretty basic with just some lights and a few videos.
The group went acoustic for its rendition of "Two Steps Behind" and then performed its apocalyptic number, "Gods of War." More bands these days have been including a world-in-peril song into their set list and accompanying it with video images of bombs dropping and nefarious leaders. Because of the political mindset of many of these bands, America's current president is included in those images as he was on Monday.
Elliott and the band picked up some strength toward the end of the set especially on "Photograph" and "Animal." Their encore consisted of "Bringing on the Heartbreak" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me."
Before walking off stage, Elliott told the audience that if it doesn't forget Def Leppard, the band won't forget the fans. Safe to say, Def Leppard will always have it fans, poor showing or not.
By Norwich Bulletin 2005.
Read the full review at - norwichbulletin.com
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