Nashville/Antioch, TN, USA - Media Review Quotes

By DJRadiohead

Def Leppard is a major segment of the soundtrack of my middle school and high school life and my notes reflect it. I took two full pages of notes during Journey's set. I did not need that for Def Leppard - I know these songs. I needed no notes to remember them. That and well...I got in that time machine Guster speaks of (you just knew Guster would have to figure in to this review at some point) and remembered the good parts of being young again. My teenage years were no more traumatic than anyone else's, yet they were not the highlight of my life. The constant joy throughout my life has been music. Def Leppard was, at one point, a significant part of that.

"Let's Get Rocked" is clearly not filled with profound life statements but I defy you to come up with a better phrase to open a show than, "Do you wanna get rocked?" Besides, the song is inspired by The Simpsons. I am not sure why "Make Love Like a Man" is still getting played at all, let alone second in the set but it still gets a big reaction. The Adrenalized song is a bit of a jokey number (some would say hokey). I never thought of this as a grand statement, but even in my youth it was a mission statement I could support! Hormones.

"Promises," from Euphoria, would have been a massive hit had it been written and released six years earlier. It is more or less a re-writing of "Photograph" but it is catchy nonetheless. It becomes clear after three songs these guys can still replicate those FM harmonies. As the piercing opening notes of early hit "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" ring out, I shudder as I wonder how many of the younger members of the audience heard this first as a Mariah Carey song.

Guitarist Phil Collen is still playing shows without a shirt - something I could not dare try at present. Drummer Rick Allen still plays barefoot. Joe Elliott, while certainly not fat, looks softer than he did a few years ago. He does, however, hit the high notes in "Foolin'" better than I do these days. "Hysteria," the title track to the monster album that introduced me to the band, sounds as anthemic as ever.

By Blogcritics 2006.

Read the full review at - blogcritics.org

By Mike Farley

After a quick set change, Def Leppard took the stage. These guys have been around for almost 30 years but still know how to bring the rock. Lead singer Joe Elliot fronts a band with almost all original members, including one-armed drummer Rick Allen.

Def Leppard effortlessly plowed through hit after hit including "Let's Get Rocked," "Hysteria," "Photograph" and "Armageddon It." Admittedly, they did not rock with the same precision as Journey, and a lot of their songs do tend to sound similar after a while. But Elliot's voice is strong and the band's signature guitar tones are as nostalgic as they are powerful. The band closed out with "Love Bites" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" as their encores, ending a great night of classic rock.

By Bullz-Eye 2006.

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