Milwaukee, WI - Media Review Quotes

By Jon M. Gilbertson

The rest of the credit belongs to Def Leppard's refusal to sacrifice melody for masculinity, probably courtesy of the band's long-stated fondness for glam-rock. If songs like "Armageddon It" and "Rocket" are about as meaningful as Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," they certainly sport better riffs and more sugary choruses.

And Def Leppard evidently knew how to keep the power in power ballads: "Foolin' " and "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" were tender enough for the ladies and ripping enough for the fellows, while "Hysteria" remained one of metal's most manfully earnest love songs. (From, incidentally, one of metal's least sexist male groups.)

Even with an unplugged section in the show and a run-through of "Two Steps Behind" that almost demanded an ironic show of cigarette lighters raised aloft (which did not happen), Def Leppard gave an impression of reasonable self-awareness.

That native intelligence, most evident on the earliest material - "Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)" and "Another Hit and Run," both solid and lean hard-rock - carried over to a choice of cover. A version of David Essex's "Rock On" that kept the bass line and added the heavy guitars that the original version never managed.

By Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2007.

Read the full review at - jsonline.com

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