Milwaukee, WI - Media Reviews
Cheesy or not, Def Leppard remains sharp decades later By Jon M. Gilbertson
The riffs hold up, even if the cultural kitsch doesn't Cheesy. Gooey. Crunchy. Corny.
These are not just words that could be used in Taco Bell or Frito-Lay ad campaigns. They're also accurate descriptors for Def Leppard, which just about packed the Marcus Amphitheater Friday night.
"Dated" could also be added to the list of adjectives: The British metal quintet had its heyday in the 1980s, and not much mainstream culture from that decade has dodged the tang of mousse or the painful memory of acid-washed, pre-ripped jeans.
Yet compared to the work of its contemporaries (Mötley Crüe, Poison, Warrant: speaking of painful memories), Def Leppard's hits withstand a great deal of scorn and still come out sounding pretty good.
Part of that can be attributed to Joe Elliott, whose voice is as recognizable as ever: almost constantly nasal, unabashedly emotional and tuneful in its constricted range.
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.
Certain originals were missing from the opening acts, though. For example, Lou Gramm wasn't singing for Foreigner. A remarkable sound-alike named Kelly Hansen was in his place, which did nothing for or against the strictly second-tier classic-rock of "Double Vision," "Head Games" and "Cold As Ice."
The sound mix, on the other hand, did work against the stuff, with guitarist and founding member Mick Jones visibly fuming when his guitar was clearly at least half an octave out of tune.
Such a problem wouldn't necessarily have hurt Styx, whose most famous vocalist, Dennis DeYoung, was also not present. His would-be doppelganger, Lawrence Gowan, ably supported main man and apparent Dorian Gray benefactor Tommy Shaw through second-tier classic-rock.
Obviously, just as not all cheeses age well, neither do all kinds of cheesiness.
By Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2007.
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