Brisbane, QLD, Australia - Media Review Quotes

Def Leppard, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Oct 27 By Matt Shea

Still, it makes you notice how hard the whole of Def Leppard work their vocal parts. So much of what on record you take to be Elliott is in fact bassist Rick Savage and duelling guitarists, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell. It frees Elliott up to pigeon-toe around the stage and save himself for the high-notes, which a few songs in he begins to hit with admirable accuracy. The bulk of the set tonight of course ends up being lifted from Hysteria, Leppard's 1987 kiss-off to the Cold War era that unleashed no less than seven singles. They're dolled out as careful as candy, lest too much at once has the audience losing its collective mind. Thus you get a stone cold classic like 'Love Bites' bumping up against the middling 'Make Love Like A Man' - the most embarrassing song in history? Almost certainly.

Thankfully, the band have plenty of great material elsewhere in their catalogue, so the set tends to take more right turns than wrong. There are occasions when the players' indulgences get the better of them, such as the interminable shred that comes packaged with 'Rocket', or a tiring two-song acoustic breakdown that would be better saved for Def Leppard's family holidays. But each time the audience starts to get a little 'wtf?' they're brought back from their Twitter feeds with a sterling rendition of 'Armageddon It' or maybe 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', which closes the main section of the show in giddy style.

The band come back for an encore with 'Rock Of Ages', and in terms of an ending it's probably a bit of a misstep. Yet the crowd tonight hardly care: they hoot and holler and hold up their Union Jacks. You're reminded Leppard are very much their own band, and perhaps that focuses the nostalgia people feel for them. Elliott promises they'll return, and given the price of the tickets and busy merch desk I can totally understand why. Not to be churlish: these guys may be a long way from the glory of their in-the-round concerts of 1988, but like any group of their era they're super tight and know how to handle a big stage. In any case, they'll rightly be welcomed back to Australia.

By Everguide 2011.

By Tarnia Bell

As the roadies started setting up the stage for headliners Def Leppard, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre started to fill up with not only people, but anticipation. It was obvious that although Choirboys and Heart were amazing, it was Def Leppard that the crowd were waiting to see. With anticipation brewing, Def Leppard took the stage to deafening crowd applause. By their second song 'Let's Get Rocked', the audience could no longer contain themselves and stay in their seats. The fans were up dancing , singing and jumping around. With Def Leppard jumping into all their classic hits like 'Animal', by the fourth song into their set, it was standing ovations all around.

Lead Singer Joe Elliot told us that this tour, ‘The Mirror Ball’ tour ,would take us back to the 80’s and even though it was only for a few hours, that is what Def Leppard did. When they started singing their hit ballad ‘Love Bites’ there was cigarette lighters in raised hands swaying all through the crowd. The song ‘Rock It’ had the crowd once again out of their seats.

By Live Guide 2011.

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