Wantagh, NY - Media Review Quotes
By Lianna Tedesco
The band exited the stage and there was an intermission before the nex band was to take the stage. While everyone in the almost-packed stadium sitting waited in anticipation, all of a sudden the lights went down. People immediately started cheering and the opening drum beat from the song "Undefeated" off of Def Leppard's new album Mirrorball came on, flashing pictures of the band members (Joe Elliot-lead vocals/guitar, Rick "Sav" Savage-bass/vocals, Rick Allen-drums, Phil Collen-guitar/vocals, Vivian Campbell-guitar/vocals). The stage heated up as everyone was on their feet and waiting for the lineup they knew was coming. They led into "Let's Get Rocked", and played other huge hits such as "Photograph", "Hysteria", "Love Bites", "Too Late For Love", "Foolin", "Bringing On The Heartache", "Animal", and "Rocket", along with their cover of David Essex's "Rock On", rocking the crap out of each song, hair-metal style, before the stage lit up once again and Joe Elliot made an announcement.
Part one of Elliot's announcement was more serious, he explained that the reason for the concert being rescheduled was due to his father's death, and while upsetting, he stood up tall and reassured everyone that it was all good, he was there looking down on them, and dedicated "Two Steps Behind" to his father. It was a more emotional song, and before kicking off the song with strictly guitars, including himself on acoustic, he said "he was a much better singer than I was…I'm going to let my dad take lead vocals on this one". And it was the most touching moment throughout their entire act.
He then threw a question out to the audience and said, "you want to join the band?" And, of course, there wasn't a single person who declined. He went on with, "that didn't sound very enthusiastic (and of course the crowd cheered twice as loud). You can tell all of your friends tomorrow that you were in Def Leppard for, like, ten minutes. Official members of the band. You want to do that? (more cheering) Well all you gotta do-if you know the words to these next couple of songs, we'd really appreciate it if you could sing them right back at us. And we'll dedicate this one [Two Steps Behind] to my old man". It was an epic moment.
After the band went offstage and everyone screamed for the encore, they came back on ready to end the night with a bang, preforming a song that happened to be one of my personal favorites, "Rock Of Ages". You’d swear you were back in the 80's as Def Leppard made clear that they "want rock n' roll" with their original hit off of Pyromania. They proved that rock is still rollin', and rock of the ages is never going to die out.
Both of these bands kicked some serious ass throughout the show, and brought music from the past four decades back to life with a show that people will never forget. This truly was one rock concert that continued to leave a legacy behind for both bands, and that is something the world will always remember. As Joe Elliot says, "until next time…and there will be a next time! Don't forget us, and we won't forget you".
By The Silver Tongue 2011.
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