DEF LEPPARD Live In Chelmsford, England 2025 (Show Report/Setlist)
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Def Leppard played a 2025 tour show last night in Chelmsford, England with 15 songs performed.
The show took place at the 35,000 capacity Hylands Park.
Another outdoor festival show and part of Radio 2 In The Park with Bryan Adams headlining the Saturday.
The first visit to this city.
Radio 2 In The Park
From Virginia Beach in Virginia the band travelled back home to England after a week off.
Chelmsford in Essex at Hylands Park on the former site of the V Festival.
Now home for this year to the BBC Radio 2 In The Park show.
An event that travels to various cities around England.
The first UK show to be played since 6th July 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland on The World Tour 2023.
And the first time in England since 2nd July 2023 at the Lytham Festival in windy conditions.
There was rain and cloudy skies forecast for the Sunday at this event but thankfully for the crowd this was not the case.
Sunshine greeted the fans who entered the gates early at 11am.
A long show which was broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer all day from 12:15pm onwards.
The most eclectic and slightly odd line up the band have been a part of since the promo shows in summer 2002 for the X (or Ten) album.
For anyone who remembers being at Sheffield (Hallam FM) Arena in 2002 when pop bands like Busted played before them for almost 2.5 hours and the headliners were Westlife.
Other acts
This very different line included some acts that will likely never again be on the same bill as Def Leppard.
Starting with Sophie Ellis-Bextor at 12:30pm.
Followed by David Gray, Louise, Suede (the only other rock band), Soul II Soul, Anastacia.
And lastly before Def Leppard, Olly Murs, see videos of his dancing and gyrating and thrusting in front of older fans wearing Leppard shirts (very amusing).
Sunday Night In The Park
An almost prompt 8:15pm start that was actually about 9:18-ish pm after the two DJs introduction.
A shortened intro with no Pyro Clock and they went right into 'Rock! Rock!'.
And proceeded to rock Chelmsford until 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' which ended the night at just after 9:30pm.
Playing three songs less than the current tour setlist at just 15.
They played for the same amount of time as Saturday night headliner Bryan Adams.
Earlier in the day there may have been less fans than Saturday but by the time Def Leppard started they were probably up to 30,000.
Or if not at least over 20 to 25,000 of the 35,000 capacity.
Easily the biggest show played in Essex with the last show being at a Student's Union hall in 1980.
No lengthy description needed for this show as most people already heard and/or saw it live.
UK fans can hear it and see it again via these links:
Radio 2 In The Park - Radio/TV
- BBC Radio 2 Audio - Listen @ bbc.co.uk
- BBC Radio 2 Video - Watch @ bbc.co.uk
- 01 - Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
- 02 - Rocket (Single Version)
- 03 - Let's Get Rocked
- 04 - Foolin'
- 05 - Armageddon It
- 06 - Animal
- 07 - Love Bites
- 08 - Just Like '73
- 09 - Bringin' On The Heartbreak (Electric)
- 10 - Switch 625 (Instrumental)
- 11 - When Love & Hate Collide
- 12 - Rock Of Ages
- 13 - Photograph
- 14 - Hysteria (Extended Outro)
- 15 - Pour Some Sugar on Me
- Def Leppard - Chelmsford 2025 Show Page
- Def Leppard - Def Leppard Tour 2025
- Related News - 1st September 2025 - Virginia Beach Show Report
- Back
Now a month off before that one-off show in Indiana in October.
15 Song Setlist
A 15 song setlist was played.
'Just Like '73' was played in England (and the UK) for the first time.
'Let It Go', 'This Guitar' and 'Two Steps Behind' were all dropped from the current set for this show due to the set timings.
Essex History
No previous visits to Chelmsford but there is one known Essex performance.
A show 27 miles to the North East of Chelmsford in Colchester at the University Of Essex.
One of the shows played on the UK Club Tour supporting the 'Hello America' single in February 1980.
Last night's show was the first performance in Chelmsford.
The next Def Leppard show takes place in Gary, Indiana on 11th October.
Chelmsford, England 2025 Photos
Screenshots by dltourhistory.
Watch some Fan Videos from the show here.
Def Leppard - Chelmsford, England 7th September 2025 Setlist
Played for the first time in England.
Joe Elliott - Let's Get Rocked Intro
"Listen to that."
"Listen to that!."
"Good evening Chelmsford!."
"How ya doing?."
"Good to be here, BBC In The Park what an honour for us to do this all these years after we first started doing it."
"How ya doing? everybody okay out there?."
"Had a good day?."
"Having a good day?!."
"I got One more question for ya."
"Do ya wanna get rocked?."
Joe Elliott - Foolin' Intro
"Thank you."
"Thank you very much Essex."
"And all those who have travelled to be here."
"Looking good out there."
"Talking of, you may have seen us recently on Coldplay's kiss cam."
"Divorce cam, whatever you wanna call it."
"Nice shout out from those guys, so here's one back to those guys."
"This is from the Pyromania album."
Yes, I didn't know what he was talking about either...until I found this video on YouTube from the 3rd September Wembley Stadium show.
One of their ten night sold out run (after a six night run at the same stadium on the same tour three years ago) on a tour which on Monday 12th September will have played 225 stadiums shows since March 2022 - kind of a successful tour.
This moment is actually called 'The Jumbotron Song' on their setlist where Chris Martin makes up a random short song about people on the big screens. In this case making fun of another band's shirt. He also did this at a more recent show with a Rolling Stones T-Shirt using the same line "wrong f***ing band".
All in good fun, but Joe might not like the mention Def Leppard got during their VH1 Storytellers show in the mid 2000s (see YouTube).
Joe Elliott - Armageddon It Intro
"Thank you, thank you very much."
"We good?."
"Well, just like Jessie J yesterday, he's healthy, he's here, he's Vivian Campbell!."
Joe Elliott - Just Like '73 Intro
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!."
To Rick - "We good?."
"Are we good out there?."
"You're alright, are you alright?."
"Right Chelmsford, wanna see everybody with their hands in the air on this one."
"Come on, you can do it, you can do it."
"Are you ready?, are you ready, hey!."
Slightly awkward moment before '73 when it seemed there might be an issue with Rick's drums. Similar to the Freddie Mercury Tribute show but thankfully not quite as bad.
And here are Joe's words you didn't hear on the radio:
Joe Elliott - End Of Show Speech
"Goodnight!."
"Chelmsford!."
"Thank you so much, real pleasure."
"Massive thanks to the BBC, Radio 2 for having us on."
"It's been a real honour to be involved in this."
"Let's do it again one day."
"We'll see you next year."
"Till then do us a big favour yeah."
"Don't forget us and we won't forget you."
"Goodnight!."
No thank you at the end of Photograph due to the shorter set time.
Various Photos/Videos
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
All done once more on BBC Two. More from earlier. View the Live Updates.#setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/3aZhrerSIJ
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
21:34 - Post gig debrief with Trevor Nelson. Joe looks to iPlayer audience for reassurance. (They shoud do this after every show...)#setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/eWl5gc7WEr
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
Show ended at 9:33pm. View the Live Updates. Some more pics 📸 on BBC Two again at 10:50pm#setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/hMvTt3z9ny
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧#LiveUpdates - coming to the end of Love Bites now#setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/SbrK2i0bnC
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧#LiveUpdates - LGR and now Foolin' - Rick Allen watched by his Mum (top left)#setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/akYaRnv3u5
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
Def Leppard News - #DefLeppard - Chelmsford, England 7th Sep 2025 🇬🇧#LiveUpdates - Rock! Rock! #setlist #ricksavage #joeelliott #R2InTheParkhttps://t.co/yr3jPG668L pic.twitter.com/R81KerhK9i
— Def Leppard News (@dltourhistory) September 7, 2025
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