42 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Return To England At The READING Festival

Wednesday, 24th August 2022

Reading 1980

Def Leppard played the Reading Rock festival in England for the first time on this day in 1980.

The festival took place at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in Reading, England with Whitesnake as headliners. About 40 miles to the South West of London.

It has never moved from this location and the 2016 festival, including a Saturday headline set from Red Hot Chili Peppers, is on this weekend 26th-28th. It is now held jointly as the Reading and Leeds festivals with bands playing each site on different nights.

Def Leppard had warmed up for their 1980 'On Through The Night' tour by playing around 40 shows in January/February in mostly small club venues.

They then headlined their own major UK tour in April before heading off to the USA for a two and a half moth tour from late May to early August.

Starting with the release of the album in March, some members of the UK press (most notably Geoff Barton) started to create a backlash against them for for seemingly having too much success too soon and gearing themselves for the US market led by their American managers Q Prime (Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein).

During the Reading show they played a 12 song main set and got an encore (Wasted).

Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).