Dec 6 London, UK (O2 Arena)

[CindyJ]

Gods of War

[CindyJ]

Rock of Ages

[CindyJ]

Photograph

[CindyJ]

Def Leppard review – metal legends revisit a riff-laden classic
5 / 5 stars
5 out of 5 stars

O2 Arena, London
The British hard-rock favourites play their 1987 album Hysteria in full in a show that demonstrates their scintillating craft.

Two days before his 61st birthday, Phil Collen stands stripped to the waist, his torso oiled, striking the first notes of Def Leppard’s 1987 album Hysteria on his guitar. In fairness, after several decades in which the gym has taken the place of drink and drugs, he has the kind of body most men his age would consider achievable only by means of radical surgery. What’s more, the song he’s starting – Women – is one so silly that an oiled torso seems only fitting. “And in the garden, lust began,” sings Joe Elliott – who remains fully clothed at all times – “the animal instinct, the wanton man.”

Lyrics were never Def Leppard’s strong suit. But hooks were. Hysteria – played in full tonight – has sold somewhere in the region of 25m copies because it leaves nothing to chance. Rather than write songs and record them, Def Leppard wrote the best sections they could, which they then assembled into songs in the studio with producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Live, you realise just how complex the edifice is: the interlocking vocals (with lots of glam-rock chanting), the switches between guitars, the fact that every song just gets bigger: this bit should be the chorus! No, this bit should! No, this is the chorus! It’s irresistible.

It’s a testimony to how powerful Hysteria was that we’re 40 minutes into the show before there’s a song that wouldn’t be intimately familiar to anyone around in the late 80s. Hysteria spawned seven singles, and thoroughly deserves its reputation as hard rock’s Thriller. You realise how sophisticated it was when the band follow it with their second single, Wasted, from 1979. It’s perfectly decent, miles better than most of their New Wave of British Heavy Metal peers, but it would never have opened arena doors for them. It took the set closer, Photograph, to do that. Collen and Vivian Campbell burst into its opening riff – one so indelible it will be playing in a loop on some automated classic rock station long after humanity has died – and you can’t help but thrill. What a great British pop group.

Source

[CindyJ]

Women

[CindyJ]

video

http://instagram.com/p/BrGwONAA0s2

[CindyJ]

From Def Leppard's Instagram story.

[CindyJ]

PSSOM

[caro]

Awesome, Cindy. I'm dying around 2:25 with Sav rocking out. I'm sure if the testosterone levels were measured on that stage - well, they'd be immeasurable!! 

[CindyJ]

DEF LEPPARD INDUCE HYSTERIA IN LONDON
Def Leppard: O2 Arena, London
Words: Sara Harding, Pictures: Robert Sutton
8th December 2018

It was a real rocking reunion for Def Leppard as they and their classic 'Hysteria' album shook the O2 to its very core. Filming for an upcoming cinema release, this concert was a highly anticipated show for the fans and the Leps and they certainly didn’t disappoint.
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A real testament to the band and their incredible career is the amount of fans who have been there since 'Hysteria' was first released and are still here today to celebrate the album and the band that really have created 'Rock of Ages'.
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Sheffield's finest take to the stage with a full on highly produced show which takes us through the Def Leppard vaults. Elliott's voice was on point, Phil gave us his full pecs appeal, Viv back from his battle with Lymphoma was simply sublime, Sav gave us his incredible basslines and Rick Allen as always steered the Def Lep ship. The band were, as always, dressed and instrumented up with a serious nod to their Great Britishness.

Things begin with a setlist from the album that became a national treasure from August 3rd 1987. It was time for the hysteria to commence. Everyone was out of their seats as soon as 'Women' began.

There are times when you go to a gig and everything works in harmony. This was one of those nights. DL were absolutely spot on, twin guitars, harmonies, brilliant backline all working with each other and on the crowd. A real working class band who are still clearly brothers in rock.
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On into 'Rocket' and the fans were literally going nuts. I looked around the packed arena and everyone was singing along and just loving the show.The atmosphere was as electric as Rick's drumkit.

'Animal' keeps the momentum going and then it's time for a spot of Savmanship with 'Love Bites'. Another huge song for the band, the video never did this tune justice. 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' follows-– 'One lump or two' is still one of the most genius lyrics ever and I don’t even like sugar in my tea!

'Armaggedon It' blasts out next and there is more power punching in the crowd-so much so my beer was knocked over. A couple of lesser known songs followed, and
I'd forgotten just how good these tracks were. 'Gods Of War' got the nod of approval and 'Don’t Shoot Shotgun' was one of those forgotten Lep nuggets that is a great gem of a song. It was closely followed by another in 'Run Riot'.
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Throughout the gig there was a massive screen behind the band showing nostalgic Def Leppard moments, the most moving being their tribute to the late, great Steve Clarke which was truly tear jerking stuff.
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Up next was a stunning mash up of Bowie's 'Heroes' with title track 'Hysteria', a
moment of genius and a celebration of British rock at its best. Time for another one of those hidden songs that doesn’t get overplayed on radio with 'Excitable' which ran straight into 'Love and Affection' ending the 'Hysteria' section of the show on a high.

Then it was a trip through the other hits with an epic five song encore. Perhaps each of the band had picked a favourite song?

'Wasted' is obviously a huge song for Elliott, 'When Love And Hate Collide' is a Savage written song that means a lot to him, 'Let's Get Rocked' gives us Rick's chops and 'Rock Of Ages' definitely shows Phil and Viv's dual guitar greatness.

Finally it was time for the anthem that the band clearly really enjoy performing,
'Photograph' which was played with a montage of photos on the giant screen. A real trip through the Rock 'N' Roll CV of a band that deserve their spot as one of the greatest British rock outfits of all time.
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This show was an aural and visual triumph and I cannot wait to see it on the big screen soon. Watch this space for news of that. In the meantime, I will certainly never forget Def Leppard and I’m sure they will never forget the hysterical reaction they got tonight.

Source

[CindyJ]

LIVE REVIEW: Def Leppard whip up Hysteria to blow the doors off at the O2 Arena
OVER 100 Million records sold worldwide, and their Pyromania and Hysteria albums certified Diamond status, establishes Def Leppard as one of the all-time great British rock groups who is still rocking all over the world as tonight's explosive show of red-hot melodic metal attests.
By Paul Davies
PUBLISHED: 18:37, Mon, Dec 10, 2018

As tough as the Sheffield steel that their home city produced when they originally forged their callow talents together in the vanguard of the NWOBHM, Def Leppard remains world beaters.

Completely selling out their current UK tour which arrived at the London 02 Arena on this un-seasonally mild December evening, it was anything but mild inside this vast arena as fan fervour led to onstage group fireworks.

Playing their sparkling Hysteria album in full, singer Joe Elliott whipped up a frenzy as this evening's hard-core throng sang along from the get-go to Leppard's high altar of anthemic hard rock songs.

Pandemonium followed as the countdown clock on the bespoke front of stage safety curtain reached zero, to reveal the band kicking into opener Women.

Similar to Bon Jovi, Leppard attracts a healthy mix of punters and there were plenty of leather and denim-clad ladies who rocked-up to see their metal heroes play for them tonight.

Singing along to all twelve Hysteria tracks, the band’s passionate audience, effectively almost 20,000 backing singers, almost launched this large domed roof high into orbit as guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell exploded into the riff to Rocket before a rabid pulsating Animal charged out from the speakers.

In fact, a bare-chested and tartan bondage trousered Phil Collen had something of a wild animal on the loose attitude about himself as he hurtled around the stage like an electric axe-wielding Hackney-born Tasmanian Devil of the fretboard.

Yet, it was bassist Rick Savage who still resembles his MTV 80s self being projected onto the backdrop from the back in the day repurposed film montage, who had the rock star moves as he strutted between his station upon the drum high riser, next to top thumper Rick Allen, and the ego-ramp jutting out into the standing audience.

This is where the larger than life frontman Joe Elliott spent most of the evening bellowing out his lungs as he fired up this white-hot show from the front. Holding sway as Pour Some Sugar On Me and Armageddon It rained down their catchy rock hooks on the waves of hands punching the air, Elliott’s voice still has the power and range to deliver the metal melodies demanded by these brash and brightly polished tunes.

However, it’s when the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts that certain concerts go down in legend as this gang of rock survivors proved with their polished live execution of this diamond-hard album.

And then there was more, as rolling back the years for a riotous encore including Wasted, from their 1980 debut release On Through The Night, Rock of Ages and Photograph from the Pyromania release Def Leppard sealed the deal on a triumphant live redux of a momentous era in heavy rock.

'Major Props' has now become such an overused phrase in praise of a band or artist who has the balls to do their thing, come what may, and pull it off with aplomb. Well, opening act, and legends in their own right, Cheap Trick blew the bloody doors off this venue with their crunchy high octane kitsch rock show.

As fidgety as ever, guitarist Rick Nielsen mirthfully charged around the stage playing a different guitar on every song. He even brought out his famous five-neck instrument to conclude a scintillating set as vocalist Robin Zander hollered out his heart throughout.

Def Leppard: still got it, never lost it.

Source + photos

[notastrangelady73]

Surely someone there at that huge arena took some footage of Wasted?? May need to scour the web tonight!

[CindyJ]

Photos at the link.

[CindyJ]

DEF LEPPARD BRINGING HYSTERIA TO LONDON

It has been 31 years since Def Leppard released their platinum selling Hysteria album. Last year the band celebrated this anniversary with a massive American tour. Now it was the UK’s change to see the album, being played in its entirety. We saw them live on the first night at the 02 in London.

Cheap Tick

One thing was for sure before this concert started: it was going to be a night full of hits and rock classics. Starting with support band Cheap Trick. The American rock band doesn’t come over to European soil too often so it was great to see them perform with Def Leppard. The roots of Cheap Trick go back to 1969 when guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson founded the band Fuse. But it would be 1974 when Cheap Trick was formed with the classic line up of Robin Zander on vocals and Bun E. Carlos on the drums. The rest is just classic rock history.

In contrast with Def Leppard, Cheap Trick is mostly famous for hits and not one specific album. So London could prepare it self on a night through memory lane. The band opened with Hello There, Big Eyes and The Move’s California Man. From the second the Cheap Trick entered the stage they immediately blew the roof off and had the audience in the palm of their hands. Vocalist Robin Zander sang his heart out on songs like If You Want My Love andThe Flame. As the audience all knew what was coming next it still was great to hear the response. It was Zander screaming I Want You To Want Me. As it is one of Cheap Tricks biggest hits it had the crowd pumped up and ready for more.

Cheap trick says goodnight!

Rick Nielsen threw many guitar picks in the audience while playing Dream Police and Never Had A Lot To Loose. As a true entertainer he knew how to play with the audience and bring the interaction to new highs. The set ended with another number one hit called Surrender.

For the final song Nielsen picked up his famous five-neck guitar to end the show in style with Goodnight. Cheap Trick proved in their 10 song set list that they are rock icons in their own way. Also it proved that they are still able to bring a power full show and they aren’t ready to retire just yet.

Bringing Hysteria

It has been 31 years since Hysteria was released. Just keep that thought for a minute. It was the fourth album of the British hard-rock band and took over three years to record. Many stories can be written about the process of recording the album, Rick Allen’s amazing return to the drums after loosing his left arm and all the hit singles the album contains. Also let’s not forget the fact that it’s the last album featuring the very talented Steve Clark (23/04/1960-08/01/1991 on guitar. But it was also the album that madeDef Leppard the arena and stadium-filling band they still are today.

So 31 years later with the lights out in a sold out London o2 the lights went out and snippets of the complete Hysteria album were blown out of the speakers. That was until the screens said London and Def Leppard and slowly went up to reveal a shirtless and oiled up Phil Collen playing the intro riff to Women. A 62 year old guitarist performing shirtless might be with some rock stars an embarrassment, but not with Collen. Being fit as ever he is the one that can still pull it off after so many years.

The band was on fire and showed the audience from the first seconds that they knew how to rock. It might have helped that the Leppards had a backing vocals from over 20.000 people that were singing a long word for word on almost every song.

The singles

Hysteria didn’t produce two or three singles; no it produced seven of them. And so afterWomen it was Rocket, Animal, Love Bites and Pour Some Sugar On Me. It really shows that frontman Joe Elliot kept his voice going strong since the release of the album. Giving soul and character to songs like Love Bites while delivering a strong and powerful voice in songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me. Elliot was also able to keep the crowd pumped up, as during the whole gig fists and hands were punching in the air.

The switching between both guitarists (Collen and Campbell) was needless and very harmonic throughout. It really captured the vibe of the album and showed the great musical craftsmanship of the pair.

And it was the Northern Irish guitarist Vivian Campbell that had the honour of starting the next song called Armageddon It. Gods Of War and a lovely tribute to the late Steve Clark followed. It was a touching moment and the crowd embraced it with a loud applause.

Don’t Shoot Shotgun and Run Riot might have been the less familiar songs to the not die hard Def Leppard fan, but it was still great to hear these songs live. One of the biggest crowd favourites was obviously the title track of the album.

With Hysteria, the show went to a whole new level of excitement. Rick Savage gave the crowd powerful bass lines all night .As one of the founding members of Def Leppard and writer of Excitable he was showing his skills loud and clear. With Love And Affection the band packed up the complete Hysteria album, bringing the first part of the setlist to an end.

And More

As the posters for this tour suggested it wasn’t only going to be the Hysteria album. There was enough space for some hits in the encore. Def Leppard went all the way back to the early 80s with Wasted. WhenLove And Hate Collide and Let’s Get Rocked followed, before Rick Allen introduced the iconic intro of Rock Of Ages.

The drummer might have been the “quiet” one behind the drums; he once again delivered an amazing performance. From start to finish he kept the beat strong and made sure the band played tight and amazing. The band truly finished the show in style with Photograph.

Our verdict

When a band like Cheap Trick is the support of Def Leppard you know it’s going to be a good night full of rock anthems. Cheap Trick only had 10 songs to win the London crowd over, but they won the crowd after one song. Their catchy rock songs and moves on stage made them a great watch.

Def Leppard proved once again why they are still one of the biggest bands on earth. They delivered from start to finish with great musicianship, energy and songs. It was a must see show and a very special night.

Source

[CindyJ]

multi photo

http://instagram.com/p/BsLiPDchzPW

[andylgr]

Great 2 page review of this show in this months issue of Classic Rock (Greta van Fleet cover issue).

[Shawn]

Audio Complete

Def Leppard Live At The O2 Arena December 2018