My last Def Leppard show fell on August 24, 2018. It was an extremely special show, as I got to see my favorite band perform live in the stadium belonging to my favorite baseball team (the St. Louis Cardinals). It was an amazing experience and I ended the review with this line:
“For Def Leppard however, the future has never looked brighter and I can’t wait to see what comes next.”
I never would have guessed what would come next… For them or myself.
Months after that show, Def Leppard was announced as a nominee for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. As a band, they had been eligible since 2005, which marked 25 years since the release of their debut album On Through The Night. However they weren’t even nominated until 2018.
Thankfully, one time was all it took, as they were announced as an inductee in December. The Induction Ceremony was scheduled for March 29, 2019 at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Def Leppard’s actual plans for 2019 had yet to be fully announced. I knew they would have a run of shows in Canada and Europe, but the plans for America had yet to be determined. Speculation was rampant that Lep would be returning to Las Vegas for their long-awaited second residency following 2013’s legendary Viva! Hysteria.
Incidentally, I had made my first ever visit to New York in April 2018 thanks to my best friend (and the best man in my wedding) Austin. As a gift, he had taken me there and fulfilled a dream I’d had for well over a decade. In fact, he and I had attempted to put together a trip to New York in 2005, but failed considering we were both really young and really broke. 13 years later, we made it a reality and it was an all around great experience.
As tempted as I was to book a return trip to New York to see Def Leppard inducted into the Hall Of Fame, I had a couple of things stopping me. For one, I was reserving funds for the potential Las Vegas residency. But I also wasn’t sure about how to get tickets, as early indications suggested getting tickets required purchasing a membership into the Hall Of Fame, and I didn’t want to do that. So… I wrote it off.
It wasn’t until early February 2019 that I really began to rethink the whole thing. In fact, it was a Valentine’s Day weekend trip to St. Louis that would kick things into high gear. That trip was going to include a visit to a Lego Store, and that weekend it dawned on me that I hadn’t been to a Lego Store since my trip to New York the previous April. I once again had strong feelings of missing the city, and late on a Sunday night, I started to flirt with the idea of returning to New York. By that point, resale tickets for the Hall Of Fame ceremony were available for reasonable prices and the price of the trip itself was much cheaper than I expected due to some hotel and flight specials.
I proposed the idea of the trip to my wife and she was on board, as she had never been to New York and was interested in that and the Hall Of Fame induction since it would feature not only Def Leppard, but other artists she likes as well. So I put together the basic details for a four day trip and got my vacation time approved right away. I just had to wait on hers to be approved to book the trip and buy the tickets to the ceremony…
But it took over TWO DAYS for her boss, who was frequently in and out of the office due to a system conversion, to give her the approval.
As if convincing my wife of one Def Leppard related trip and then booking it wasn’t enough… Def Leppard waited until the exact day of booking the New York trip to announce their Las Vegas residency. So now I had to keep the wife on board with the New York trip, sell her on the Vegas trip, get her approved for days off for both, figure out the logistics of each, and then book them both.
Needless to say, February 13 was a **Censored** insane (but exciting) and expensive day. Suddenly I found myself looking forward to sequels of two of the biggest and best trips of my life, this time with my wife as my travel mate, and this time Def Leppard was at the center of both.
All things considered, the wait for New York was fairly short. My 2018 trip was booked for several months before it arrived, while this time it was a mere six weeks or so.
When March 28 rolled around, Brittany and I drove down to St. Louis, MO to stay at her uncle’s house the night before the flight. The drive sucked thanks to heavy rain that never let up, but we at least had Def Leppard’s Town Hall special on Sirius XM satellite radio to entertain us on the way.
We went to bed early that evening but I couldn’t sleep for several reasons. One, I was uncomfortable. Two, I missed my dog as I’m used to him laying on me while I sleep. Three, I was in bed way earlier than usual. And four… I was super excited and anxious for the trip. This was going to be one of the biggest days of my life. My pal Austin ran point on our trip in 2018, but this time, I was going to be running the show. I was confident, but still a little anxious. Plus the center of this whole thing was seeing my lifelong favorite band get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I WAS GOING.
Or was I?
All hell broke loose before my alarm even went off in the morning. The alarm was set for 7:00 so I could get up, quickly get ready, and then Brittany and I would head over to the airport around 8:00 to be ready for our 10:01 AM flight to LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York.
But at 6:32 AM, I received the following text from Expedia:
Flight AA4416 from STL to LGA on Mar29 at 10:01 AM has been canceled. We’re working to rebook you and will send an update soon.
I struggled to comprehend what I was reading so early in the morning on so little shitty sleep with such a huge day and event ahead of me. For a moment, I just laid there thinking “what the **Censored** am I going to do?”
After not receiving any updates for 15 minutes or so, I tried to manually rebook but the app wouldn’t let me. So I went straight to the source and called American Airlines. The plane had to be taken out of service for some reason, resulting in the cancellation. They automatically booked me for an 11:19 AM flight to Dallas with a 90 minute layover before my connecting flight that would have us landing at LaGuardia at 7:01 PM. With the concert scheduled for 7:00, obviously that was a massive problem.
Also a massive problem was the slow old lady that I got on the phone, as she was so slow to search other flights that earlier ones were literally snatched out from under us as she worked. Then when she thought she got an earlier one, she realized there were two people going on this trip, not just one… So she obviously didn’t listen or comprehend when I mentioned myself and my wife multiple times earlier in the phone call. Not to mention IT WAS RIGHT THERE ON HER **Censored** SCREEN.
The earliest flight she was able to book was leaving at 11:01 AM, flying to Charlotte for a two-plus hour layover, and then not arriving at LaGuardia until 6:00 PM. It was only a little better and would still not allow sufficient time to get to the concert before it started.
The day had become a nightmare.
I told her to book whatever got us there soonest, but I also took matters into my own hands. I began looking at flights on other airlines and located a 1:00 PM flight through Southwest that would land at 4:20 PM. After a quick chat with Brittany, I booked the flight for $757.96, well beyond the round-trip cost of my original flight. But I had no choice.
Now the clock had reset. I had to wait for a flight three hours later than my original one, which would get us in town much earlier than the replacement flights but still be cutting it really close. I had already been anxious about the process of getting off the plane, finding a taxi, and getting into Manhattan. Now I had to do it with zero time to spare. And while that seemed daunting… It actually honed my focus. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
When we arrived at the airport, I went one step further and upgraded our tickets to priority boarding. American Airlines has assigned seating while Southwest is first come, first serve. Priority boarding (which cost an extra $44.00) would allow us to get on sooner and as a result, get off sooner. I needed every minute I could get, so I spent the extra money.
The flight left almost right on time (just a minute or two late thanks to one person holding up the entire plane by being in the bathroom at takeoff time) and so we were off to New York. I reviewed my plans for the day as things had to be cut out to make up time. I also researched the airport and individual terminals so I could zip us through and out as quickly as possible. I didn’t have any time to spare.
Thankfully the flight ran a little ahead of schedule. We landed at 4:00 and I was off the plane by 4:20 PM. Much to my surprise, the airport was quite a bit different from less than a year ago, as it is undergoing substantial renovation. That did come back to bite me in the ass, as the area that served as a taxi bay last year was now a shuttle bay… And we had to hop on a shuttle to be taken to the taxi bay. That was another unexpected delay that caused anxiety, especially as we arrived to the taxi bay and I saw that it was four lanes wide and countless cars deep. I was afraid of getting stuck in a cab in the back of the line, having to wait for the ones in front of us to move before we could get out.
But that’s when my luck turned. We got a cab in the very front. Last year, we had a rickety old cab with a rickety old driver who had to be handed a phone with a GPS that ‘talked’ for him to get us to our destination. This year, it was a new cab with a young driver who knew his and got us to where we needed to be faster than expected, especially in rush hour traffic on a Friday. Needless to say, he received a good tip.
Without time to spare, plans to eat were scrapped and we immediately hopped on the subway to ride from Forest Hills to Lower Manhattan. I kept staring at the clock, feeling every single minute pass. The subway ride was roughly 40 minutes but it went by fairly quickly.
It was a good thing that this wasn’t my first visit to New York, as there was no time to be in awe of the city after getting off the subway. It was all about getting to the next destination as quickly as possible, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t take a second to look up and appreciate returning to New York. Our hotel was directly next to the site of the World Trade Center, so it’s impossible to not look around at the memorial pools and the massive tower next to them.
We got checked into the hotel, got changed, and then immediately left to get back on the subway and go across the river to Brooklyn. I feared an excessively busy ride considering the event, but it wasn’t too bad.
The subway exit opened up right in front of the Barclay Center and there were thousands of people out for the event. We hopped in line and stepped foot inside the doorway of the arena at exactly 7:00. That moment made me realize just how important every split second decision I had made throughout the day was. If I had done one thing differently, we wouldn’t have made it. Instead, against the odds, I had gotten us from St. Louis to inside the arena in Brooklyn by 7:00.
We made our way up to the second level and arrived at our seats. Mere minutes later, Stevie Nicks appeared on stage and the show began.
That’s when I was finally able to relax after running on pure rage and adrenaline for 12 hours. I was no longer behind, but was back on schedule. Still, I was tired and hungry (since I hadn’t eaten since 8AM) and had to wait for the anxiety of the day to dissipate. So I didn’t fully absorb Stevie Nicks’ first or second songs: “Stand Back” and “Leather And Lace.” The latter featured a guest appearance by The Eagles’ Don Henley, which was neat to see even though I didn’t know the song or really comprehend what was happening.
It wasn’t until Stevie took a moment to talk to the crowd that I finally regained my focus and was able to start enjoying the evening. Of course it was also a bummer that she was introducing the song she had recorded with the late, great Tom Petty, and it was sad that he wasn’t around to perform it with her. I don’t doubt that he would have been in attendance and on stage if he were still around. Once again I found myself extra thankful that I had the chance to see him live in 2017.
In Petty’s place was Harry Styles, the artist that would later be inducting Stevie into the Hall Of Fame. He did as well as anyone could have hoped and it was still cool to see “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” live.
Following the song, Stevie talked about her fashion and how the scarf she had was the original one from way back in the day. Which led to her introducing her most well-known solo song, “Edge Of Seventeen.” I’ve never been a huge fan of Nicks or Fleetwood Mac, but I did enjoy her four song performance and she sounded great.
After a short break, Harry Styles was introduced and returned to the stage, still wearing his finest pantsuit from the Hillary Clinton collection. He gave a very passionate but way too long speech honoring Stevie Nicks, as the two have apparently become good friends in recent years. And while I appreciated that and the tribute he was paying, his speech went on entirely too long. At a certain point, the length of the speech becomes detrimental to the message you’re relaying and that definitely happened here.
Finally it was Stevie’s turn to speak, and her speech seemed much more off the cuff than written or rehearsed. But it was amusing and she sold me on deserving to be inducted as a solo artist. In fact, she’s the first female artist to be inducted twice since Fleetwood Mac was inducted in 1998. Hopefully more deserving female artists will follow.
In all, Stevie’s performance and induction took up roughly an hour, which worried me about the overall length of the evening. I figured it would be at least four or five hours long, but to spend the entire first hour on one artist? Yikes.
Thankfully, the evening was structured in a way that there was always something happening and everything consistently moved forward.
Immediately after Stevie Nicks & her band left the stage, the intro video for Radiohead began. I figured this part of the night would go by fairly quickly since I knew they weren’t performing, allowing everyone to make up some time after Nicks occupied the entire first hour.
I’ve never been a fan of Radiohead, though I do enjoy their biggest hit “Creep.” They’re notoriously unfriendly with the media and I’ve always gotten a ‘holier than thou’ vibe from them. Despite their success and a couple of very well known albums (OK Computer and Kid A, specifically), I couldn’t tell you anything that they’ve done. But I did know some of the basics of how they did things, including their ‘pay what you want’ way of releasing an album several years ago.
The band apparently got their name from a Talking Heads song, so they wound up having David Byrne from that band come out to induct them into the Hall Of Fame. It was interesting to learn more about the band through the video and speech, though it won’t necessarily make me into a fan.
I would not have been surprised if no one from the band showed up from the induction, as they seem like the type that would just love to play it off as ‘too cool’ for the accolade… but drummer Phil Selway and guitarist Ed O’Brien made an appearance and were actually gracious about the induction. The rest of the band was MIA for BS and/or unknown reasons, and I wasn’t disappointed that they didn’t perform. It’s not like they would have played the one song I knew by them anyway.
The evening moved on to Roxy Music, beginning with their intro video. Roxy Music has had bigger success in the UK than the US, and the only reason I knew of them was via Def Leppard. Lep included Roxy Music’s “Street Life” on their 2006 covers album Yeah!, so I had checked out the original song as a result. It was one of my least favorite songs on the album and I disliked the original even more, but I was happy to see them inducted as Joe Elliott is a big fan of theirs.
Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and John Taylor gave the induction speech before members of Roxy Music took center stage to be inducted. Frontman Bryan Ferry was joined by Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, and Eddie Jobson, but only Ferry spoke.
Apparently Roxy Music had not performed since they disbanded in 2011, so it was neat to see a reunion of a classic act. And if they never perform again, I can say I was at their final performance.
The set itself opened with “In Every Dream Home A Heartache,” which nearly bored me to tears. Since I knew so little of their music, I had no idea they would kick off their set with a long, drawn out psychedelic number like that. Following “Out Of The Blue,” the crowd perked up a bit as they got to songs that may very well be bigger American hits. I wasn’t all that familiar with “Love Is The Drug,” but I do know “More Than This.” Sadly, the four and a half minute song was condensed to about one and a half minutes, making me wonder if they were doing a medley of some kind. “Avalon” and “Editions Of You” closed out their five-ish song set.
Stevie Van Zandt from The E Street Band came out on stage and marked ‘halftime’ of the show, as he was going to handle a fairly new segment for the Rock Hall: the induction of singles. I think this was the second year for the segment, which saw various singles being inducted into the Hall Of Fame. This year’s inductees were “Maybe” by the Chantels, “Tequila” by the Champs, “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong, “Twist And Shout” by the Isley Brothers, “Leader Of The Pack” by the Shangri-Las, and “Gloria” by the Shadows Of Knight. A small video accompanied each, though there was a glitch when “Leader Of The Pack” was inducted as it played without sound at first. But Van Zandt enticed the crowd into singing the song while they waited for the video to relay with sound.
As we entered the second half of the evening, the intro video for The Cure played. I knew of them and knew a handful of their biggest hits, but wasn’t all that familiar with their backstory. So it was interesting to watch and learn, though I once again got the vibe of the band trying to be the ‘reluctant rock stars’ that Radiohead ever so desperately wanted to be.
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, whose band has been nominated but not inducted, took the stage to induct The Cure and eat crow over his own comments about the Hall Of Fame in the past. But that resulted in a well done and humorous speech fitting of him and The Cure.
Following his relatively short speech, a Spinal Tap-esque number of current and past band members appeared on stage. Hell, The Cure probably had more members on stage than the Tap would have, although part of that may be due the death of countless drummers for Spinal Tap. Frontman Robert Smith played his awkward persona to the fullest while speaking for the entire band for a short period of time since he’s apparently a ‘very bad communicator’ (though the interview clip that later went viral would suggest otherwise).
Only the current touring version of The Cure performed, leading the large number of past members to awkwardly leave the stage. I’ve since learned that current guitarist Reeves Gabrels has only been in the band since 2012 and has yet to play on a single album of theirs, but was somehow inducted. How he got in but the Hall Of Fame was so stingy with the members of KISS is a mystery.
The Cure performed a five song set, starting with a couple of songs I didn’t know (“Shake Dog Shake,” “A Forest”) before turning to the bigger tunes I did recognize (“Lovesong,” “Just Like Heaven,” “Boys Don’t Cry”). I really enjoyed their set though.
Surprisingly, the next artist up was Janet Jackson. I fully expected her to go second to last, but when Brittany informed me that Janet would not be performing, I understood why she was earlier than expected.
Following the intro video, Janelle Monáe stepped up and delivered one of the best speeches of the night honoring Janet Jackson.
It was disappointing that Janet didn’t perform. I’ve read several possible reasons for this, ranging from the exclusivity of her Las Vegas residency to a boycott against HBO (which will broadcast the ceremony in late April) due to the recent documentary they aired about her brother Michael.
Janet did take the stage, however, for a quiet but emotional speech.
The oldest group of the evening was The Zombies. They had been waiting since 1989 to be inducted, so at this point what does waiting until second to last during the ceremony hurt?
Following another educational intro video, The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs took the stage for the induction speech. My jaw dropped when she mentioned that she was 60 years old as she looked amazing for being that age.
Her speech was followed by the four surviving members of The Zombies graciously accepting their long overdue induction into the Hall Of Fame. They were the only group of the evening to have everyone speak, but they didn’t run long and it was clear they were all very thankful for the recognition.
I was very much looking forward to seeing the band perform, as they would be one of the oldest acts I had ever seen live. Like the others performing on the evening (other than the closers), this was the only event that would provide the opportunity for me to see this band live.
They wasted no time in getting things started. The full group consisting of current and former members (including two drummers) took the stage and kicked things off with “Time Of The Season,” which was the song I knew best out of their discography. Considering the song hit number one on the charts exactly 50 years ago today, it sounded remarkably good live and featured an extended jam.
The now-symbolic “This Will Be Our Year” followed before the classic “Tell Her No” was played. Frontman Rod Argent introduced their final song, “She’s Not There,” as one of the first songs he ever wrote. It also featured an extended jam and sounded great. It was really cool to see them live.
Following The Zombies, the stage was reset while an In Memorium video played. The video was capped off by honoring the late Aretha Franklin, which got a huge round of applause from the crowd.
And then… It was time for the main event.
Def Leppard has been eligible for the Hall Of Fame since the year I graduated high school. When that year began, I had ‘only’ seen them live 12 times (once in 1996, three times in 1999, twice in 2000, once in 2002, and five times in 2003). But they had been my favorite band for as far back as I could remember. There are photos of me wearing their stuff and videos of me singing their songs dating back to the late 1980’s when I was a toddler and they’ve been the soundtrack to my life ever since. Even as my interests elsewhere have changed, Def Leppard has remained the constant.
I didn’t ditch them when grunge took over in the early 1990’s. Instead, I wore my inherited Adrenalize tour shirt to elementary school proudly and didn’t give a what anyone thought. I drew the Adrenalize album cover on my homework folder for all to see.
I didn’t ditch them when my friends all became infatuated with rap and R&B in the mid 1990’s. Hell, that’s when I went out and saw my first Def Leppard concert. When I returned to school and started fourth grade after the summer of 1996, I was the only kid rocking a Def Leppard Slang tour shirt that I bought at a concert I actually attended. I wore that thing weekly, it seemed.
And I flew the Leppard flag proudly in the late 1990’s when Euphoria came out and “Promises” was a huge hit. It was as if to say “I TOLD YOU SO!” to everyone that doubted why I was still such a huge Def Leppard fan for the last decade. Def Leppard were back and suddenly it was becoming cool to like them again. Friends of mine went to see them when they played in my city in 1999, and I beamed with pride for Def Leppard as well as myself since I wasn’t a concert rookie. I had already seen the band live and was ahead of these bandwagoners.
I’ve stuck by Def Leppard no matter what, and even though they’ve infuriated me at times, they will forever and always be my band. Any frustration I have is from a place of love, as I only want the best from and for them.
It was during 2005 that things began to change for the band. New management came in and the focus shifted from new music followed by tours to frequent tours followed by new music… When they got around to it. It was frustrating at the time, and I was afraid of the band getting swallowed up by the nostalgia circuit.
Sadly, only two full length studio albums have been released since then. But on the plus side, the band did lock into a regular touring schedule that saw the crowds growing year after year. The change is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that I saw Def Leppard play at two state fairs in 1999, but by 2018 I was watching them perform in front of a crowd exceeding 31,000 at Busch Stadium. It was after that show that I wondered what could possibly come next.
Vindication. That’s what.
13 years after they became eligible, Def Leppard finally received their first nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Backed by a strong showing from the fan vote, one nomination was all it took. Def Leppard received their pass on their first nomination, and now I was sitting in the very arena where the induction was taking place.
As soon as their video began, I could feel my emotions kick into high gear. I’ve been so used to their activity being part of my life that it’s easy to take it for granted. I never do, as I’m thankful for every chance I get to see them live. But life flies by and it has been doing so at an ever-increasing rate as I’ve gotten older. The Hall Of Fame induction was serving as a great opportunity to stop and reflect on the band’s entire career and my entire life as a fan of theirs. It wasn’t just me and the Def Leppard fanbase taking part in this celebration of what we already knew. This time, it would be on display for the whole world to see.
As soon as the intro video started, the crowd erupted. A huge smile came over my face as I watched and heard Def Leppard’s music blasting through the speakers with the crowd already singing along. The story being told was one I’ve heard a million times, but never get tired of hearing. The portion of the video covering Rick Allen’s accident and return got a huge reaction from the crowd, setting the stage for what was to come later.
Fellow Hall Of Famer Brian May from Queen was announced to a huge ovation. Queen is having a resurgence right now thanks to the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic and you can now hear their music in any number of commercials as a result. So it was extra cool to have Brian, a close friend of Leppard, induct them into the Hall Of Fame. In my mind, there was no one better to do it.
Once again, most of the speech was stuff that I’ve heard before. Some was new, and the part about Joe and Brian calling each other first after the deaths of their close friends and bandmates was really special.
With that, Def Leppard were announced and welcomed on stage to receive their trophy, making them officially members of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
There they stood, the five members that have made up this band for the last 27 years. Brian greeted each member with a hug. The band stepped forward but refrained from speaking right away as they soaked up the applause from the crowd.
Frontman Joe Elliott stepped up to the mic for a fantastic, funny, and heartfelt speech.
Joe’s speech was perfect in every way, which I wouldn’t expect any less from him. He was born for this role he’s been in for the last 40-plus years, and tonight showed everyone exactly why.
After paying respect to his (and the rest of the band’s) parents, who really made it possible for the band to take off, he moved on to telling the story of forming the band. Joe rightfully paid tribute to both Pete Willis and Steve Clark, the founding guitar players that contributed so much in the early years of the band. It goes without saying that Steve’s writing and playing in particular can and will never be replicated, but his legacy lives on and he has now been cemented in the Hall Of Fame alongside his bandmates.
Mutt Lange also received his due along with the band’s original management at Q-Prime. That led to the successes and the tragedies that would come to define the band nearly as much as their music.
The moment of the entire night came when Joe discussed Rick Allen’s accident, recovery, and return. Having seen Def Leppard in concert 57 times before this evening, I’ve seen my share of standing ovations for Rick. It never, ever gets old to me or to him. Tonight, however, the ovation he received was taken to a new level. Surrounded by peers, music legends, tens of thousands of fans, and of course, his bandmates, Rick became more emotional over the loud and extended standing ovation he received than I’ve ever seen. The tears were visibly streaming down his face as the applause grew and grew. Eventually the rest of the band took their turns hugging him, once again taking a moment to acknowledge the strength it took to return to and maintain his place in the band and life in general.
Joe went on to mention the success of Hysteria, followed by the loss of Steve. But the theme was survival, as each success and each tragedy only served to make the band stronger as they made it through.
Which led to my favorite quote of the night: “So let’s face facts here, if alcoholism, car crashes and cancer couldn’t kill us, the Nineties had no **Censored** chance!”
In that moment, I felt so much pride for the band, and I couldn’t help but give myself a little mental pat on the back as well. I was an impressionable little kid when the 90’s kicked in, but I had the sense of self to stick with what I loved and there was no amount of peer pressure or change in pop culture that could make me abandon my band. They were there with me through preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and now adulthood and not once was I afraid to admit that they were MY band. Always have been, always will be, even after they call it a day.
I didn’t think Joe’s speech could get any more perfect, but he found a way by closing it out by acknowledging his fellow bandmates, as “the closest thing to brothers this only child has ever known. I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do it without you guys.” Once again, I could feel my eyes watering as I looked back on the time I’ve been following these guys. I’ve had many other bands that I followed fall apart or get into ridiculous fights over nonsense, and yet Def Leppard has been strong the entire time. I’m so grateful that I haven’t had to deal with any of that drama from my favorite band and I’m extra thankful that they’re so close after all these years. It really adds an extra dimension to why they are my favorite band and it’s not something I would have known when I ‘picked’ them as a little kid in the late 1980’s. And yet, here we are.
I would have liked to have heard at least a little bit from Phil, Vivian, Sav, and Rick, but I also can’t imagine how anything would have topped Joe’s speech. Again, it was perfect in every way.
But they weren’t done yet.
After a brief wardrobe change and stage prep, Def Leppard returned to the stage, instruments in hand. They’re damn good at speeches, but now it was time for them to do what they do best: perform live. I looked around and wondered how many people in the crowd had never had the privilege of seeing Def Leppard live and I was excited for them to finally get the chance. I’ve seen well over a hundred bands and none of them compare to the quality in sound and performance that Def Leppard puts on every single show.
I was expecting a four song set from Leppard and was 99% sure what those songs would be. One of them got things started, which was “Hysteria.” This song has had a fascinating rise in popularity over the last dozen years. If you look back at the band’s setlists from 1987-2006, the song was regularly played in the first half of the show. Yes, it was a hit, and it was frequently a huge singalong. But it was played early, while the ‘bigger’ hits were reserved for the latter half of the show. Hell, I even saw one show in 1999 where the song was dropped entirely.
But in 2007, a much needed overhaul of the set was done and part of that included shifting “Hysteria” to the second half of the setlist. It has thrived in that spot ever since and has become a much bigger song that it was for the 20 years prior.
Despite being over four hours into the evening, the crowd was still in fine voice and responded loudly when Joe changed the lyrics to include “How ’bout you Brooklyn!?”
It’s easy for me to overlook this song and all of the big hits these days as changes to the setlist from show to show and unfortunately tour to tour have become harder and harder to come by. My focus now is always on what I have seen the least, and songs like “Hysteria” get lost in the mix as a result. But in this setting, I was able to step back and enjoy it more than I have in years, and it was a great way to begin their performance.
As always, Rick Allen received his introduction prior to kicking off “Rock Of Ages” as he has done for 36 years now. Def Leppard was clearly having a blast and the crowd got louder with each subsequent song.
Just as they have at each ‘normal’ show since 2013, Phil and Vivian stepped to center stage and Viv tinkered with the distortion on Phil’s guitar while prepping for the next song.
That song was “Photograph,” and the crowd erupted once again as soon as the opening notes began. By that point, I could feel my emotions bubbling up yet again as my sense of pride for Def Leppard boiled over. I’ve heard that song live at every single show I’ve seen and yet here, it sounded as fresh as the very first time. In fact, it sounded even more fresh thanks to this performance of the song being third in their set after a lengthy break. Joe in particular was killing it, which further supports my idea to move this song way up in the set for an early surprise that will benefit him.
Joe riled up the crowd for some participation as they started their set closer “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” The massive singalong continued and it was clear that Def Leppard was the only band that could have closed out this evening. Both in terms of songs and stage presence, none of the other acts being inducted could match Leppard and they were more than worth every bit of the wait (and all of the nonsense I had to endure to even make it to this event).
Lep left the stage and things went dark, but activity could be seen indicating something else was coming. I had quietly been hoping for Brian May to join Def Leppard on stage for a performance of “Tie Your Mother Down,” but it ended up being a bigger surprise than that.
Not only did Def Leppard return to the stage after the brief ‘encore,’ but they were joined by several other familiar faces from the evening: Queen’s Brian May, The Zombies’ Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, The E Street Band’s Stevie Van Zandt, The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs, and Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera. That alone was quite the unique and eclectic lineup, but there was one more surprise in store.
Joe announced his friend and hero Ian Hunter, who has had a long and storied career as a solo artist and frontman for the band Mott The Hoople. That really just left one possibility for what would come next, which was a cover of Mott’s “All The Young Dudes.” It’s Joe Elliott’s favorite song of all time and it lent itself nicely to finishing off the evening with several other inductees. Everyone down on the floor was up at the front of the stage by that point, making it look more like a traditional concert.
Def Leppard has covered the song a few times dating back to 1996. Before that, Joe and Phil performed the song with Queen, David Bowie, Ian Hunter, and Mick Ronson at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Leppard played the song with Ian Hunter in New York in 1996 and then again (without Hunter) at a small club show in England later that year. The song surfaced again in 2000 for another performance with Hunter, but hadn’t been played since.
Obviously it was my first time seeing the song live, not to mention the fact that it was the first time I had seen Def Leppard be joined on stage by other artists. It was a special end to an extremely special and celebratory evening. I caught Joe looking around at his bandmates several times as they all took in the once in a lifetime moment, and I was so happy to be there to witness it in person. The day put me through hell to get there, but it was nothing compared to what Def Leppard had endured to wind up on stage. The lesson they taught me was clear: persevere and you’ll make it. I did just that and I was rewarded with being part of a huge night in Def Leppard’s history.
Joe gave a shout out to everyone on stage and then said goodnight to the crowd, bringing the five hour ceremony to a close. Leppard’s “Hello America” blasted over the speakers as thousands of people made their way out of the arena.
Somehow, I was still running on adrenaline, which helped get me through the late evening after a very long and very trying day (which wasn’t over since the subway line we needed wasn’t running how we expected, but I swiftly got us on another train home).
I cannot wait to watch the ceremony when it airs on HBO on April 27. Hopefully the full show (condensed to remove prep, etc) is shown including all of Def Leppard’s portion of the evening. It was extremely well-deserved and now Def Leppard sits alongside their heroes and many other music icons in the Hall Of Fame.