SHEFFIELD UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB ( Bramall La, tel. 0114/273-8955)
Def Leppard's Joe Elliott was offered a role in the movie When Saturday
Comes, to be cast alongside Sean Bean as a Sheffield United player on
his hallowed Bramhall Lane ground. He couldn't take up the offer, as he
was working on Slang, the group's sixth studio album. Although Elliott
has been living as a tax exile in Dublin since the early 80's, he takes
in as many games as touring schedules permit, flying into Manchester,
renting a car to Sheffield, and then having a cup of tea with mom after
the game before going home. Rick Savage, the Def Leppard bass player,
was an apprentice professional at the club before the band as rapidly
propelled into the big time. The band's first rehearsal room was in a
now-demolished building in the shade of the stadium: They rented it for
5 pounds a week.

WAPENTAKE BAR (13 Charles St., tel. 0114/272-0041)
A stop on the 1995 Def Leppard homecoming and plaque-dedicating day,
this basement rock club with a lingering smell of beer and disinfectant
(the toilets are a problem here) was where the band did a short acoustic
set before an audience of 300 journalists and chums. The last time they
had played here was some 17 years earlier, when they made 15 pounds for
their efforts. Meanwhile the place rocks on in the old-fashioned heavy
metal way each night and sometimes has live bands. Olga Marshall, who
ran the club for decades, retired at the end of 1996, and there are
plans afoot to kick the place into the 90's by catering to more
alternative rock sounds.

RICK ALLEN CAR WRECK SITE
On New Year's Eve 1984, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and his
girlfriend were driving back from Manchester over the twisting Snake
Pass (A57) in his new Corvette. They had planned to celebrate the New
Year with friends and family in Sheffield, but started racing around
another souped-up sportster not far from the suburb of Hillsborough and
went off the road into a field. The actual crash site was about 6 miles
out of Sheffield on the A57, on a rugged hilltop called Moscar Top, on
the Manchester side of a turning called Long Lane, some 80 yards before
a small hospital building. Allen was rushed to the Royal Hallamshire
Hospital, but it was too late to save his left arm, and doctors had to
amputate it. Allen persevered and rejoined the band playing a specially
adapted drum kit.

BROADFIELD PUB ( 452 Abbeydale Rd., tel. 0114/255-0200)
Although this big, lively student pub 2 miles south of the city center
no longer puts on live music, it was the best place for local bands to
start out in the late 70's. One incredible week in 1978 saw no less a
line-up of future local stars then Clock DVA, the Thompson Twins,
Vice-Versa, Def Leppard, the Human League, and Cabaret Voltaire.

STEVE CLARK GRAVE ( Loxley Cemetery, Long La. off  Loxley Rd.)
Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark is buried under a headstone etched
with the band's logo and a portrait of Clark. Fans from around the world
come out and attach notes and mementoes to the grave, which is in a
small burial ground on the west side of the city, just beyond
Hillsborough and close to where drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car
wreck.

CROOKES WORKING MEN'S CLUB (Mulehouse Rd., Crookes, tel. 0114/266-0114)
On October 5, 1995, Def Leppard made their first stop here on their
much-hyped homecoming trip. They called in at this cozy, redbrick club
with a bowling green out front to unveil a Sheffield heritage plaque
dedicated to them. A couple of teenage fans had asked the city's lord
mayor to honor the band in some way, and this is what the council came
up with. The club was chosen because the band had a short residency here
in 1979 (playing before four dozen people who had paid 50p to get in,
with Joe Elliott's gran in the next room sipping milk stout), just
before they signed up with Vertigo. Apparently, they hadn't been back
since. The blue-collar Crookes neighborhood, close to the university
campus, is a couple of miles out from downtown. Joe Elliott was born at
61 Crookes Road in 1959. In recent years, Crookes WMC has been home to
the Juju Club, the city's premier worldbeat showcase.

DON VALLEY STADIUM (Worksop Rd., tel. 0114/256-0607)
Def Leppard have another plaque dedicated to them in the foyer of the
gorgeous, new, slightly futuristic Don Valley Stadium proclaiming that
in June 1993 they were the first band to play and sell out. The
undercard at this hometown gig, which drew some 40,000 fans, was
Thunder, Ugly Kid Joe, and Terrorvision. There are big color photos of
the headliners displayed next to the plaque. Others to sell out here
have been Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones. The stadium is 2 miles north
of downtown just beyond the sleazy Attercliffe neighborhood (live strip
shows in the pubs every Sunday).