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Inside Music   
Review: Enormously good fun 
Def Leppard - Waterfront 

14 February 2003

THERE was a time when Def Leppard were the biggest band in the world.

Their 15 million selling 1987 album Hysteria set the standard for
pop/metal for years to follow, and they were one of the few British bands
to truly conquer the States.

And while those glory days may be long gone, they remain a potent rock
band who know how to put on a show.

They filled the Waterfront last night with a surprisingly young crowd
which showed they have at least partially bridged the generation gap.

It was cheesy and predictable and cliched at times, but it was also 
enormously good fun.

Singer Joe Elliott had the full range of mic posing and crowd baiting
moves, Phil Collen and Belfast-born Vivian Campbell are a classic double
act on guitar, bass player Rick Savage ligged around as only bass players
can, and drummer Rick Allen anchored the sound.

Allen, who overcame the loss of an arm in a car crash, proved the
undoubted crowd favourite, receiving a sustained ovation when introduced
by Elliott.

Live the band are harder and edgier than on the airbrushed perfection of
their albums - and all the better for it.

You're So Beautiful and Four Letter Word, from new album X, show they
haven't lost the knack of writing classic pop/rock anthems stuffed with
memorable choruses.

But, predictably, it was the old songs that stood out.

Too Late was an early highlight and the hits came thick and fast on a run
to the finish that started with Women and included an extended Rocket,
Armageddon It, Photograph, Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me and Rock Of Ages.

By Neil McKay

Source: Belfast Telegraph

©2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.