http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainment/music/general/view/20090629wherever_def_leppard_appears_hysteria_follows/srvc=home&position=also

Wherever Def Leppard appears, Hysteria follows
By Matt Parrish
Monday, June 29, 2009

When you're in Def Leppard and you've been playing festival concerts for 30 
years, you notice some changes.

"I played the Reading Festival in England with my old band, Girl, in 1980," Def 
Lep guitarist Phil Collen said by phone during a break from rehearsal in 
Nashville, Tenn. "Back then, everyone had these Party Seven cans of beer in the 
crowd, and people would empty them out and fill them with (pee), then throw 
them at the stage no matter who was up there. It was horrible, really."

Def Leppard can expect a far more courteous welcome Tuesday at the Comcast 
Center, where the British band performs with current tour mates Poison and 
Cheap Trick.

In his cheerfully erudite London accent, Collen, 52, noted that life on the 
road today is not quite so rowdy for those veteran rockers who survived the 
'80s and '90s.

"First of all, we don't party like we used to," said Collen, whose band 
suffered the 1991 loss of founding guitarist Steve Clark to a lethal mixture of 
pills and booze. "You think you're bulletproof when you're in your twenties, 
and you're obviously not."

Collen hasn't indulged in alcohol for the past 22 years. He's a vegetarian who 
spends much of his offstage tour time working out, no doubt to keep his fit 
physique, which the perpetually shirtless guitarist displays every time he 
steps on stage.

Now based in Southern California (Poison's CC DeVille lives just down the 
street from him), Collen also uses his time on the road writing new material 
and recording demos on his laptop.

"I use Garageband on the computer just like any teenager nowadays," he said. "A 
lot of really interesting stuff is coming out now that people have easy tools 
like that to do what they want. That said, I'm glad we came up when there was 
actually still a music industry around and people could still throw big bucks 
at us."

Those big bucks helped build the band members' retirement accounts, thank you 
very much, but Collen and company have never really given up the grind. The 
group continues to push forward by releasing new records every few years and 
trying everything from a set full of covers (2006's "Yeah!") to a team-up with 
country crooner Tim McGraw (on last year's "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge").

"There are always new people appearing in the world to win over," Collen said.

So don't expect Def Lep to deliver a blatant rehash of your ripped jean jacket 
days at the mall. Even their show's lights and moving LED screens get updated 
every year.

"It's like, ‘The new iPhone is coming out this Friday!,' " Collen said, "except 
it's some new piece of equipment we have to dodge."

And dodging is exactly what Poison singer Bret Michaels failed to do at the 
Tony awards earlier this month when he suffered an embarrassing face-plant 
curtain collision while walking off stage.

"We'll be sure to have all the choreography down," Collen said.

Def Leppard, with Poison and Cheap Trick, at the Comcast Center, Mansfield, 
Tuesday. Tickets: $20-$125; 508-339-2331.

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