http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/overnight/stories/052703dnovedef.bb97d.html

Review: Leppard roars and fans enjoy hard-rock holiday at NextStage

05/27/2003

By TERESA GUBBINSStaff Writer / The Dallas Morning News

GRAND PRAIRIE - Holidays can be a risky time for a touring rock band - will
everyone be out of town? But Memorial Day weekend was no problem for pop-metal
hit machine Def Leppard: The band was greeted by a full - and fully enthusiastic
- house on Sunday at NextStage.

Def Leppard has been at it since 1977, and its expertise was plain to see and
hear. Mixing up old hits ("Let It Go," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," "Hysteria")
with newer tracks ("Four Letter Word," "Long Long Way to Go"), the quintet
seemed youthful and fit as they bounded across the stage. They sounded fine,
too, plying their trademark combination of multipart harmonies and double-teamed
guitar.

In its late-'80s heyday, Def Leppard played large arenas, and that history was
evident in its showmanship. Singer Joe Elliott often communicated with the
audience via delineated physical gestures: a pistol finger pointed in the air or
a hand cupped behind the ear. Guitarists Vivian Campbell (he of the unbuttoned
shirt) and Phil Collen (he of the shirt entirely removed) and bassist Rick
Savage posed heroically - moves that would have felt trite in less skilled
hands. But the Leppards, who also included famed one-armed drummer Rick Allen,
did all the obvious things with freshness and zing, and a real sense of joy.

People in the audience held up Union Jack banners and flags - an early Def
Leppard motif - and many wore T-shirts from previous DL tours. Mr. Elliott
acknowledged the vintage shirts with a story about a new video the band shot for
the single "Now," which follows the journey of a concert T-shirt from 1983 to
2002, when it gets bought back by the original owner on eBay.

He dedicated "Two Steps Behind" - a song from the '93 disc Retro Active that
also appeared on the soundtrack to Last Action Hero - to the surgeon who
recently operated on his shoulder to mend a torn rotator cuff.

"He put me back onstage in 12 ... [expletive] days," he said.

The song "Rocket" proved to be an all-encompassing concert experience. White
lights gushed from behind, turning the quintet into silhouettes. In the
audience, the scent of marijuana floated delicately, like the trail of perfume
that lingers after a pretty girl walks by. Every person had a fist in the air,
thrusting in unison to the "ROCKET!" chorus. Mid-stream, the lights turned
colorful and trippy, and the song sank into a psychedelic jam. The pace slowed
and the stage darkened, with Mr. Collen and Mr. Campbell casually trading
effects - a quivering buzz saw, a murky note from the deep.

By the end of the show, Mr. Elliott's voice was pretty much shot, but the hits
were running - "Women," "Photograph," "Animal" - and at that point, it didn't
really matter.

E-mail tgubbins@dallasnews.com
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