http://www.thehawkeye.com/features/BSD/stories/bsd2_0621.html

Good boating, great band

Def Leppard brings rock to BSD stage.

By BOB SAAR

for The Hawk Eye

Last night was a perfect night for Boatin'.

Just warm enough, just humid enough for summer clothes. No rain or wind, and no
may-flies swarming the carnival lights. More than 100 pleasure boats drifted off
the waterfront for the evening's concert.

"I love Steamboat Days," Mike Jackson of Missouri said. "This is just a great
deal."

Jackson plans his summer vacations around the June fest.

After a set by LMNOP on the south stage, Def Leppard, an enduring band from
Sheffield, England, took over the main stage with no opening act, preferring to
enjoy the time on stage as long as possible.

Thursday's headliners, Poison, for example, wanted an opening act to ensure
darkness for their pyrotechnical displays.

Leppard picked up the hard rock banner laid down the night before by Poison;
both bands are popular rock warhorses with modern-day drawing power.

The audience was a typical melange of fans, from old hippies and bikers to
yuppie dads and soccer moms with children.

Leppard's music, although of the same basic guitar-bass-drums vehicle that all
heavy metal heroes adhere to, is more primal and less cerebral than Poison's;
the Les Pauls and Stratocasters are not passed to stagehands in exchange for
acoustic guitars; pianos are not employed.

This is straightforward arm-pumping rock anthemia.

Rick Allen's legendary drumming - he plays most of his specially designed drums
with his bare feet - laid down a solid foundation for Leppard's hits, including
"Armageddon It," "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Love Bites."

Leppard was distinctly louder than previous bands this year. The sound pressure
level measured at the audio tent, about 30 yards from the stage, was above 100
decibels.

That would put the music at more than 130 decibels in front on the stage in the
VIP area.

The bottom end was particularly heavy, but savvy concertgoers used to Steamboat
Days' high-energy weekend bands wore earplugs.

"I couldn't walk for a week if I got that close to that bass," one onlooker
joked from in front of the auditorium.

Though somewhat cliché-ridden in their stage delivery, Def Leppard carried on
the tradition of throbbing metal concert hysteria in high style, and the
appreciative boatin' crowd loved them to the end.

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