http://www.serge.org/DefLepp.html

CONCERT REVIEW - DEF LEPPARD IN WISCONSIN by Mark E. Waterbury
(As appearing in the September, 2000 issue of Music Morsels.)

Most people are familiar with the stories of the major adversities that have
befallen Def Leppard over the British hard rock icon's twenty year history. But
one adversity they have faced, albeit not as massive as losing life or limb but
just as tragic in spades, is the treatment that the band has received from the
music press over the years and radio more recently. Of course a lot of writers
ignored the Leps' tenacity in favor of kissing up to the musical flavor of the
time, such as grunge, alternative and rap. Perhaps they don't realize that the
Leps are just a pure and simple damned good rock and roll band, and they might
even find true intensity and meaning behind some of their songs if they look
deep enough . But hasn't rock and roll been good and simple from its inception?

As a music journalist and fan, I look at any CD or performance with an objective
and open mind. For that matter, I also listen to alternative, grunge and rap
along with about every other style of music. I have witnessed Def Leppard in
concert in all of their phases; as fresh-faced lads opening for Nugent and the
Scorpions on their first tour to the States in 1980; as rising stars blazing a
trail to fame behind the powerful "Pyromania" album; and as veteran rockers
surviving the loss of Rick Allen's left arm and the death of guitarist Steve
"Steamin'" Clark to pack arenas and stadiums for a seven day weekend. In 1999,
Def Leppard began a marathon tour for their fans. The venues were a little
different, with plenty of state and county fairs mixed in with a handful of
auditoriums and arenas. The media had not been kind to 1996's "Slang" although
it appears it might be just a tad more receptive to 1999's "Euphoria", a CD
harkening back to the band's earlier music styles that was also largely ignored
by radio. So the band turned to touring; would the popularity be there to greet
them on the road?

In the summer of '99, the fans came out in droves. The response was so
encouraging that Def Leppard returned to the States in the summer of 2000 to
make another round of outdoor venue appearances. The first weekend of August
found them in Wisconsin, at the State Fair in Milwaukee on Friday and the
Kewaunee County Fair outside of Green Bay on Saturday. The weekend had its own
little adversities, in the form of a power outage in Milwaukee and a chilling
steady rain at Kewaunee, but these incidents only further solidified the Leps'
loyalty to their fans and the reciprocal appreciation from approximately 15,000
rock and rollers attending the two shows. The band kicked their shows into high
gear on both nights, starting with the anthemic "Rock Rock Till You Drop" and a
raucous cover of Sweet's "Action". The band ripped into a set of songs mostly
from "Pyromania", "Hysteria" and "Adrenalize" as well as playing the first
single from "Euphoria" - "Promises"- and the title track from the great but
overlooked CD "Slang". Kewaunee fans also heard "Paper Sun" from "Euphoria."
They may have had that on the set list for Milwaukee as well, but as the band
was nearing the end of their sixth song of the evening "Animal", the power went
out in the entire state fair park, save the carnival midway. The music cut out
right before the final chorus was to begin, so Joe Elliott, ever the consummate
frontman, led the crowd in a spontaneous and loud rendition of the chorus,
repeating it four times before stopping. After about ten minutes, they restored
enough power for the amplifiers, and the band came back and finished a nearly
full set, sans lighting except for the fading sun. As twilight approached, the
band returned to a thunderous ovation for an encore of "Love Bites" and "Let's
Get Rocked". To show their appreciation to the soaked crowd standing in the
muddy infield of the Kewaunee County Raceway at the Kewaunee County Fair, the
band played a live rarity, the fiery "Let It Go" from their second album "High
'N' Dry".

Joe Elliott's voice, a proven stalwart in the business, sounded phenomenal, from
the soaring harmonies to the throaty rock snarls. The excellent guitar interplay
between Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, and the driving bass power from Rick
"Sav" Savage injected a potent fire into the live interpretations of the
signature Def Leppard sound. This was punctuated and enhanced by the stellar
drumming of the indomitable Rick Allen, who with only one arm still puts many
drummers to shame. When you boil it all down, Def Leppard definitely has albums
and performances that can be considered highly polished, but also very lively
and immensely entertaining. They still get out there and rock on stage with a
youthful exuberance that most 80's bands who have been around just as long seem
to have lost somewhere along the way. The fans that packed these two venues in
America's Dairyland were varied in age, sex and backgrounds, but the common
thread was that they were rock and rollers. And they were some wildly
enthusiastic rock and rollers on those two August evenings, with often deafening
(or should it be defending) ovations for the songs and rocking and fist pumping
and hand clapping to the music all night. It's all about rock and roll, and
remember that Def Leppard are masters of playing good, simple rock and roll. And
whether or not it is better to 'burn out than to fade away' as Joe Elliott
intones in "Rock Of Ages", it is very much apparent that Def Leppard is not
showing any signs of doing either for a long time to come.