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Review: Def Leppard rocks Germain Arena
David Dorsey - ddorsey@news-press.com - April 4, 2008

Def Leppard, a guitar-blazing, one-armed drumming and bass-thumping heavy metal 
band filled Germain Arena on Sunday night.

The fans, starved for a big-name concert in town, packed the place to see Styx, 
REO Speedwagon and then Def Leppard put on a show that rocked the ages.

Returning to Estero for the first time in five years, vocalist Joe Elliott and 
company played a 90-minute set list largely comprising their greatest hits.

They opened with four songs of sonic fury: "Rocket," "Animal," "Let's Get 
Rocked" and "Foolin'."

The band, which will release their new CD, "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge" on 
Tuesday, April 29, later played "Nine Lives," from the new one, co-written with 
country singer Tim McGraw.

"Tim couldn't make it tonight," Elliott told the crowd. "But I brought his hat."

With that, Elliott tossed a black cowboy hat into the crowd, and the band 
launched into a song that sounded vintage 1987.

The band then made one mistake: Bassist Rick Savage started his solo one song 
too soon. But the band quickly regrouped, playing "Love Bites" with an extended 
Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell guitar solo, followed by Savage's solo and 
"Rock On."

A two-song acoustic set of "Two Steps Behind," and "Bringin' On the Hearbreak," 
even allowed fans a chance to mellow for a bit.

The only thing missing: a drum solo by Rick Allen, who lost his left arm in a 
car accident in December, 1984. That temporarily derailed the band.

Def Leppard played 17 songs, saving the best - "Rock of Ages" - for last.

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