http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/5597882.htm

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Posted on Thu, Apr. 10, 2003 

Def Leppard transcends fashion
The British hard-rockers soared with their hits, showing that they are
more than an '80s relic.

By Patrick Berkery
For The Inquirer

It didn't take much sleuthing at Def Leppard's show on Tuesday to realize
it wasn't the big '80s anymore.

The British hard-rockers' elaborate in-the-round staging had given way to
a traditional end-stage set-up. Singer Joe Elliott was carrying some extra
baggage around his middle. And those giant black drapes covering the upper
levels of the First Union Spectrum weren't there just to make things more
intimate.

The tunes were an entirely different story, one that sounded surprisingly
inspired - especially during the latter part of the two-hour show, when
the veterans played an extended stretch of pop-metal confections from
their mega-platinum Hysteria and Pyromania albums.

Unlike most hits of that vintage, which have aged like rotting Swiss
cheese, Def Lep's Reagan-era anthems went down like a finely aged wine.
"Photograph" and "Animal" were majestic, all soaring hooks and scrappy
riffs. The big- bottomed "Women" still sounded like a futuristic Led
Zeppelin song. And the jaunty shuffle "Rocket" and the foursquare boogie
of "Armageddon It" displayed the band's glam-rock roots in fine fashion.

The early part of the set didn't lack firepower either, as drummer Rick
Allen, who lost his left arm in a 1984 car wreck, played an acoustic kit
hot- rodded with electronic triggering devices, and the twin-guitar burn
of Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell ignited the opening salvo of "Another
Hit and Run" and "High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)."

Away from the arena's bright lights and loud amps, Def Leppard might seem
like a relic hopelessly out of fashion. But in its natural habitat, it
does what greats such as AC/DC have done for decades: flush the fashion
and deliver the rock.