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Hysteria for Def Leppard
By Jeff Maisey
Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2006

This may come as a complete shock: 18,000 people turned out for the Def 
Leppard/Journey double-bill concert at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach 
Amphitheater. Most of those in attendance certainly counted themselves as lucky.

Def Leppard was the headlining act primarily because it has a new charting 
album, Yeah, a collection of ’70s British glam rock gems. They performed David 
Essex’s "Rock On," Badfinger’s "No Matter What" and T-Rex’s "20th Century Boy" 
from that CD.

All five members were physically fit and displayed outstanding musicianship. 
The band was as good if not better than in its heyday of the 1980s. There were 
stairways leading to a platform that extended behind the drum kit, as well as a 
standard large video screen used as a backdrop and a hot light show.

Def Leppard performed all of its popular tunes, including "Photograph," "Love 
Bites," "Pour Some Sugar On Me" "Rock of Ages" and "Foolin’."

As for Journey, who could want a better opening act? Consider every song they 
played in their 90-minute set was a familiar mainstay from FM radio.

Steve Augeri, who replaced Steve Perry as singer several years ago, could not 
perform due to a throat infection. Jeff Scott Soto was an impressive 
substitute. He was a consummate showman and his vocal tone and range were 
comparable to Augeri and Perry.

The audience responded enthusiastically to Journey’s power ballads - "Lights," 
"Open Arms" and "Faithfully" - as well as the straightforward rockers, like 
"Stone in Love" and "Wheel in the Sky." They also did an exceptional version of 
the segueing "Feeling That Way"/"Anytime."

Long live rock!

© 2006 Port Folio Publishing, Inc.