http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=17041 Def Leppard Line Up Tour First string of dates announced behind "X" Def Leppard have rolled out the first ten dates of a U.S. tour, set to begin December 8th in Las Vegas. Currently the dates run through December 21st in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but additional stops are forthcoming. The band is plugging its most recent album, X, which was released in July. "I think this is the most relevant record we've made since [1987's] Hysteria," frontman Joe Elliott says. "Because Adrenalize [1992] wasn't relevant. It did OK on momentum. On Slang [1996] we tried hard to not be who we were. And Euphoria [1999] we tried too hard to be who we were. It's 2002, everything we do we know we have to try twice as hard to get half the response. That's the way it is, and it's not gonna be any easier on the next record. You only occasionally have your Indian summers like Carlos Santana, or your perpetual ones like Aerosmith." Elliott said the band fiddled with the formula for Adrenalize, "but we didn't realize there was a music revolution kicking down all the walls coming from Seattle." And Slang was "the commercial suicide album, which was artistically satisfying." But those detours aside, the band has found a comfort zone with its signature style. "We are a rock band and unashamedly so," he said. "Whenever we go off on a tangent, it has to be a very gentle one. Because you're taking people with you who want more of the same, but it has to be different." The record was largely written at Elliott's home studio, where most of the band stayed during the early sessions -- "We're trying to avoid the pitfalls with the experience of having spent 4 million bucks recording Hysteria," he says -- and recorded in several locales including Los Angeles and Sweden, depending on the home base of some of the outside producers. "The great thing is," Eliott explains, we've gone through the ego factor of, 'This is my art, don't fuck with it.' [Producer] Mutt Lange used to say to us, 'Hmm, nice song, save it for your solo album.' You knew damn well, even though he'd say it with a smile on his face, it wasn't up to scratch. But with this one, it feels relaxed because we put all our effort into making the songs as good as possible and not into trying to get it in under budget, on time. We didn't have to think. My housekeeper was doing everybody's laundry. All we had to do was remember where the toilet was, and whether the b flat minor really did go better after the G." Elliott said the band plans to follow the U.S. tour with a run through Europe early next year. There are also possible plans for a second North American tour at outdoor theaters next summer. Def Leppard tour dates: 12/8: Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay 12/10: Phoenix, America West Arena 12/11: Los Angeles, Universal Amphitheater 12/13: Sacramento, Arco Arena 12/14: San Francisco, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 12/16: Salt Lake City, E Center 12/17: Denver, Magness Arena 12/19: Sioux Falls, SD, Sioux Falls Arena 12/20: Council Bluffs, Iowa, Mid America Center 12/21: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US Cellular Center ANDREW DANSBY (November 11, 2002)