Rolling Stone: Def Leppard Line Up Tour
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."