Def Leppard Atomic Mess News

The X tour is now over.

From Winterhur, Switzerland, courtesy of Max Trushin and Tumur: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Def Leppard bassist Rick 'Sav' Savage could have been a very familiar name on football matters @ nationwide if his original career choice had gone to plan. As a budding centre-forward for Sheffield United schoolboys, Sav seemed destined for greatness in the beautiful game…

Despite an immensely successful and lucrative career as bassist for veteran rockers Def Leppard, Rick Savage would be the first to admit that he has made mistakes during his 25 years in the music business.

But he resolutely maintains that the worst decision he made in his entire life came prior to his pre-Def Leppard days. As a gifted young footballer he signed schoolboy forms for Sheffield United – but what followed was not the pathway to soccer stardom but a chastening experience which has scarred him for life.

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You've been on the road, on and off, for well over a year. Are you looking forward to it being over shortly or is it the case of the grass always greener; when you're on tour, you look forward to going home and when you're home, you crave being on the road?

So why are you still doing more dates on this tour?

So why tag on the UK leg, especially considering you were here only a few months ago?

Is it a thrill to be going to the Eastern Bloc?

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Joe Elliott, fanatical Sheffield United follower and front man for veteran rockers Def Leppard, has played to millions in countless countries during a distinguished musical career that spans a quarter of a century. Playing at Wembley is one of his fondest memories, but surprisingly not in front of 75,000 adoring rock fans…

Def Leppard are one of rock's most enduring and hardest working bands who are currently on the final leg of their 18-month World tour promoting their tenth album -'X'. During their illustrious career the band have played countless gigs in huge stadia but for singer and mad-keen football fan Joe Elliott his fondest stadium memory is the time he traded in his mike stand and guitar for football boots to take part in an 'international' at Wembley in 1991.

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Es ist erstaunlich ruhig vor dem Kölner Palladium, als ich gegen 18:30 Uhr überpünktlich vor der Halle eintreffe. Zwar gelten Skid Row und vor allem Def Leppard immer noch als Hard Rock- Ikonen, dennoch ist nicht von der Hand zu weisen, dass ganz offensichtlich einige Jahre der Dürre für beide Bands ins Land gezogen sind, zumindest seit den erfolgreichen Endachzigern. Grundsätzlich geht mir sowas natürlich am Allerwertesten vorbei, allerdings wirft der recht mäßige Besucherandrang die Frage auf, warum das große Palladium gemietet wurde und nicht etwa das E-Werk oder die LMH. Vielleicht sind die mittlerweile explodierten Konzertpreise (heute Abend sollen es dann auch schon wieder 40Euro sein) auch mal wieder nicht ganz unschuldig an dieser Tatsache, who knows…

Drißegal. 19:00 Uhr ist dann pünktlich Doors Open und nachdem wir uns zur geistigen "Stärkung" die erste Hopfenkaltschale an der Bar geholt haben, lassen sich auch schon die ersten Maßnahmen des Veranstalters erkennen, denn das Palladium ist zu einem Viertel mit einem schwarzen Vorhang verkleinert worden, was dem Ganzem eine durchaus gemütliche Atmosphäre verleit – kann man nich´ anders sagen…Müßig noch zu erwähnen, dass auch die Merch- Preise an diesem Abend (25Euro für´n Shirt 50Euro für´n Kapu…) nicht gerade (öhöm…) zum Konsumrausch anregen…

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Added European tour dates in November. Skid Row will be the opening act during the German part of this leg of the tour.

The Sheffield rock legend tied the knot with Lauren Anne Monroe, a massage therapy teacher with whom he has created a successful charitable music foundation.
Rick's mum Kathleen, who lives in Stannington, has flown to America with Rick's step-dad Jim Daly. The wedding has been planned for about a year.

Rick, who lost his arm in a car crash in 1984, met Lauren three years ago at a massage therapy class.

Lauren, who studies tribal culture and energy medicine, started giving him visualisation exercises to use as physical therapy when he was touring with the band.

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A devoted Def Leppard fan claims he was sacked for going to watch his heroes in concert.

South Yorkshire carpenter Glyn Wilkinson was given tickets by his daughter Kerry for the family to see the band's homecoming gig in Sheffield.

He was working in London and decided to leave the building site early in order to get back to South Yorkshire so he could take wife Pauline and son Glyn jnr to the Arena show.

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All-American Reject Nick Wheeler Goes Face To Face With One Of His Favorite Bands.

At first listen, it might be easy to lump The All-American Rejects atop the pile of sugar-coated, power-pop acts dominating the charts as of late, but not so fast. While the Oklahoma quartet are characterized by every bit of seemingly superficial bounce that platinum-peers Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Green Day have played unapologetically guilty to, more than a cursory listen displays a depth of songwriting character that few of their contemporaries can rival. In fact, after even a few spins through their self-titled Dreamworks Records debut, it becomes all too apparent that there's more to the band than just a few radio-ready jingles. Barely removed from their teenage years, The All-American Rejects transcend songwriting simplicity with orchestrations that are as rich as they are infectious, bringing to mind a bevy of influences including punk rock, glam rock, and a healthy dose of arena rock.

Nick Wheeler: Pretty much everything I know about you guys I learned from digging through my sister's tape collection when I was about seven-years-old and found Hysteria. Was there any band that got you guys into music in the first place, and got you into what you do?

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The Def Leppard concert Friday night at The Amphitheater at Clark County was so, uh, Def Leppard.

As part of the recent culture void of sorts, '80s bands suddenly have become cool again, and this British quintet definitely was one of the best from that era.

But since the band hasn't written a decent song in more than a decade, this show seemed mainly about reliving the past — a time when "Hysteria" was the top album in the world, selling 16 million copies, and it was trendy for guys to have perms.

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GS: So lets start off with the tour. How's it been going? How have the crowds been?

RS: Crowds have been great…..crowds have been really good. We're probably doing better business than we thought we would do especially considering the disappointing way the record company has handled the album. It's pretty obvious that the people who are coming are people that would have come if we had a new album or not. I mean, a lot of them may have bought the album but we are not really promoting the album any more as such. Certainly as far as the public are concerned. They're just coming because it's Def Leppard, not because it's Def Leppard and they've got a new album to promote or whatever.

GS: What about the numbers?

GS: So the idea of coming to arenas has been vindicated then?

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It was a rock 'n' roll reunion for the class of 1984 at Key Arena on Thursday night, with British pop-metal icons Def Leppard performing two decades of hits for the near-capacity crowd in the lower bowl.

With a nod to the old days before sound technology made multi-amplifiers obsolete, the stage was back-lined with stacks of Marshall amps. Although only stage props, they evoked the spirit of excess that was so much a part of '80s rock.

"I was dismayed to find that you can't fish out of the Edgewater Inn anymore," rued singer Joe Elliot in his introduction to "Now," one of two songs performed from the band's latest album, "X."

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A near-capacity crowd turned out Sunday night at Sport Mart Place to prove
that old Def Leppard maxim: "It's better to burn out than fade away."
And they were not disappointed, as the power act from the '80s proved they
can still rock.

Opening act Ricky Warwick managed to keep the waiting crowd under wraps.
Using only his acoustic guitar and edgy, strong voice, the Dublin native won
some new fans.

Of course, the real pre-show entertainment was watching just how much the
crowd members were enjoying reliving their youth.

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Radio stations have resurrected the format. Teenagers have reinvented the styles.

And many of the so-quickly-forgotten bands of the 1980s have returned to the road, with a resurgence in popularity rising to levels not seen for at least a decade.

Def Leppard, a prime example of this '80s-revival phenomenon, is one of those touring again, including a stop Friday night in The Amphitheater at Clark County.

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