Leppard roars and fans enjoy hard-rock holiday at NextStage
Holidays can be a risky time for a touring rock band - will everyone be out of town? But Memorial Day weekend was no problem for pop-metal hit machine Def Leppard: The band was greeted by a full - and fully enthusiastic - house on Sunday at NextStage.
Def Leppard has been at it since 1977, and its expertise was plain to see and hear. Mixing up old hits ("Let It Go," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," "Hysteria") with newer tracks ("Four Letter Word," "Long Long Way to Go"), the quintet seemed youthful and fit as they bounded across the stage. They sounded fine, too, plying their trademark combination of multipart harmonies and double-teamed guitar.
In its late-'80s heyday, Def Leppard played large arenas, and that history was evident in its showmanship. Singer Joe Elliott often communicated with the audience via delineated physical gestures: a pistol finger pointed in the air or a hand cupped behind the ear. Guitarists Vivian Campbell (he of the unbuttoned shirt) and Phil Collen (he of the shirt entirely removed) and bassist Rick Savage posed heroically - moves that would have felt trite in less skilled hands.