Def Leppard, Journey celebrate rock of aged
Def Leppard and Journey can't help it at this late stage in their careers: Their roots are showing.
While the 6,300 fans Thursday night at Hilton Coliseum in Ames wallowed in 1980s nostalgia - or imagined it in the case of the young college students wearing crisp, new Leppard T-shirts - the bands on stage channeled their own, earlier musical heroes.
Two of Leppard's finest performances Thursday were covers from "Yeah!," its current tribute album to the early-1970s English glam rock that inspired its melodic, inoffensive pop-metal. Guitarist Phil Collen grooved through a rendition of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," while it was bassist Rick Savage who eased the band into the slow and slinky David Essex hit "Rock On."