Def Leppard Atomic Mess News

The past caught up to the present Friday night when Def Leppard, Styx and Foreigner came to town — H.G. Wells would have been proud.

The four-hour concert was a musical time machine as the three bands played their hits, some of which were originally released some 30 years ago.

In fact, the only new song played during the night was "Everything All the Time," by Styx. And even that song complemented the other Stygian hits such as "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Come Sail Away."

Foreigner started things off right.

The band now consists of founder/guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Kelly Hanson, bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist Jeff Jacobs, saxophonist/guitarist Thom Gimbel and drummer Jason Bonham (although Bonham was replaced by the band's drum tech during Friday's show). But the lineup difference didn't stop the band from playing one of the best shows of their career.

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Styx and Def Leppard were in true rock ‘n' roll form Wednesday on the Oklahoma City stop of their world tour. Celebrating their 30th anniversaries, the bands proved that they can still rock and still draw thousands of frenzied fans to their shows.

Styx opened the show with "Blue Collar Man,” one of the band's 29 hit singles. The audience, an eclectic mix of 30- and 40-something professionals, their kids and air hair-band members galore couldn't get enough of Tommy Shaw's sizzling guitar solos and Lawrence Gowan's swiveling keyboard and DeYoung-esque vocals and flamboyant choreography.

The September night air was cool and dry, perfect for an outdoor concert. Styx rocked the Zoo Amphitheater for about an hour. With only half of the original founding members, the band managed to sound better than ever. Todd Sucherman kept perfect time with his dynamic drumming, having replaced Styx' original drummer, John Panozzo, who died in 1996. Also missing from the mix was Chuck Panozzo, the band's original guitarist, whose ongoing battles with AIDS and cancer have turned him into more of a health advocate than rock star in recent years.

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Call them dinosaur rockers if you like, since these bands' heydays were a good 20 years ago. But there's no denying the showmanship of Styx, Foreigner and Def Leppard. Playing for 17,000 fans Saturday night at Smirnoff Music Centre, each group had its classic moment on the platform.

For Styx, the magic came together by the end of its 45-minute set. Keyboardist and occasional lead singer Lawrence Gowan appeared solo center stage and began to belt the opening lines of "Come Sail Away." Before long, he was behind his rotating organ doing the tune's familiar ballad intro. Then it went full band.

Mr. Gowan and his musical mates swooshed through the progressive rock staple. They cranked it out as if their futures depended on it.

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Well, not for me (Beck was on the radio when I graduated), but for the majority of the fans packed into the Smirnoff Music Centre to see Styx, Foreigner and Def Leppard on Saturday, it was a good, fun, old-school nostalgia trip.

And the bands obliged, too. For nearly four hours, fans heard nearly nothin' but the hits, like Come Sail Away from Styx, Hot Blooded from Foreigner and Foolin' from Def Leppard.

Truthfully, all three acts really seemed to put their all into the performance. Most of these guys are sliding toward old age, and they're still running across the stage with the best of them.

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"Why would you? … We're musicians, and our job is to play for people. And the more we play and the more people we play in front of, the happier we feel," he said in a phone interview from his Dublin, Ireland, home.

"We always wanted to be the biggest band in the world. For a little while, we were. Who's to say that we won't get it back? But even if we're not, you know, we're one of that elite few that can still play (for) 20,000 people."

On its latest U.S. tour, the British quintet, along with Styx, will play Wednesday night at the Zoo Amphitheatre, 2101 NE 50.

Def Leppard hit the road in June, though the group had just finished in November touring with its 2006 album "Yeah!," a collection of covers. In between, members gathered at Elliott's home and studio to work on a new album, which the singer said is about 80 percent finished.

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