DEF LEPPARD / CHEAP TRICK | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Tue 4 Dec
This night was all about the history. Def Leppard playing their biggest selling album, Hysteria, in its entirety, 31 years after it was released, 41 years after the band officially formed. Frontman Joe Elliott was brimming with pride the whole way through, and rightly so: for any band to survive as long as The Lepps have is a feat. As is well known, either side of Hysteria they suffered the twin tragedies of drummer Rick Allen losing his arm in a car accident and the death of guitarist Steve Clark after years of alcohol abuse. ‘New boy’ Vivian Campbell has now been with this unchanged lineup for 26 years.
So how well does this classic album, from Def Leppard’s Mutt Lange-produced 1980s glory days, stand up onstage over three decades later? No one can deny the killer first seven songs. Behemoth opener Women is everything wrong and right with hair metal; then comes the incredible string of hits: Rocket, Animal, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Armegeddon It and the epic Gods Of War. The visuals are stunning, just the right mix of nostalgic and new, and at their best the songs actually sound better performed by a mature band, given new meaning by the passing of time and the relevance of a modern message. Picture montages and a moving tribute to Clark adds poignancy.
The rest of Hysteria doesn’t stand up so well live. The title track aside, its remaining four songs jar with Elliott’s now weaker vocal; in the low range he’s still great but the full-throat delivery of his heyday has given over to a lighter head voice that just doesn’t cut through the band’s huge sound. The fact that Campbell, bass stalwart Rick Savage and the ludicrously ripped, technically incredible guitarist Phil Collen still belt out the backing vocals like they’re auditioning for Queen only shows up Elliott’s limited projection more. Still, he is always in tune and at least he can still tour, unlike some of his contemporaries.
Not a charge that can be levied at openers Cheap Trick. Most of the audience didn’t know what to make of guitarist Rick Nielsen – dressed like Michael Moore in stealth mode, throwing out records and pics to the audience by the fistful. Each of his dozen or so guitars looks ill-fitting around his huge frame, until he unleashed the band’s infamous five-neck monstrosity that suited him perfectly. Singer Robin Zander belted brilliantly through a set of excellent songs, If You Want My Love genuinely moving and hit I Want You to Want Me an inevitable highlight. Like Def Leppard, Cheap Trick are there for the audience – both bands seem totally devoid of ego, every musician looking comfortable with their place in their band.
The Lepp’s encore set was huge, featuring their last big hits of the 90s and the breakthrough singles from Pyromania. One problem with performing a whole album in order is that live, it might not have the rise and fall of a perfectly-paced setlist. Elliott reminisced with the audience over the lost art of the album and insisted that Hysteria had to be performed in sequence. But any small quibbles are nothing compared to the genuine love shown by the audience for this collection of songs and the band’s appreciation for their fans’ continued support.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES photos KEVIN PICK