The Def Leppard Experience can be summed up through four people.
One: Random Binocular Guy. This guy, who was about 45 years old and wearing a ball cap, had a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck. I've been to a LOT of shows, and I've never seen someone bring a pair of binoculars. I mean, even at sporting events the use of binoculars has waned in recent years, but at a rock concert? How in the world can you call yourself adequately prepared to rock with a pair of binoculars around your neck? RBG had an attractive female half his age next to him, and we spent a good portion of the lame ballad section of the show trying to determine whether he actually knew her or just happened to be sitting next to her. My money was on her being his daughter, but who knows?
Two: Extra from a 1970's Mob Movie. Sitting right behind us was a guy in a grey tailored suit, white shirt, and narrow red tie. Throw in a matching grey fedora and Secret Service sunglasses. Now imagine this guy singing along to every song. Every word, each one as stoically sung as the one proceeding it. This guy was actually a little frightening.
Three: The guy who took Joe Elliott's invitation to "Be a member of the band" a little too literally. Sitting across the aisle from us, he had not one, not two but three lovelies with him. He danced wildly to all of the rock songs, and during "Armegeddon It" he unbuttoned his shirt revealing his bare chest to the ladies. Then during "Pour Some Sugar on Me" he took his shirt off and began twirling it over his head. It should be noted that this was the last moment I dared glance in that direction for the remainder of the show.
Four: Chick in Union Jack sleeveless shirt. A few rows in front of us were a group of ladies, several of which were dressed in Def Leppard attire. You know how I feel about wearing the shirt of the band you're seeing to the show -- I abhor it like the plague -- but they were ladies and well, I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Until I came to my senses, of course. Ahem.
***
A couple of weeks ago, I became privy to information that Ticketmaster was offering a promotion for the Billy Idol/Def Leppard double-bill show in Omaha: four tickets for $99. At that price, there's really no excuse not to go. Seriously, there is NO excuse not to go. A couple of years ago, Def Leppard came through on a similar tour, with Bryan Adams opening instead of Billy Idol. Tickets were in the range of $60 each, and we talked ourselves out of it.
But $25? There's no debate there. You buy the tickets, you go, and you have an awesome time. Period.
So I sent an email to Dick Herculanum and Continental Frutiger, asking if they were interested in going to the show. Dick quickly replied with an emphatic "yes", and Continental replied that he would try to clear his schedule to make it work. And so it was that me, Dick, Continental, and another guy headed to the Qwest Center on Sunday night to see Billy Idol and Def Leppard.
As had happened at Van Halen in February, the show didn't sell out so we were upgraded to better seats at no additional charge. And just as had happened at Van Halen, we went from a few rows from the top in a corner to a few rows from the floor in the lower bowl. In this case, our $25 tickets turned into $75 tickets. You bet.
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Billy Idol is a prompt man, and he actually started his set four minutes EARLY. We walked through the doors at 7:25 and I was horrified to hear what sounded like "Cradle of Love". I asked Continental if that was what it sounded like, and he said, "Yeah, that's definitely Billy Idol."
I'm not gonna lie to you, I was more excited to see Billy Idol than I was Def Leppard, so having him start early kinda bummed me out. Thankfully, we only missed a couple minutes of that first song, and were there to hear the rest of his amazing hits, including my personal favorite Billy Idol song, "Eyes Without a Face". The stripped down acoustic version of "White Wedding" was outstanding, as was the inclusion of two Generation X songs (his pre-solo career punk band).
Knowing how to end on a high note, he came out for his encore and playing rousing versions of GenX song "Ready, Steady, Go" before ending with 'Rebel Yell". Great stuff.
As Continental said to me later, "I had no idea that guitarist was so bad ass. Why didn't they do any of these riffs on the albums? Dude can rock."
I don't know that, but I do know that Steve Stevens kicks all sorts of ass and Billy Idol kicks more ass than Steve Stevens does. Here's how badass Billy Idol is: at the end of the show, after he got done introducing the band, he yelled to the crowd, "And I'm Billy Fucking Idol! Now go get a beer, and hopefully we'll see ya at the bar! Enjoy Def Leppard you bastards!"
You bet.
***
Between sets, we went out for a second beer and struck up a conversation with a large muscle dude in a Union Jack shirt. "You mother f***ers ready for Def Leppard? You about to hear some real mother f***in' rock now! Yeaaaaaah! Its gonna be awwwwwwsommme!!" Actual quote. For some reason I found this terribly amusing. Next time somebody tells you that Coldplay is a rock band and not the millennial answer to soft rock lame-o band Toto, ask yourself if there are people in the beer line at their show saying the sorts of things at the top of this paragraph. Better yet, ask yourself whether there's even a beer line. Or perhaps, ask yourself if there are even dudes at the show at all.
Sure, there might be "human beings who are not female" at a Coldplay show. But there are no "guys" there, and certainly no "dudes". You surrender your rights to be called a dude the minute you go to a Coldplay show.
***
Def Leppard came on stage around 9:15 and opened with the double-fisted fury that is "Rocket" and "Animal". Both songs featured custom animated videos on the giant screen behind them. Both songs rocked the house.
Unfortunately, they chose to play the underwhelming "C'mon, C'mon" from their new album next. New songs always kill the audience, because most of the crowd has never heard them before, but when the new song(s) aren't very good its a double dose of downer. When they followed this up with "Nine Lives", their duet with Tim McGraw -- who got the Orville Reddenbacher treatment via an animated appearance on the video board, attempting to steal everyone's soul in the process -- I had to make a beer run. If there's anything worse than Coldplay its modern country music, and if there's anything worse than that its creepy animated people on a big video screen.
Continental and I discovered, much to our chagrin, that the Qwest Center is lame and stops selling beer 30 minutes into the headline act's performance. Seriously, this is weak. Beerless, we headed back to our seats just in time to see the last five seconds of the Tim McGraw virtual duet, and then it was back to their hits.
Except for a bizarre cover version of "Rock On" -- I know it was on their 2006 cover album, but seriously, Rock On? Really? -- the last 2/3 of the show was top-notch. Some songs featured custom music videos produced just for this tour, others featured live video footage of the band onstage. A few times, they even showed "FretCam", a miniature wireless camera attached to guitarist Phil Cullen's fretboard to show a close-up view of his fingerwork. Genius idea, right? You bet.
During an extended acoustic portion of the show in which all but drummer Rick Allen grabbed acoustic guitars and roamed the stage, singer Joe Elliott told the crowd that the band needed them to "become honorary members of Def Leppard for the next three minutes." They then proceeded to play lame ballad "Two Steps Behind", which prompted me to proclaim I did not wish to be a member of the band if I had to play such crappy ballads. Needless to say this did not do much to endear me to our neighbors.
My only real gripe is the curious ending sequence in which they ended with "Rock of Ages" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" -- leaving a new song and the average rocker "Lets Get Rocked" for the encore. Conventional wisdom would have those two sequences flip-flopped. Still, the band was in top form, they sounded great, they played every hit song you expected to hear, and the visual pyrotechnics were stellar. In other words, we got our $25 worth -- 12.50 for Billy Idol, 12.50 for Def Leppard.
You bet.
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