16 Years Worth Waiting

The last time Def Leppard was in Australia was 16 years ago (or so they say.) 16 years ago, I was going to a party (the first party I got drunk) and my friend was playing some tape in his car on the way to the party. “What’s that?” I asked. It was “Make Love Like a Man” by “Def Leppard”. Since then, Def Leppard is part of my playlist.

Then I found out, completely by accident, that they would make a gig here in Sydney. That’s something I couldn’t miss.

And so, there I was.

The show started with Galvatrons, which I never heard before. They made a fun show, ’cause they look like a bunch of 18-yo guys, playing songs that sound extracts from the 80s and seem to be playing together for… 18 years!

Then we had Cheap Trick, which seems pretty popular around, except to me, which I can’t remember every hearing their name (yeah, my fault.) Their sound float between blues-rock, country-rock and classic-rock. But they seemed pretty happy to play together in Sydney and the lead guitar dude was, surely, getting a hang with the crowd, throwing picks all the time (and giving his guitar to one of the guys in the public, which was promptly taken back by someone in the crew, under the boos of everyone else.)

When Def Leppard finally appeared, no one was sitting anymore: Everyone stand up and the party began.

The first song was Rocket, followed by Animal, C’mon C’mon and then my brain was just overwhelmed by everything. The lightning was perfect, the sound was perfect, the singing was perfect, the playing was perfect, the notes were perfect. Officially, Def Leppard raised the bar of was a gig should be in my life. They interacted with the public, they had fun and they played well; three things that most of the gigs I went didn’t had (always missing something.)

Other songs played (that I can remember): Pour Some Sugar on Me (kinda obvious that they would play that and it was amazing that everyone sang this one; the chorus was so loud you couldn’t even hear Joe Elliot sing), Love Bites (with a long solo by Vivian Campbell), Make Love Like a Man by Def Leppard (yes, the very first song I heard of them), Hysteria, Photograph, Nine Lives (and probably some more, but, as I said, my brain got overwhelmed with all that.)

I just hope they release the videos somewhere, ’cause it was absolutely fantastic!