Molson Amphitheatre
July 16, 2007
By: Sheena Lyonnais
They may not be from Toronto, they may not be indie and they may not be young, but Def Leppard rocked the Molson Amphitheatre this week like it was going out of style and thus they warrant one hell of a review.
The show was to say the least downright amazing. Torontonian and Q107 DJ Kim Mitchell opened up with a slightly mundane performance. Mitchell is clearly in love with music, but his style is better suited for smaller venues than amphitheatres. Despite this, everyone loved Patio Lanterns. It occurred to me later this happened for the exact reason everyone also loves Def Leppard – it allowed people to relive their youth and (re)experience true rockstarism.
Def Leppard is the epitome of rock star. Now middle-aged, the five members turned the amphitheatre from a venue into an experience. They sang exactly how you would imagine 80s rock stars to sing. Although Joe Elliot began noticeably losing his voice towards the end, it was still so filled with passion and excitement it was perfect none the less. For a band that is better known for their one-armed drummer than their career success, the show was almost entirely sold out, an impressive feat considering they were at their prime before I was even born and the venue holds approximately 16,000 people.
Its bands like this who make me wonder where on earth the music industry would be had 80s rock not existed. A recent article in Spin magazine explored the notion of what it means to be a rock star and how “rock stars” don’t actually exist today. You used to be able to distinguish between who was a in a band and who was a regular dude – rock stars had crazy hair, wore too tight pants, talked a lot of shit and caused havoc. Most bands today look pretty
well, normal. Twenty years later Def Leppard still look like rock stars.
Perhaps that is part of the novelty, and similarly possibly why Def Leppard can continue to sell out stadium after stadium even though they have managed to avoid becoming modern. Since their inception, Def Leppard has released 14 compilations. Most recently was last year’s Yeah, a collection of cover songs. Their last real album was 2002’s X, which sounded more like a rendition of the Backstreet Boys than heavy metal, which is subsequently why you have probably never heard of it.
And exactly why they did not play a single song off that release. Instead, Def leppard performed the songs that made them big 20-something years ago. Classics such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Photograph” were saved for last, but the entire set was laced with older songs clearly geared towards the original fans. The Rolling Stones do this too. AC/DC follows suit. Kim Mitchell rocked those Patio Lanterns. 80s bands play 80s songs because those are the songs the old fans have built their memories around. Bands like this are still popular today because in a sense they’re riding the coattails of their own past success and enlightening those who helped create it by doing just so. Attending a Def Leppard concert is like stumbling across a sixth grade field trip to the zoo. Everyone is ecstatic over the zebras even though they’ve all seen the zebras before and even though the zebras are still horse-like and striped. Except now the sixth graders are actually in their 40s, many of them still have mullets and most of them could drink you under the table.
Yet the beauty of these concerts is how the age factor vanishes into oblivion. Original fans are in attendance, but so are their kids who range in age from six to 26. Complete strangers bond over faded t-shirts and overpriced alcohol. Everyone becomes the same. And the band, especially from the 400s where I was sitting, looks exactly how they did back in the day. Suffocating white pants, British flags and messy, teased hair straight from 1984. And that is exactly the way it should be.
The show was also just exciting to watch. It was packed full of guitar solos, bass solos, build ups and surprises. Although Def Leppard incorporate lights, minor pyrotechnics and a huge on-stage screen, it was their actual performance that really shown through. Disappointing though was the absence of songs from the album Slang. Yeah I love me some sugar, but I loooooove me some Slang! Although I would have highly enjoyed seeing some of these songs, I was overall incredibly blown away, once again, by the magnitude and allure of Def Leppard’s shows. They have something a lot of bands don’t have these days and that’s character. You truly haven’t seen rock and roll until you’ve seen Def Leppard live.
They said they’d be back next year. Mark it in your calendar.
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