Def Leppard - Perth, 21st Nov 2015
Words: Todd Lockley
The buses from various suburban watering holes hit second gear and ascended the steep incline upward to one of the most majestic vantage points in Perth, Redhill Auditorium, for what was going to be an absolute blast down memory lane for the old, and old. At first glance there was very few of the young at heart, but many, many grey haired revellers in washed out black shirts spirting names like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss and of course, the nights guests of honour, the Sheffield Heavy Metal icons, Def Leppard.
Starting things off was the lovely leading lady from Perth Land, Suzi DeMarchi and her band Baby Animals. The band kick started everyone’s journey to Nostalgia Central, firing off with Rush You, before trampling through a steaming set of hits that included Painless, One Word, Don’t Tell Me What To Do and epic sing along Early Warning. The water was flowing onstage due to the mid-afternoon heat and a few punters should have followed in the bands example; there’s a lot of steps at Red Hill and many a punter could be seen doing the old, slip down tumble dance move throughout the evening. DeMarchi thanked the near capacity crowd for coming down early before launching into Ain’t Gonna Get and exiting stage left.
Live, without Ed, were next on the menu, and it was a hard meal to digest at first, with new front man Chris Shinn in charge of vocal duties. But by the first chorus of All Over You he had won the doubters over, as the grooves flowed through the air and city began to twinkle in the back ground. The more tender moment of their catalogue were lost in the mix a little, The Dolphins Cry and Lightning Crashes were more moments to chat loudly for a lot of the now clearly intoxicated and loving it crowd. I Alone was a rollicking finale to what wasn’t the best set Live had performed in Perth, but showed enough promise that they will rise successfully again after what is usually a death sentence for most bands from such an influential era.
Starting things off was the lovely leading lady from Perth Land, Suzi DeMarchi and her band Baby Animals. The band kick started everyone’s journey to Nostalgia Central, firing off with Rush You, before trampling through a steaming set of hits that included Painless, One Word, Don’t Tell Me What To Do and epic sing along Early Warning. The water was flowing onstage due to the mid-afternoon heat and a few punters should have followed in the bands example; there’s a lot of steps at Red Hill and many a punter could be seen doing the old, slip down tumble dance move throughout the evening. DeMarchi thanked the near capacity crowd for coming down early before launching into Ain’t Gonna Get and exiting stage left.
Live, without Ed, were next on the menu, and it was a hard meal to digest at first, with new front man Chris Shinn in charge of vocal duties. But by the first chorus of All Over You he had won the doubters over, as the grooves flowed through the air and city began to twinkle in the back ground. The more tender moment of their catalogue were lost in the mix a little, The Dolphins Cry and Lightning Crashes were more moments to chat loudly for a lot of the now clearly intoxicated and loving it crowd. I Alone was a rollicking finale to what wasn’t the best set Live had performed in Perth, but showed enough promise that they will rise successfully again after what is usually a death sentence for most bands from such an influential era.
As the sun completely disappeared, the glowing neon signs that adorned the stage for headliners Def Leppards illuminated and signalled the beginning of the end, but it was to be a fun car crash in heavy metal highway. Igniting with Let’s Go, the boys were on point, Joe Elliot making the ladies in the front row swoon, while lead guitar machine Phil Collen seemed to be enjoying the time out in the sunshine. At 57, the man looks like an Adonis who uses to much fake tan, but boy can he wail, slashing through early set highlights Animal with the clarity and precision you expect from musicians with that sort of longevity.
The hits kept on coming, with 80’s cheese ball Love Bites giving the mullets and monsters in the crowd time to get lovey dovey, before a subpar cover of David Essex’s Rock On. The moment came to an even more extreme halt when Elliot tackled Two Steps Behind acoustically. It was tender and beautiful, but very slow for those who came to get rocked! He put the acoustic down, the band burst back around him and all of a sudden we were pumping our fist in unison shouting out Rocket Yeah! Plamingliiadlooose (does anyone actually know what they say after that bit?!). When Love and Hate continued the fast/slow/fast tempo they had set from the get go.
The best moment of the evening came as the opening bars of Hysteria rocked and rolled around the amphitheatre, without the best slower moment of the night as strangers in the crowd became friends and the singalong over powered the band. Elliot took a breath, regained his thoughts then slyly asked “Do you wanna get rocked?”. Surging into the only song from the Adrenalize album, hit single Let’s Get Rocked, flickering around the big screens were fantastic and the song once again proved how much of an amazing guitarist Collen was. That solo, wowzers! The hit’s kept coming with Pour Some Sugar on Me before Rock of Ages and Photograph signalled closing time.
It was a fun evening, filled with rock stars, buses instead of cars, chock a block bars, wailing guitars and a one armed drummer named Rick Allen, what more could you ask for? Perth got well and truly rocked.
The hits kept on coming, with 80’s cheese ball Love Bites giving the mullets and monsters in the crowd time to get lovey dovey, before a subpar cover of David Essex’s Rock On. The moment came to an even more extreme halt when Elliot tackled Two Steps Behind acoustically. It was tender and beautiful, but very slow for those who came to get rocked! He put the acoustic down, the band burst back around him and all of a sudden we were pumping our fist in unison shouting out Rocket Yeah! Plamingliiadlooose (does anyone actually know what they say after that bit?!). When Love and Hate continued the fast/slow/fast tempo they had set from the get go.
The best moment of the evening came as the opening bars of Hysteria rocked and rolled around the amphitheatre, without the best slower moment of the night as strangers in the crowd became friends and the singalong over powered the band. Elliot took a breath, regained his thoughts then slyly asked “Do you wanna get rocked?”. Surging into the only song from the Adrenalize album, hit single Let’s Get Rocked, flickering around the big screens were fantastic and the song once again proved how much of an amazing guitarist Collen was. That solo, wowzers! The hit’s kept coming with Pour Some Sugar on Me before Rock of Ages and Photograph signalled closing time.
It was a fun evening, filled with rock stars, buses instead of cars, chock a block bars, wailing guitars and a one armed drummer named Rick Allen, what more could you ask for? Perth got well and truly rocked.