Def Leppard's return to Utah was a definite success Tuesday night as the five-member band heated up the slopes at ParkWest with its unique brand of heavy metal.
As the band burst onto the stage, the 10,000-plus fans rose to their feet in one giant wave and remained standing - or more accurately, dancing - for the entire 1 1/2-hour set, which included a double encore.The show was crisp, clean and full of energy, despite the fact the band has been on the road for more than a year now. The perfection that Def Leppard fans have come to expect for the band's recordings was thoroughly evident in Tuesday's live performance as well. Unlike past tours that featured the band playing concerts in the round using stages set in the middle of arenas, the ParkWest show used standard staging. But there was nothing standard about the show itself. The lighting effects were first rate, blending with and enhancing the stage antics of the band members. The technical elements were well orchestrated to highlight, not overwhelm, the music and the musicians.
The band, which has a new album (tenatively titled Retrospective) due out in October, recently spent two weeks in Los Angeles putting together the video for "Two Steps Behind," which will be the first single released off the album.
It was featured during Tuesday's ParkWest performance. Vocalist Joe Eliot jokingly referred to the ballad - which used accoustic backing without drums - as "Def Leppard unplugged," a tongue-incheek reference to the recent, mostly accoustic offerings from Eric Clapton and Rod Stewart.
Lead guitarist Phil Collen said in a recent Deseret News interview that the new album features a return to the band's early hard-rockroots - hence the name - and will be more simplistic than its current album, "Adrenalize."
"There's a lot more roll (than rock)," Collen said. "It's a back to basics thing and I think we are having more fun this time around."
There was plenty of fun at ParkWest Tuesday. The show featured all the Def Leppard hits from the "Hysteria," "Pyromania" and "Adrenalize" albums. And the crowd loved every minute.
Among the hits were "Too Late," "Armageddon It," "Have You Ever Needed Someone so Bad," "Hysteria" and "Animal."
"Make Love Like a Man," the band's biggest hit from "Adren-alize," really got the crowd going, setting up the finale of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and the classic "Rock of Ages." The band finished off with encore performances of "Love Bites" and its first mega-hit, "Photograph."
As for the warm-up act, Ugly Kid Joe, the name was appropriate. The band's act is ugly and its music basically mediocre and repetitious. The stage actions seemed contrived and lacking in energy. The music itself failed to get the audience actively involved, and the use of crude language and mannerisms was even more of a turn-off.
At best, the performace was sophomoric. The lead singer spent most of the time on hands and knees thrashing his head back and forth, an action that had little relevance to the music.
The only redeeming element was the band's decent cover of the Harry Chapin classic, "Cats in the Cradle."