Def Leppard with Styx and REO Speedwagon

When Def Leppard are touring, you’re pretty much guaranteed an impressive supporting cast or special guests and this night was no exception.

First act was Styx, who recently have gone through a tough personal time, with James “J.Y.” Young’s wife Susie suffering from an aneurysm and in a coma last I heard. J.Y. has only been playing certain shows since this happened a few weeks back. Being on first, they play it safe with a true “best of” set, including “Blue Collar Man,” “Grand Illusion,” “Too Much Time,” “Foolin’ Yourself,” “Come Sail Away” and … you know the rest. Pleasing to all Styx fans in the house!

REO Speedwagon have, much like Styx, always had a good following in Detroit, so their set was greatly appreciated and applauded too, with a set including opener “Ridin’ The Storm Out” followed by “Take It On The Run,” older classic “Golden Country” and more winners including “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “Time For Me To Fly,” “Back On The Road Again” (my personal fave) then “Keep on Lovin’ You” and “Roll With The Changes.” Great set indeed.

The lights go down to the blazing, red, white and blue Union Jack flag across the massive screen at the back of the stage that has crimson drapes around the outside, mimicking their latest album cover. It’s also kind of rare these days for a British band to be top of such an impressive bill so, being a Brit myself, I’m feeling proud!

The dry ice hits the stage just prior to the band as they launch into old favorite “Rocket” from Hysteria, closely followed by “Animal.” It’s an impressive opening and they are on form for sure!

First new song is “C’mon, C’mon” with its “Rocket”-like style, not too dissimilar to a certain Gary Glitter (recently in the news for all the wrong reasons) song, “Rock and Roll Part 2.”

It’s back to the oldies with “Foolin’” from Pyromania. They don’t take long to win the crowd over at all, and the audience is eating out of Joe Elliott’s hand. He really knows how to work a crowd.

Another new one is the first single from the new album, "Nine Lives," that they had recorded with Tim McGraw. Good strong new song.

Back to the old hits again with “Love Bites.” The guitar interplay through the night between Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen is excellent and Rick Allen still amazes us all with his unique ability!

The stage darkens as the sound of Rick Savage’s bass rings out. He goes through various plays before we hear the familiar notes to “Rock On,” the David Essex cover song they recorded on their last release, Yeah!.

Time to bring things down a little as Elliott, Collen and Campbell come to the front of the walkway armed only with acoustic guitars. Joe starts to mess with the crowd, even to the point of jamming the opening riff to “Detroit Rock City” and then says, “Nah, that’s not right on an acoustic!”

Then Savage comes running up to join them for “Two Steps Behind” from both the Last Action Hero movie and their Retroactive album. Then Elliott asks for some audience participation as he starts to play an acoustic version of “Bringing On The Heartbreak.” The other band members slip back into the darkness of the main stage area, and as he gets to the line, “Can’t you see?” before the main guitar solo break, after he screams, “Nooooo” the whole band joins in full power again for a rip roaring climax to the song and into the instrumental piece that follows.

Next we get the classic “Hysteria” and the place just erupts. Put simply, everyone knows that if ever there was a song that you’d relate to Def Leppard, this is that song!

You know, both Styx and REO are great talents and I love catching them live every time, but by this stage of the evening we knew it was The Night of the Leppard!

From here it’s the big ones all the way to the end as “Armageddon It,” “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me” need no defining words. The band is clearly on fire and can do no wrong as “Rock Of Ages” closed the set.

No way this crowd is going home until they hear more and the gang come running back out, Elliott sporting a Red Wings shirt and asking, “So, who won the Stanley Cup then?” The place is going crazy and then Elliott asks, “Do you wanna get rocked?” Silly question! “Let’s Get Rocked” is a sure fire winner to close the night with and ends a great set of performances by all three bands.

This was a rescheduled show from back in April which Def Leppard had to cancel (along with a string of other dates) due to Elliott having voice problems. I recall when we saw the band last summer that for the opening songs he was struggling and apparently has done a lot more in recent years too. I guess he needs to have a few more days off between shows, but this night there are no complaints!

Review and photos by Alun Williams