Def Leppard/ Poison/ Cheap Trick

Thursday 23^rd July 2009

Verizon Wireless Music Centre, Noblesville, Indiana

 

 

Cheap Trick took to the stage at 7pm on a beautiful Indiana summer’s day for a blistering greatest hits set, the only disappointment of which was them leaving way too soon.  From opener Way of the World, they went straight into I Want You To Want Me, Dream Police, played Day Tripper (by special request from headliners Def Leppard), The Flame, She’s Tight, These Days (from new album The Latest, released the day before), Surrender and finished up with Goodnight.  The band were road-honed, tight and professional, with Bun E Carlos’s rock solid drums and Robin Zander’s astonishing voice shining through despite the muddy sound mix.  That a band of this calibre was the support act tonight shows just what great value a tour package such as this can offer, but I would gladly have had them play longer.

 

 

Poison upped the ante a little, barrelling onstage as jets of fire flew skywards, and had the entire crowd on their feet from the start of opener Look What The Cat Dragged In.  Ride The Wind, Unskinny Bop and I Want Action saw the band looking healthy and happy to be on stage.  CC DeVille’s guitar solo and Rikki Rockett’s drum solo gave them both a chance to shine, and Bret Michaels, despite sounding a little hoarse (though this could have been the poor sound quality), showed why he is such a good frontman, engaging the crowd throughout.  Something To Believe In was dedicated to the US armed forces, Every Rose Has Its Thorn saw a sea of lighters and cell phones light up the crowd.  Fallen Angel and I Want Action had every dancing.  Your Mama Don’t Dance and encore Nothin’ but A Good Time saw more pyro explosions and flames, and once again the crowd would have been happy if the band had played on.

 

 

 

Despite the quality of the opening acts, from the moment the lights dimmed, it was obvious that the crowd was here for Def Leppard.  Bursting onstage with Rock Rock Til You Drop, the band played mostly songs from their mega-selling albums Hysteria (The title track, Armaggedon It, bona-fide classic Pour Some Sugar On Me, Love Bites, Animal) and Pyromania (Rock of Ages, Photograph).   An acoustic interlude and sing-along at the end of the crowd ramp for b-side Two Steps Behind was a touching highlight, and led into the even earlier classic Bringing On The Heartbreak.  The latter exploded back into full band mode halfway through and segued into early instrumental Switch 625.  Rock On from their Yeah! covers album of 2006 and solitary track C’mon C’mon from last year’s Songs From The Sparkle Lounge rounded the set out before encore Let’s Get Rocked finished proceedings nicely.

 

 

Leppard have been touring hard over the past couple of years, and it shows in their assured and confident set list and stagecraft.  Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell mesh brilliantly, constantly threading their intricate guitar lines together, while Ricks Allen and Savage on drums and bass guitar are solid and exciting.  Savage rarely stopped for a moment, running back and forth across the stage and making full use of the simple tiered set.  Joe Elliot yet again proved that despite not having the best voice in rock music, he is one of the best frontmen, and the crowd lapped up every minute of this great band’s performance.  The set was designed to project graphics specially made for the tour, including collages of the band throughout their career, and provided a great backdrop for the show.

 

All in all, a fantastic night of hard rock from three of the best bands in the business, and the crowd lapped up every minute.  With an extra hour from each of the three, it would have been perfect!

 

Shane