Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is entirely possible to believe that the structure that holds the Genting Arena together had only just stopped quaking from the previous visit of Metallica, that the combined forces of Black Star Riders, Whitesnake and now Sheffield’s finest Rock act Def Leppard were about to dislodge the settled dust and explode it down to its constituent atoms, that Metallica, for all their glory, were just a warm up act a few years back up the line for what was about to explode in the centre of the Midlands.

Dust rarely gets the chance to be swallowed whole, it seldom gets the chance to be seen to be in the same company as prestige, quivering hearts and a sense of accomplishment all being bowled over, all being lovingly blasted to smithereens in the music of a band whose ethos goes everywhere before them, who just could make anybody rock their heart out, from toddlers experiencing the world with bountiful expectant eyes and open mind to the scattering of closed off and featureless stone gods whose time has been and gone, Def Leppard truly do get what it means to throw a party in which everybody is welcome to attend and devour every last morsel on offer.

For Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Rick Allen, Rick Savage and Vivian Campbell, this was a night when Birmingham’s fierce and arguably worthy reputation of the capital of Rock was to be tested, that they wanted the audience to whom if possible would turn the Birmingham suburb of Alum Rock into a sub section of the Metal genre if possible, to truly get down deep and dirty and take the band on a spin, a daze of emotions.

As the band opened with the songs Let’s Go, Animal and Dangerous, that powerful link between the N.E.C. in which ever commercial guise it aspires to and the history of Rock performance in the country was soon adhered to and given yet more credence as the sound bounced off ever seat, every yard of flooring and somewhere in the minds of the poets and Rock lovers, dust quaked and burst into flames, a small brief candle shimmering brightly above a sea of faces wrapped in awe.

With tracks such as Love Bites, Armegeddon It, Rocket, Hysteria and the musical equivalent of the line “Something wicked this way comes”, the resplendent and beast like Let’s Get Rocked all making their peace into the audience’s souls, arguably the last great night of the year of Arena Rock in the area was of immense satisfaction.

A night of Rock cool, of wonderful oblivion dressed in high octane guitars, Def Leppard pounded Birmingham to its very core and it was a night in which from start to finish should be considered beautiful.

Ian D. Hall