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DEF LEPPARD KICKS OFF VEGAS RESIDENCY THIS AUGUST
After 40 years touring clubs, arenas and stadiums, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott is looking forward to making a temporary home in Las Vegas.
Def Leppard’s Planet Hollywood residency kicks off August 14 and runs through September 7.
“For us, the greatest thing about a residency is you sleep in the same bed and people come see you rather than the other way around,” jokes the recently inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, who, along with his bandmates, will kick off Def Leppard Hits Vegas: The Sin City Residency at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos eater August 14. The residency is the band’s first since its wildly successful Viva Hysteria run at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2013, which gave Elliott a taste of what an extended stay in the desert will do to a singer’s vocal cords. “The last time, I had two humidiers [in the hotel] and filled the bath with boiling water every night,” he says. The inaugural residency will treat fans to songs from the band’s iconic catalog, with a few unexpected tracks thrown in to keep things fresh.
But don’t interpret that last bit as the dreaded “Here’s something off our new album,” Elliott cautions. “It’s a party atmosphere, a party town, a party gig. We’re not trying to educate [the audience],” he says. “Nobody’s coming to see Def Leppard play 25 songs they’ve never heard.” 8 p.m., tickets from $69, ticketmaster.com/defleppard
A special gift from Brian May! Def Leppard Hits Canada
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott says band has no plans to retire: ‘I can’t see that happening’
The one word you’ll never hear coming out of Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott’s mouth is easy: retirement.
“I can’t see that happening anytime soon,” Elliott, 59, says with a chuckle down the line from Italy. “Health allowing, we can do this as long for as we want. That will be the plan.”
Def Leppard — whose hits include Pour Some Sugar on Me, Photograph and Animal — were chart-topping mainstays in the ‘80s. But they’ve managed to stick around, as musical fads have come and gone.
This month, the band, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year by Queen’s Brian May, will set out on a cross-Canada tour before settling down for a residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in late August.
“Since 2005, when we went out on tour with Bryan Adams, our situation has just ramped up. It got to the point where we were playing stadiums with Journey last year.”
Formed in 1977, in the U.K., Def Leppard was part of a new wave of metal bands that made an impression on rock radio in the ‘80s in the U.S. and Canada. But Elliott says he and bandmates Phil Collen (lead guitar), Vivian Campbell (rhythm guitar), Rick Savage (bass) and Rick Allen (drums) always viewed themselves as a cross between AC/DC and Queen.
“Over the years, we’ve banged heads with some of the hard rock fraternity who think we sold out,” he says. “But we wanted to have a commercial edge. We wanted to have the power of a band like AC/DC with the melody, drive and dynamism of a group like Queen. You put those two together in a pot, stir them around and that’s kind of like the majority of what we wanted to be.”
As they get set to kick off a Canadian tour, Elliott reflected on the Rock Hall honour, Def Leppard’s longevity and whether he’d like to see the band’s life story make it to the big screen.
It’s a big year for the band. Let’s start with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. How did it feel to see the band immortalized like that?
Now that the dust has settled on it, I thought that was very, very cool. There’s only 230 acts in the Hall of Fame out of the billions of artists that have existed. So yeah, you do walk a little taller. But at the same time, we’ve been eligible to be in there for quite some time. Thirteen years ago, we were 25 years old as a band and it just passed us by. But a couple of years later, I started to get asked about it. But after I kept getting asked that question, eventually I got fed up with it. I had to say, ‘Look man, we don’t care about the Hall of Fame’… Then, once they started the fan vote about seven years ago, we had a feeling we would get in.
It made us feel great that we weren’t being chosen by some anonymous committee. We were being voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by the people that matter the most — our audience.
It’s been almost 40 years for Def Leppard as a band. Forty years doing anything isn’t easy. What was the key to your success?
This band formed in August 1977. When me, Steve Clark, Rick Savage and Pete Willis got together, we just thought we’d give it a go and see what happens. We liked what we saw when we watched Top of the Pops on TV, and we liked what we saw when we went to see bands play live and we wanted to be part of it. We learnt along the way that you don’t get gifted with this. You might be born with a musical talent, but you have to apply that gift. We learnt a long, long, long time ago that it’s hard work that gets you anywhere. Of course you need talent, too — that goes without saying. Then you need a mighty slice of luck to be in the right place at the right time. If you got the songs and you get the breakthrough, it’s even harder work to try and retain that success or achieve it all over again. For us, we worked very, very hard to be the band that we became.
Can you recall the moment where you looked at the rest of the members of Def Leppard and said, ‘You know what, I think we’ve made it’?
I think there have been moments where I can look back and think we made an impression and that would have been late spring, early summer of 1983. During that period in Canada and America, we landed big with Pyromania. All of a sudden, we were in Canada for the first time ever playing places like London, Ont. I remember we were playing one place and it was so hot in the arena that a cloud had formed in the roof of the building. But it was exciting. That year, 1983, was kind of a marquee period for the band, especially in America and Canada. But I still didn’t think of ourselves as ‘making it’ though because the world is such a big place. Everyone’s perception of ‘making it’ differs. When did Bob Dylan ‘make it’? It’s a subjective situation. For us, we never worried about that.
How does it feel to have songs like Pour Some Sugar on Me, Animal, Photograph become these iconic anthems transcending generations?
It’s exactly what we wanted. We saw what we do as no different to what the Rolling Stones or the Beatles or the Who did. How did they get songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash or Love Me Do or My Generation to be around this long? They had the magic. So we wanted to trailblaze behind them … We were never interested in being a one-hit wonder band. We wanted a legacy. We wanted to put out a Greatest Hits record one day where every single song was a true hit.
Since I was a kid, you’ve always been there. You’ve come back year after year, released new music and played all over Canada. But it hasn’t been easy. You lost Steve Clark in 1991 and Pete was fired in 1982. Was there a point where you thought it might not last?
Yeah, there was. Collectively, we never sat down and discussed it. But individually it has come to light over the years either through an interview one of us did or one of us just talking about it. I think Phil was close after Steve died in 1991 because he’d lost his best mate. When Led Zeppelin lost John Bonham, they decided to stop. When we lost Steve, we decided to carry on. We had gotten most of the songs for Adrenalize ready and we saw it as an opportunity to use it as therapy.
How did you compete with new music genres that sprung up in the ’90s and early 2000s?
When grunge was kicking us up the ass in the mid- to late-’90s, people were asking us, ‘Are you thinking of packing it in?’ it was like, ‘No!’ We were so thick skinned and so experienced at taking the knocks and getting back up we were like a punch-drunk boxer — only we weren’t punch drunk.
We just knew if we kept coming up with some decent music that, along with our catalogue, would keep us going. You have to remember, we still had one of the biggest albums of all time in our arsenal. When grunge came along, it wasn’t like people who liked ‘80s bands stopped liking ‘80s bands. It was a lot of people who just didn’t like us that went over and got noisy about the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. They may have quieted down our lot, but our fans came roaring back.
You’ve had a biopic that aired on VH1 back in 2001. But now that Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman proved successful, would you like to see someone try the Def Leppard story again on the big screen?
Well, our biopic did tackle our story, but it was pretty piss poor. It was made in 1999 before biopics were a craze. But I just don’t see it. Elton and Queen are so iconic, I would say before anyone tackles us again, if I was a film director or producer wanting to make a music biopic I would go straight to Lynyrd Skynyrd. That’s a story that needs to be told because of what they went though. Also, until there’s an incredible movie about the Stones or the Beatles or Chuck Berry, I think we’ll be on the back burner.
How have your dreams of rock stardom measured up to where you ended up?
It really was the thing of dreams. We’ve got such a legacy to uphold, so you can’t fall off. You have to be on your game every night. Lots of people used to think that rock ‘n’ roll’s all about getting out of bed with a hangover and a bottle of Jack Daniels and a random chick at your side. Then you pull on your leather pants, go straight to the gig and put on this amazing show. It doesn’t work like that and it never did. Some artists might have lived their life like that, but they went away. For us, it was never like that. It was more athletic. We were more like sportsman. You’ve got to be on your game every night or you ain’t going to get picked.
For a full list of Def Leppard’s Canadian tour dates, visit defleppard.com/tour
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New Behind The Scenes Video with Whitesnake
Exclusive Interview with Vivian Campbell At Download 2019
Def Leppard Volume Two Box Set Out Now!
The Def Leppard Volume Two Box Set is available now! Order now HERE
This is the second of four volumes of the complete recorded output of Def Leppard available as both a 10-LP, 180gm vinyl box and a limited edition 7-CD set featuring all the recordings from the band in the 1990’s with their original packaging. The albums were re-mastered by Ronan McHugh at Joe’s Garage and cut by Greg Moore.
Def Leppard – Volume Two features 1992’s Adrenalize, which topped the charts in 23 countries, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 on the UK chart, and features songs such as “Let’s Get Rocked,” “Make Love Like A Man,” and “Have you ever Needed Someone So Bad,” 1993’s Top 10 release Retro Active, the bands first compilation featuring B-sides and previously unreleased recording sessions from 1984 to 1993, Def Leppard’s sixth studio album Slang, released in 1996 and the first full album to feature guitarist Vivian Campbell, and, making its vinyl debut, 1999’s Euphoria, which also went Top 10 on the US and UK charts and marked the bands return to their signature sound and features the hit “Promises.”
Also included are Rarities Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, both specially compiled by Joe Elliott containing more rare B-sides and live recordings from the 90’s, complete with newly commissioned artwork.
Housed in rigid boxes, Def Leppard – Volume Two also contains a 40-page hardbound book packed with rare photos by Ross Halfin and introductions written by the entire band.
Def Leppard was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® alongside The Cure, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music and The Zombies, closing out the ceremony with an explosive performance in Brooklyn, NY at Barclays Center. All this caps their historic 2018 co-headline stadium and arena run in North America where the band sold a staggering 1,000,000 tickets and the tour grossed over $100,000,000.00, a massive feat in today’s touring world.
This summer, Def Leppard will be taking over the Las Vegas Strip with their exclusive headlining residency show, as well as touring Europe and Canada. For more information on the summer tour dates, please click HERE. As always, the group keep pushing forward with their electrifying live shows that have transcended the test of time.
7-CD BOX SET
CD ONE – ADRENALIZE
- Let’s Get Rocked
- Heaven Is
- Make Love Like A Man
- Tonight
- White Lightning
- Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)
- Personal Property
- Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad?
- I Wanna Touch U
- Tear It Down
CD TWO – RETRO ACTIVE
- Desert Song
- Fractured Love
- Action
- Two Steps Behind (Acoustic Version)
- She’s Too Tough
- Miss You in A Heartbeat
- Only After Dark
- Ride into The Sun
- From the Inside
- Ring of Fire
- I Wanna Be Your Hero
- Miss You in A Heartbeat (Electric Version)
- Two Steps Behind (Electric Version)
CD THREE – SLANG
- Truth?
- Turn to Dust
- Slang
- All I Want Is Everything
- Work It Out
- Breathe A Sigh
- Deliver Me
- Gift of Flesh
- Blood Runs Cold
- Where Does Love Go When It Dies
- Pearl of Euphoria
CD FOUR – EUPHORIA
- Demolition Man
- Promises
- Back in Your Face
- Goodbye
- All Night
- Paper Sun
- It’s Only Love
- 21st Century Sha La La La Girl
- To Be Alive
- Disintegrate
- Guilty
- Day After Day
- Kings of Oblivion
CD FIVE – RARITIES VOL 2
- Tonight (Demo Version 2)
- When Love and Hate Collide (Original Demo)
- From the Inside – B-Side
- Two Steps Behind (Acoustic) – B-Side
- She’s Too Tough (Joe’s Demo) – B-Side
- Miss You in A Heartbeat (Phil’s Demo) -B-Side
- Tonight (Acoustic – Sun Studios Version) – B-Side
- S.M.C. – B-Side
- Hysteria (In the Club in Your Face – Bonn)
- Photograph (In the Club in Your Face – Bonn)
- Pour Some Sugar on Me (In the Club in Your Face – Bonn)
- Let’s Get Rocked (In the Club in Your Face – Bonn)
CD SIX – RARITIES VOL 3
- Armageddon It (Live in Singapore)
- Two Steps Behind (Live in Singapore)
- From the Inside (Live in Singapore)
- Animal (Live in Singapore)
- When Love and Hate Collide (Live in Singapore)
- Pour Some Sugar on Me (Live in Singapore)
- When Love and Hate Collide – B-Side
- Can’t Keep Away from The Flame – B-Side
- Truth – Original Version
- Move with Me Slowly – B-Side
- Work It Out (Original Demo Version) – B-Side
CD SEVEN – RARITIES VOL 4
- Bringin’ On the Heartbreak (Live in Montreal)
- Switch 625 (Live in Montreal)
- Miss You in A Heartbeat (Live in Montreal)
- Work It Out (Live in Montreal)
- Deliver Me (Live in Montreal)
- When Saturday Comes – B-Side
- Jimmy’s Theme – B-Side
- Burnout – B-Side
- Immortal – B-Side
- World Collide – B-Side
- I Am Your Child – bonus track
- Demolition Man – Denver
- When Love and Hate Collide – Tokyo
- Paper Sun – Tokyo
- Goodbye – Tokyo
10-LP BOX SET
ALBUM ONE – ADRENALIZE
- SIDE ONE
Let’s Get Rocked
Heaven Is
Make Love Like A Man
Tonight
White Lightning - SIDE TWO
Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion)
Personal Property
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad?
I Wanna Touch U
Tear It Down
ALBUM TWO – RETRO ACTIVE
- SIDE ONE
Desert Song
Fractured Love
Action
Two Steps Behind (Acoustic Version) - SIDE TWO
She’s Too Tough
Miss You in A Heartbeat
Only After Dark
Ride into The Sun - SIDE THREE
From the Inside
Ring of Fire
I Wanna Be Your Hero - SIDE FOUR
Miss You in A Heartbeat (Electric Version)
Two Steps Behind (Electric Version)
ALBUM THREE – SLANG
- SIDE ONE
Truth?
Turn to Dust
Slang
All I Want Is Everything
Work It Out
Breathe A Sigh - SIDE TWO
Deliver Me
Gift of Flesh
Blood Runs Cold
Where Does Love Go When It Dies
Pearl of Euphoria
ALBUM FOUR – EUPHORIA
- SIDE ONE
Demolition Man
Promises
Back in Your Face
Goodbye - SIDE TWO
All Night
Paper Sun
It’s Only Love - SIDE THREE
21st Century Sha La La La Girl
To Be Alive
Disintegrate - SIDE FOUR
Guilty
Day After Day
Kings of Oblivion
ALBUM FIVE – RARITIES VOL 2
- SIDE ONE
Tonight (Demo Version 2)
When Love and Hate Collide (Original Demo)
From the Inside – B-Side
Two Steps Behind (Acoustic) – B-Side - SIDE TWO
She’s Too Tough (Joe’s Demo)- B-Side
Miss You in A Heartbeat (Phil’s Demo) – B-Side
Tonight (Acoustic – Sun Studios Version) – B-Side
S.M.C. – B-Side - SIDE THREE
(In the Club in Your Face – Bonn)
Hysteria
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar on Me
Let’s Get Rocked - SIDE FOUR
(Live in Singapore)
Armageddon It
Two Steps Behind
From the Inside
Animal
When Love and Hate Collide
Pour Some Sugar on Me
ALBUM SIX – RARITIES VOL 3
- SIDE ONE
When Love and Hate Collide – B-Side
Can’t Keep Away from The Flame –B-Side
Truth – Original Version
Move with Me Slowly – B-Side
Work It Out (Original Demo Version) - SIDE TWO
(Live in Montreal)
Bringin’ On the Heartbreak
Switch 625
Miss You in A Heartbeat
Work It Out
Deliver Me - SIDE THREE
When Saturday Comes – B-Side
Jimmy’s Theme – B-Side
Burnout – B-Side
Immortal – B-Side
World Collide – B-Side
I Am Your Child –bonus track - SIDE FOUR
Demolition Man – Denver
When Love and Hate Collide –Tokyo
Paper Sun – Tokyo
Goodbye – Tokyo
DEF LEPPARD
With more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, two prestigious Diamond Awards in the U.S., 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® inductees, Def Leppard – Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick “Sav” Savage(bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) — continue to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career the band has produced a series of classic ground-breaking albums that set the bar for generations of music fans and artists alike. The group’s spectacular live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading Def Leppard to be heralded as an institution in both the music and touring industry. Def Leppard’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, capturing the group’s legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard hits such as “Rock of Ages”, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Foolin.” The band’s 2015 self-titled studio album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Independent Albums charts. The album also took the No. 5 spot on Billboard’s Top Current Albums and No. 10 spot on the Top 200, as well as claiming 15 top 10 debuts around the world. For the first time, in January 2018 Def Leppard debuted their full recording catalog worldwide via streaming and download platforms. As they did with the original release of their records, Def Leppard dominated the worldwide charts again. Chart stats saw their albums charting in the iTunes Top 10 in more than 30 countries, including Hysteria at No. 3 in the U.S., and #5 in the U.K. Def Leppard had the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 records on the U.S. catalog albums chart.
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