via USAtoday.com
LAS VEGAS – Even if you’ve been to a Def Leppard concert before, you’ve never seen them like this.
The enduring British quintet kicked off their 12-show residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace Feb. 3 with a 100-minute blitzkrieg of stunning visuals, frenetic lasers and a set list deftly curated to hopscotch between nearly 50 years of classics and dashes of newer material that verifies their vitality.
In recent years, Def Leppard has primarily played stadiums, arenas and festivals, which makes the confines of the 4,100-capacity Colosseum feel especially intimate.
The new production designed for this monthlong, mostly sold-out run is spackled with Def Leppard hallmarks – the lighted “Hysteria”-era trianglethat rises and lowers to bookend the show, the 3D graphics of a menacing leopard, the zigzagging lights that prompt sheer euphoria.
Denise Truscello, Getty Images
It’s all delivered around a sleek set that features drummer Rick Allen, his Union Jack headphones firmly in place, atop a platform reachable by lighted stairs, and plenty of open space for the band to roam.
Led by silver fox frontman Joe Elliott, Def Leppard exudes the confidence of a band that has absolutely nothing left to prove, but wants to anyway.
Guitarists Phil Collen – he of ripped bare chest under vest and sparkly sneakers – and Vivian Campbell – unassumingly cool in dark glasses – frequently crisscrossed on stage, their dual guitar attack so integral to Def Leppard’s sound.
The band, which has played two other Las Vegas residencies since 2013, kicked off the show with their new song, “Rejoice.” Filled with layered harmonies and a gripping drum loop, it sounds like classic Def Leppardwith a glow-up.
As Elliott told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview at Caesars Palace after the band’s final rehearsal, the goal of new music is “not to sound old-fashioned, but at the same time maintain our identity. (“Rejoice”) has all the ingredients – great guitar riffs, melodies, drama. We like a bit of onstage drama; we don’t like drama in the dressing room.”
Casual fans of the band’s abundant hits – “Animal, “Armageddon It” and “Love Bites” among the smashes from 1987’s 12-million-selling album “Hysteria” and “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak” and “Foolin’” from earlier that decade among them – can devour the familiar. But what makes this residency special are the outliers.
In 2018, Def Leppard recorded a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” for a hits collection, yet never performed it live.
Until now, with the dark electronica of the original pairing perfectly with Def Leppard’s chiming guitars and a flurry of white lights added to the vibe.
The band also hadn’t played their hit version of David Essex’s “Rock On”since 2019. The clever live production finds cool cat bassist Rick Savage thrumming out a solo before dovetailing into the song’s familiar opening riff, which gives Elliott enough time to dash to the top level of the theater to belt the evocative anthem.
Diehard fans will appreciate the resurrection of “White Lightning,” a 1992 “Adrenalize” track written in tribute to Steve Clark, the band’s early guitarist who died in 1991. Elliott clearly had his old friend top of mind at song’s end as he raised his fist and blew a kiss skyward.
The endurance of Def Leppard is not only due to their stability. Yes, they’re one of the few rock bands to boast an original/longtime lineup and yes, while all of the members are in their 60s, they still ooze rock star fire.
Denise Truscello, Getty Images
Elliott’s voice, while occasionally husky on the high notes in “Rocket” and “Photograph” (a visual nostalgia-fest showcasing a retrospective of the band in, well, photos), still contains plenty of heft. And the blistering fretwork from Collen and Campbell injects every Def Leppard song with adrenaline.
But it’s the band’s atypical ability to experiment without altering their musical DNA that adds to their legend.
The underappreciated, near-electronica “Slang” has returned after several years, and the combination of zippy neon green lighting, a midsong detour into David Bowie’s “Fame” and Elliott’s stroll through the crowd to slap hands with fans made it a set highlight.
But Def Leppard can just as adroitly spin into the defiant “Rock of Ages”(complete with a special feathered guest to handle its illustrious “gunter glieben” intro) or the delicate guitar strains and emotional longing of “Hysteria.”
The band famously sings in “Rock of Ages” that “it’s better to burn out than fade away.” But Def Leppard has proven yet again that it won’t be doing either anytime soon.
