Def Leppard In Cincinnati -- Live Review

On Monday night, Eric and I headed down to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati to see Tesla, Styx and Def Leppard. It was a packed house and very humid. Basically, a summer show at Riverbend! Tesla was good - played all the usuals like "Love Song" and "Modern Day Cowboy." Nothing much new - just a solid rock show.

Styx were really good. I've never seen them live before, so it was cool to check another band off my list. "Renegade" is just a killer song and awesome live. Even though they played before Def Leppard, they left the stage and came back for an encore. I thought that was weird. Still, a ton of people in the crowd were wearing Styx shirts. I'm sure they are helping move tickets on this tour.

Def Leppard remain one of my all time faves. That said, I've seen better live shows from them. There wasn't anything wrong with them Monday night... things just seemed a little sluggish. Vivian Campbell was with the band, which was great. He sure seemed happy! Phil Collen walked out on stage and was completely oiled up. Like, which poor guitar tech has to pour baby oil on him before show time? Ridiculous. Highlights include hearing "Animal" at the top of the set and "Paper Sun" which I don't remember hearing live the last time the band toured. I didn't buy any merch because 1) I already have a Lep shirt and 2) my days of spending $50 on a band shirt are way over, thanks. Still, the booths were crowded and people were forking over their hard earned cash for those shirts (and $8 beers too, but don't get me started).

After "Pour Some Sugar On Me" we made a beeline for the car so we didn't get stuck in the lot for an hour. After all, we had an hour drive home and work was calling early the next morning. We heard encore songs "Rock of Ages" and "Photograph" while walking to the car. All in all, a fun night. Both our seats were $85 total and that includes the Ticketmaster rip off fees - which was enough. We were pretty close to the stage, so I have no complaints. The full setlist is below.

Edit this setlist | More Def Leppard setlists

Comments

[Him]

Glad to hear it was a good show. I will be seeing them next month at Shoreline in Mountain View.

General admission lawn . . . and $12 beers. Last major concert of the summer.

[Bob]

Allyson, glad you had a good time at the show. I remember when I saw Van Hagar back in '86. they had BTO as their opening band, and BTO came back out for an encore. That, to my recollection, is the first and only time I seen a non headliner come back for an encore.

[Shawn]

Glad to hear it was a good show. They played on Friday in Sturgis but I wasn't staying that long plus I had seen them before. @Him.. Shoreline is still in business good to hear... I saw most of my heroes from the 80's there and the Cow Palace. @Bob saw the same tour in San Diego I never got the point of BTO opening but they did a good job, the drumstick guitar solo was interesting but looked very close to a Jimmy Page inspired effort...

[Badland]

Nothing off of On Through the Night and 1 off of High N Dry what a shame. Cover band guitarist who wont play them and not sure if Rick can keep up. He had some awesome beats and drum rolls on the first two albums. I always did like catching bands live on their first or second albums just to hear songs live that you will probably never hear again. You could at least throw a couple songs in for the fans who were there from the beginning. Styx hasnt made an album in forever but their setlist covers pretty much everything. Tesla can do no wrong. One of the best ever.

[Rita]

I didn't see this show when it made its way through town last month but I'm curious to know how Joe Elliott's vocals are holding up. He didn't sound great a few years back and I read recently that he apologized for his vocals during a recent show. He may have been sick though but I thought that can't be a good sign.

Anybody?

[Bob]

Shawn, it's pretty well-known that Van Halen is famous for having opening bands that they feel they can easily upstage. I think it backfired a bit on them in the mid-80s at least. when I saw them in '84, Autograph opened up and they were great. Then in '86, BTO opened up and absolutely smoked. Sure, the boys in BTO had put on weight, and were a little past their prime, but they still played great, and certainly had enough huge hits of their own to keep the crowd rockin'.

[Metalboy!]

Interesting stuff, one an all, except for the negatives:

1) The Setlist, though loaded with many of my faves, could be even better, as Badland mentioned.

2) $12 Beers?! WTF?!!!

3) TeSLUG, also mentioned by Badland

[Him]

Yes, Shawn, Shoreline is alive and well. I never had a chance to see bands at the Cow Palace . . . though I regret some I missed. That place now seems to be a sad shell of its former self. But Shoreline still provides a good show in the seats and in GA (even if the costs have gone way up and the security has gotten a lot more aggressive in policing tailgating . . . so you go to an off-site spot near the Google complex to enjoy yourself beforehand if you can find a few parking spots).

I am looking forward to the show. As I said, last concert of the summer for me. Always a bummer.

[Dj]

This tour comes through here next month, I've always been hesitant to see Def Leppard though, maybe I'll go, I heard Tesla puts on a killer show.

[JAT]

WAY WAY WAY too many Def Leppard posts on this site. Seems like there are soooo many bands that are more interesting and have better songs. At least in my opinion.

[GNR]

One week until the MN State Fair and this show !!! Tesla will rock, plain and simple. Styx rolls through the classics minus a couple of Dennis DeYoung staples, now Leppard ? I agree, need a little more older flavor if you want to completely blow me away. Two Steps Behind, Rock On, Love Bites, Promises, and Armageddon It can all stay out of the show. Replaced by Joe announcing we are going to play side 2 of Hi n Dry for you tonight. Big old smile across my face :) Dare to dream !