On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, I had the privilege of seeing Def Leppard and Poison in concert at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Chula Vista, CA. Since I was a fan of these two bands for over two decades, it was a cool experience. Here’s my story.
When I was in junior high school, I had a big white writing pad on my desk. On top of it was my “ghetto blaster” and nothing else. (Below my ghetto blaster was a circle and the words “My ghetto blaster was here.” And I’d see that sad message when I got in trouble and my parents took it away to punish me….at least they knew what would work!) I’d sit at my desk and do my homework while listening to music. I’d also draw on my pad and one thing I would draw was the cryptic lettering for Def Leppard. When I was a kid, everyone tried to draw their band’s name on book covers, chairs, walls, etc.
When I was in junior high and high school, I remember getting into Poison. I first bought a cassette single or two (remember those?), then I bought their albums. Nothing But A Good Time was an important anthem for me! I remember driving in my car and listening to it, singing and screaming. It always prepared me for a good time at the end of the week.
Fast forward to 2009. While I was at the AC/DC concert on Sunday, someone from Cricket was giving away voucher tickets for the Def Leppard/Poison concert! I was in a line to redeem my AC/DC ticket and the people in front of me told me about it, so I asked them to hold my spot while I ran over and got some. The next day I decided to list them on Craigslist to sell them and I got several calls and emails about them, but eventually decided not to sell them and attend the concert.
When I got to Cricket, I parked and got in line to redeem these vouchers. At first, I thought I’d just pay $6 per ticket and enjoy the general admission lawn seating. However, the window representative offered me tickets in other areas of the stadium for a little more money. At first, she showed me Section 305 and I declined. Next, she said she had two seats in the 2nd row floor for just $26 each! So, I had to get them and I’m glad I did. I was super close to the bands!
This was a really good concert because these two bands played all of their old hits! They weren’t touring on a new album, so they didn’t try to push new songs and a new album – which was great. I hadn’t heard them in quite awhile, so I was really happy to hear the songs I liked without having to sit through a bunch of songs I didn’t know. Poison played Nothing But A Good Time, Unskinny Bop, Talk Dirty to Me, Something to Believe In and Every Rose Has It’s Thorn. Plus, CC Deville played his heart out! He played a three minute guitar solo (check it out here!) where the rest of the band left the stage! He jammed and walked around the stage and the ramp. He didn’t hit any bad notes and he played quite fast and quite well!
I noticed both bands’ bassists playing with a pick. Bret Michaels from Poison mentioned how they were borrowing Cinderella’s bassist (who appeared to be a very talented musician, based on his chops and the amount of time it took him to learn the Poison songs). Speaking of picks, I found an orange Poison pick in front of the first row. I’m sure one of the band members tossed it into the crowd, so I was stoked to find it.
Def Leppard was a better band than I thought (and after checking my iPod, I realized that both bands had about twice as many cool songs as I thought they had). They had two electric guitarists who gave it up. They also had a talented bassist and of course their drummer who has only one arm did very well. I was on the right side of the stage, so I was near Phil Collen. He played lead guitar and some rhythm guitar and did some background vocals. He’s an excellent guitarist and he made his chops look easy. Throughout the show, he played several different Jackson guitars and they sounded very good.
These guys played Pour Some Sugar On Me, Armageddon It, Hysteria, Rocket, Animal, Photograph, Love Bites, Let’s Get Rocked and several others. They also rocked a cover song called Rock On by David Essex. The way they let it creep in was cool and they used some distortion and effects that rounded out the hit.
While Joe Elliot’s voice seems a little thin sometimes, he certainly has a great stage presence. With plenty of energy, he went up and down the ramp again and again, pumping his fist and pointing while singing and shouting. Most of his lyrics were true to the album versions of their songs. His voice could have been turned up a little bit because the other instruments seemed a little louder, but it all blended pretty well. As for the lyrical content, I’ve always liked it, but some of the words just seem silly! With lyrics like “let’s get rocked!, Rock it! Yeah-ah!, Armageddon It!, Are you getting it?, Animal, And I want, And I need, Animal!” it’s clear that Def Leppard has a sense of humor and they value cadence and a syncopated delivery over deep, mysterious lyrical content, which works great for stadium rock! Not to mention, I’ve never minded mumbling lyrics I couldn’t understand or even making up my own lyrics for parts of their songs where I didn’t know what they were saying.
Def Leppard’s drummer Rick Allen is fantastic. Since his car accident in 1984, he has played with only one arm. At the concert, I noticed him doing a lot with his left foot. In fact, they have rigged a special drum set for him. Drummers typically cross their arms and play the high hat with their right drum stick and the snare with their left drum stick. They use their right foot for the bass kick drum and their left foot to open and close the high hat. When they play rolls on the toms, they use either or both drum sticks. However, it appeared to me that Allen was playing the snare with his right drum stick and the high hat with his left foot – not simply opening and closing it, but actually playing it with his left foot. I’m sure he did much more as well, but my hat is off to him for continuing to play the drums with only one arm. It’s not saying much, but he’s a far better drummer than I am and I have two arms. I imagine and hope Allen is an inspiration for those who have only one arm.
Did you know that Def Leppard isn’t an American band? If you’ve seen pictures of them or attended a concert, it would be obvious. They happily embrace their English roots with British flags and such. While the band played, all kinds of colors and graphics were played behind them on a giant screen and several times they had British flags waving.
After their initial set, the seemingly full capacity crowd at Cricket was pleased to cheer the band back for an encore. They returned and played one song – Let’s Get Rocked. Before they returned, I was trying hard to guess what they’d come back and play and I couldn’t figure it out. They left Pour Some Sugar On Me until one of their last songs, so I had thought that it would be their encore performance, but I knew it wouldn’t be after hearing it. Let’s Get Rocked is a cool song that was on their Adrenalize album and I remember purchasing both Hysteria (and really liking it) and their follow-up album Adrenalize. The crowd seemed to recognize it and rocked it with them.
Jordan liked both bands and for a six year old, she did surprisingly well. One girl who was apparently on a date came up to me and told me I was a great Dad for bringing Jordan to the show. I thought that was nice. Jordi stood on her chair and watched. At one point, she dutifully held up her little right hand with her thumb, pointer finger and pinky finger extended. It made me smile because it was awfully cute.
Not just an 80’s hair band, Def Leppard is a great rock n roll band. I believe many of the early 80’s bands (Def Leppard formed in 1977 and released their first album in 1980) strongly resemble the classic rock bands of the 70’s. Why wouldn’t they? It was the music they listened to and grew up with.
I fully enjoyed the concert. Both bands did a fantastic job and exceeded my expectations. Hats off to a great experience and I hope to catch them both again one day.
