Saw Def Leppard, Styx and Tesla last night in NJ at PNC. All 3 bands were really good and turned in great sets for a sold out crowd. Yep, sold out! After my post about the touring business recently and some of the tours we hear are struggling, it was great to see a packed house. No doubt it was helped by the fact that is was a Saturday night and a nice night in NJ, but it was really great to see. It’s also a well put together bill, with all the bands playing the big hits and doing it well. Tesla really hasn’t done a big tour as an opener for a really long time. Pretty much ever since they got back together. So this is a great chance for them to get in front of people that maybe forgot about them or don’t see them much. Understand I am not talking about their major fans. You already know what Tesla has been up to. But for the mainstream masses which this tour will draw there are no doubt many are seeing them for the first time in a long time. They open around 6:50P with a 40 minute set of the hits. Styx is up next and does an hour loaded with their many hits. The band sounded great and seemed to have a harder edge than usual. The guitars and vocals sounded great and the crowd was way into it. Easy to forget sometimes how many huge songs Styx has. Tommy Shaw also made mention on stage of the fact that all the vocals everyone was hearing were real and in the original key. Pretty incredible and good to see bands that band that are doing the work to truly play live taking credit for it when so many run tracks now.
Def Leppard are the headliner and are playing to the most amount of people on this tour than many of their recent tour packages. They’ve been able to reduce ticket prices some and put a great 3 band package together that has become one of this Summers winning tours (as per a recent article in Billboard). Leppard’s set is also loaded with hits, which is the right thing to do in a setting like this despite what us deep tracks fans would prefer. Highlights for me was the opener “Rock Rock Till You Drop”, “Switch 625”, “Let It Go” and “Foolin”. And speaking of vocals Joe Elliott sounded incredible! I spoke with Joe before the show and he was concerned with this show being the 3rd in a row but I was stunned how good he was singing. Better than I have heard him in recent years. And if anyone has a reason to put vocals on tracks it’s Leppard with the way their albums were made. But they don’t. What Phil, Sav and Viv do on the harmonies is remarkable. The tour goes through October with some changes to the openers, but see it if you can. Really well done by all 3 bands!
A few other things. I spent lots of time with Vivian. He is still getting treatments for his cancer but very optimistic for a full recovery. He seems to be really enjoying every moment on this tour. We sat on the bus and he played me the entire Last In Line album which sounded great! Like Black Star Riders channels Lizzy, LIL has a flavor of Dio, but is very much a new original band. The songs and vocalist Andy Freeman sounded incredible. This really has the makings of a great new metal album and it is great to hear Viv rip like he used to on it. The album likely won’t come out until January and the band will play on the upcoming Leppard cruise in Jan! See you on board and enter to win a cabin on this site. Joe told me the new Leppard album will be out in the Fall and said it is a real rock record and he’s real excited for it. The band produced it and he says it has many sides. I didn’t hear any yet. Finally Phil has a new band called Delta Deep. He gave me a copy I look forward to checking out. Said its raw and bluesy with a ton of guitar!
I hope to catch this tour again before it wraps up. Really was a great night. Photos on my Twitter @EddieTrunk and Instagram at @eddietrunkofficial
16 Responses
You’re lucky Eddie, you got “Let It Go,” and I got “Paper Sun” at Jones Beach, I wish I went to the show at PNC instead! Other than that disappointment, the rest of the setlist and show was great! As were Styx & Tesla, awesome triple play, but I think Tommy Shaw stole the show!
i dont know about ticket prices ed,i am part of the styx fan club,and to get seats anywhere in the 1st 25 rows were like 300 plus a seat,if you wanted to sit in sec b or behind then mabye you could get a seat at a ok price,but the problem i have is that yes these are really good bands,and they did have a great bunch of hits,but 300 plus for seats and this is not even through a ticket agent (scalper) this is reg ticket master prices ,if you wanted to go through ticket master and get there vip seats they were 495.00 a seat ,im sorry #1 they should not be allowed to sell the seats that way,and 2nd these are 35 year old bands ,sorry yes the hits are nice but they dont really give you any kind of show,say like kiss or crue,so that kind of money is totaly out of the question for that kind of show,just my feelings,
If you keep an eye out, all unsold seats for M&G and VIP packages are put back into the pool at regular price as it gets closer to show time.
part 2,just got done talking with my sister who was at the show,she said although a good show,she was on the lawn,she saiwas def over booked,they were giving away free tickets to the show because of the live nation lawsuit settlement,so most of the lawn were folks that got 3 free tickets a piece,it was so crowded that you could not breath,then the big screens were not working,and she said it seemed alot of the crowd was there for tesla,she said styx came out and durning there short set,they put in a song by elton john,queen,and oatis redding,,,WTF,with all there songs why would they waste our time doing songs by someone else???then by the time def lep came out it was so crowed you could not move eiter way without stepping on someone,never has she ever been that uncomfortable at a pnc show,total confusion,that is the review from someone that was actually in the audiance not back stage,drinking beers with the bands folks
Every show on this Lep tour has been papered, as you stated , this one was no different.It’s not a bad thing, a free lawn ticket equals money spent on concessions and merch that would not have been spent otherwise.LN is only on the hook for $500,000-$600,000 as far guarantees are concerned for this tour so it’s all good. Ed just wants to pretend that this tour is somehow selling better than Leppard’s previous tour, after all he does have an agenda to protect.
Saw that show on the 2nd night it started in west palm beach…I was third row and I love ya Eddie but your claim Def Leppard doesn’t use tracks is ludicrous. I was so close that I could see everything and Joe sounds great because of the tracks. Because of the way the stage went out into the arena, there were times when Joe was literally so close I could hear his voice accapella…it was horrible and Tesla blew the other two off the stage. Styx was good too, but the big dissappointment was Def Leppard…and their set list was pathetic. I will never see them again…the effects on his and the background vocals were the only way to have any power behind them vocally. This started on Pyromania with Joe…he was raw on both High and Dry and On through the Night and then he started cheating with effects.
wow trunk are you still smoking that Colorado weed,thee guys shot down in flames your review of def lepard.what gives eddie??????????