THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250418
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Concert Review
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 46 lines
This Leppard has not changed its spots.
With the release of its newest album, ``Slang,'' the band gave indications of paring its sound for the '90s. But as evidenced Wednesday night at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, the Def Leppard of now is like the Def Leppard of 18 years ago.
Much to the delight of the sparse yet wildly enthusiastic crowd, the band brought the same bombastic, self-indulgent stadium show it perfected over the years.
During its heyday in the '80s, when it sold 22 million copies of hit albums ``Pyromania'' and ``Hysteria,'' the group most resembled Spinal Tap, the tongue-in-cheek metal band from Rob Reiner's film of the same name.
The Tap was a band full of self-importance and convinced that its indulgent music was art. The same could be said for the Leppard boys and their bloated stadium brand of metal-pop that was performed to numbing and dulling perfection.
A concert highlight was the drum work of Rick Allen, who lost his left arm in a 1984 car accident. He left the electronic drums and effects at home and tackled a full-blown kit with uncanny skill and prowess.
The rest of the group - lead singer Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, and bassist Rick Savage - rallied around Allen's percussion work and churned out their own brand of calculated rock.
In spite of the modern musical touches on its new album, the group still sounded like the good old days. Elliott produced the same radar-jamming tenor vocals, Collen and Campbell provided the usual guitar pyrotechnics, and the rhythm section plodded along.
Tripping Daisy, a quartet from Dallas who opened the evening's festivities, offered a jagged, trippy, rock 'n' roll that paid equal homage to the pop punk of Green Day and the loopy psychedelic rock of early Pink Floyd. MEMO: CONCERT REVIEW
Def Leppard with Tripping Daisy Wednesday night at the Virginia Beach
Amphitheater. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by VICKI CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
Def Leppard and lead singer Joe Elliot brought their bombastic
stadium show to a sparse but enthusiastic Amphitheater crowd. by CNB