Date: Thursday, July 28, 2011
City: Chicago, IL
Venue: First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
Opening act(s): Evan Watson, Heart
Headlining act: Def Leppard
Heart Setlist:
Rock And Roll
Magic Man
Heartless
Straight On
What About Love
These Dreams
Alone
WTF
Crazy On You
Barracuda
———————
The Battle Of Evermore
Love Reign O’er Me
Def Leppard Setlist:
Undefeated
Let’s Get Rocked
Animal
Foolin’
Love Bites
Rock On
Rocket
Two Steps Behind
Bringin’ On The Heartbreak
Switch 625
Hysteria
Armageddon It
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar On Me
———————
Rock Of Ages
Notes:
- First show of the 2011 Mirror Ball Tour.
- Second show seen from the front row.
- Show rescheduled from July 15, 2011 due to the passing of Joe Elliott’s father.
- First time seeing “Undefeated” live.
- First time seeing “Undefeated” open a show. Sixth opener total.
- First time seeing a new song open a show.
- First time seeing the extended album version of “Rocket” since October 28, 2006 (show #18).
- First close for “Rock Of Ages” since July 4, 2007 in St. Louis, MO (show #20).
- “Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” was the half acoustic version.
- Tied with all three 2006 shows for the shortest show to date with 15 songs.
- Show #5 at this venue; first since August 22, 2010.
- First Def Leppard show at this venue since July 17, 2009.
Videos:
Review:
It’s been over two years since my last Def Leppard show on July 20, 2009. And it was almost fifteen years to the day since my very first show (July 30, 1996 in St. Louis, MO). After the longest break between shows since 2005, I was extra excited to be seeing the boys again, for the 24th time.
My journey to Chicago was a damn NIGHTMARE. My girlfriend and I left at 1:30. The drive from Springfield to Tinley Park takes three hours. We had to be at the ILAA 5 Star meeting spot at 5:45.
We had over four hours to make a three hour drive.
But construction on I80E that had traffic at a STAND STILL ended up making us late. While sitting in one spot, we listened to the entire “Slang” album. It was rough. Took us well over an hour to move enough just to get off the highway at the nearest exit. Even then, our detour was filled with more construction, which made us go even more out of our way, and other bullshit things like an RV breaking down at a stop light and a train. Not to mention by this time we were in the middle of 5:00 traffic in the Chicago area and there were other cars that were trying to take the same detour.
Anyway, I ended up having to text Helen to let her know that we’d be late to the party. I was definitely pissed at this point since the ILAA stuff isn’t cheap and now thanks to some classic Illnois construction, I was missing out on stuff I paid for. I always factor in time for construction, but this was the worst I’ve ever dealt with. But it made for a bonding experience for me and my girlfriend!
We arrived at the venue finally and were given a runaround by people not knowing what the hell was going on with the ILAA stuff, but eventually we got in. Since we were late, we were given our tickets at the gate and found out we had FRONT ROW seats. That definitely helped me cool off a bit after the stressful drive.
The party was pretty nice. The food was good, but it was really hot in that tent. More on the heat later.
Helen had Phil’s daughter Samantha helping out again, which was cute. This was the third 5 Star party I’ve been to and once again, I didn’t win anything in the raffle. I just have no luck when it comes to winning stuff.
We made our way to our seats after awhile to watch Evan Watson. Not sure he fits with the music of the headliners (the last time a single person got up and played blues before Def Leppard it was a disaster… And that was someone the crowd had heard of – Billy Squier). But the time passed quickly and it was neat seeing Viv join him for a song.
Heart hit the stage pretty quickly after. They had changed the setlist up from what I had seen from earlier in the tour. They opened with a cover of Zeppelin’s “Rock And Roll,” which was awesome.
My girlfriend was disappointed that they dropped “Never,” which is her favorite song of theirs and I know they had been playing it earlier in the tour.
For the most part, I enjoyed the show. More specifically, I enjoyed the show up until the encore. What I didn’t enjoy were the toned down, stripped back approach to several of their songs and the fact that in a 12 song setlist, they played THREE covers. I loved “Rock And Roll,” but the two in the encore (another Zep cover and a Who cover) did nothing for me. If I was a die hard Heart fan I would be pissed at three covers being in such a short set. Hell, I get annoyed with Lep playing the one they play! And Nancy Wilson singing “These Dreams” is still sexy as hell after all these years.
The changeover between sets was pretty quick. When “For Those About To Rock” came on, I knew we were close. The camera guy gave me one of the sound crew’s guitar picks, which was cool.
Much to my delight, Lep hit the stage with “Undefeated.” Knowing my luck, I was really afraid they would have dropped it by now. So I was nervous at first, but relieved when that drum loop kicked in. I had stated before I wasn’t sure how well it would work as an opener. I knew the intro and guitar riff would be great for it, but as an overall song… I wasn’t sold on it. Until last night. It was amazing.
I didn’t know what would come next, and was caught off guard by the abbreviated intro to “Let’s Get Rocked.”
When it ended, I expected “Animal,” and that’s exactly what I got. And when that ended, I expected “Foolin’,” and that’s exactly what I got.
Sadly, I predicted all the rest of the setlist and was right every single time.
On paper, the setlist is certainly disappointing.
It was like what they’d play at a radio festival. All hits and the new song. Plus it’s quite disappointing to see them back down to 15 songs, which I expected knowing the extended verison of “Rocket” has returned. If they are going to limit themselves to 90 minutes, the bass solo and the long version of “Rocket” have no place in the setlist. Hell, “Rock On” can go too. I think it has lost all of its appeal now, even to the casual fan. It worked much better when they didn’t know what was coming with the huge ending. Now they’re all well aware of it.
And honestly, do we really need a bass solo? It was a nice change of pace back in ’06 and I understand it gives the rest of the guys a few minutes to take a break and change clothes (what is this, a Cher concert?) but come on… There have to be other ways to get that done now.
Anyway, despite the ugly setlist, I still enjoyed the hell out of the show. “Undefeated” was amazing and seeing anything from the front row (especially after a two year break between shows) is a great time. We got a lot of great pictures and my girlfriend walked away extremely happy. I’d say the setlist we got is good for her first show, but she’s got two more on this tour (and I’ve got three). I hope the set is mixed up a bit. I’m not gonna look at what they’ve been doing as far as any type of rotation so I won’t know unless they do it. My reviews of the other shows I’ll be hitting on this tour (St. Louis, Indianapolis, Kansas City) won’t be so nice if the same setlist is done at any of those shows. Especially considering I won’t have front row seats to spare them. One upside is that since I was in the front row, I barely paid any attention to the screens, so I’ll be able to watch them a bit more when I have some farther away seats at the next shows.
And there was an incident where Sav threw one of his picks into the crowd. It hit the ground near me, so I bent down to pick it up and almost had my hand crushed by the foot of a larger female fan… Considering it wasn’t worth the bodily harm, I let it go. Can’t fight with those female Sav fans, they’ll tear one to pieces just for a bead of his sweat. But my calm way of dealing with it paid off as I got not one, but TWO of his picks later in the show.
As I mentioned in my post last night, Joe hit a wall during “Photograph.” I don’t know how he made it that long. He sounded absolutely fantastic on “Undefeated” but by “Photograph” his voice was shot. Probably the worst I’ve ever heard that song sung. But hell, by the fourth song in the set, I was having trouble singing due to the humidity. So I had to wonder how the hell he was doing it, especially in the smoke and lights (not to mention his emotions still getting to him, I’m sure – which is completely understandable). Hopefully the humidity lets up soon and he gets his pipes back after the break. He thanked the crowd in the encore for being so great and helping him get through the tough time.
Overall, a great night.
Media Review:
DEF LEPPARD At First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
After previously postponed show, Chicago-area fans could finally see Def Leppard and Heart on July 28th. It was one of those hot and humid days when after being outside for 10 minutes you feel like melting. Not a perfect weather for rockin’ party, but with that sort of headlining band nothing could stop thousands of fans, and they eagerly gathered in the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL.
At 7:40 p.m., HEART took the stage and opened the show with Led Zeppelin cover, “Rock and Roll”. For over one hour the band entertained already warmed-up by the summer heat crowd. The set list included several old hits with my personal winner “Alone”, and one song from their newest album “Red Velvet Car”, entitled “WTF”.
After the break, it was time for DEF LEPPARD and I could feel the anticipation in the air. Shortly after 9:30 p.m., lights on the stage went dim and the familiar cheer spread through the crowd. Gang from Sheffield started off with “Undefited”, one of three brand new studio recordings presented on the new live album “Mirrorball”. The initial excitement aroused with successive tracks, “Let’s Get Rocked”, “Animal” and “Foolin”. Elliott was constantly on the move, from the front of the walkway he held his microphone toward the audience and encouraged everyone to sing.
After powerful “Rocket”, there was a nice moment when Joe, armed with his acoustic guitar, came to the front of the walkway and asked the crowd to join Def Leppard for the next ten minutes. Phil, Rick and Vivian came to front as well and Joe said, “If you want to be in the band you don’t have to fill any forms, all you got to do is just sing the words right back at us; if you know the words – sing them!” And everybody did as they started with “Walk away if you want to ……” With the hands in the air, everyone sang to the next song as well, acoustic version of “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak”. Pleased Elliott called “Chicago!”, and people screamed with excitement.
“Switch 625” with Phil’s and Vivian’s double guitar attack energized the crowd again. White smoke burst on the stage, and the madness began as they kicked off with “Hysteria”. During the next song, “Armagedon It”, Joe had some fun juggling with his microphone and believe it or not, he was good.
Another timeless hit “Photograph” and Elliott’s jacket flew into the air. Pictures of all band members during different stages of their career were passing on huge screens at the back of the stage. It couldn’t be Def Leppard without “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. This high energy track was the one to close the performance, but there was no way people would let them go without encore.
With British flag displayed in the background, the guys came back with the last song, “Rock of Ages”. Pictures of Curt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Ozzy and others appeared on the screens as they played. After that, the band came to the front walkway to say good bye. “See you next time Chicago!” shouted Joe and off they went.
Def Leppard on stage combines both, professionalism and a warm approach, and they know exactly how to make their fans feel special. I have been Def Leppard fan since high school, but after that evening, I like them even more.
By Rock On! Press, 2011
TurnToDust86 