Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2017
City: Kansas City, MO
Venue: Sprint Center
Opening act(s): Tesla, Poison
Headlining act: Def Leppard
Tesla Setlist:
Into The Now
Edison’s Medicine
The Way It Is
Signs
Love Song
Little Suzi
Modern Day Cowboy
Poison Setlist:
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Ride The Wind
Talk Dirty To Me
Something To Believe In
Your Mama Don’t Dance
Guitar Solo
Fallen Angel
Drum Solo
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Nothin’ But A Good Time
Def Leppard Setlist:
Let’s Go
Animal
Let It Go
Dangerous
Foolin’
Love Bites
Armageddon It
Rock On
Man Enough
Rocket
Bringin’ On The Heartbreak
Switch 625
Hysteria
Let’s Get Rocked
Pour Some Sugar On Me
———————
Rock Of Ages
Photograph
Notes:
- Same set as the previous six shows.
- Show #4 at this venue; first since August 26, 2016.
Videos:
Review:
My first visit to Kansas City was to see Def Leppard at the Sprint Center in 2011. They played to a crowd of 11,000 with Heart supporting, and the 15 song set was basic enough for me to swear off going.
And yet, when the band returned to the venue exactly six months later, I returned. The gamble paid off as I was able to see a song live I wouldn’t have seen otherwise since it was dropped by my second show on that tour. The 2012 tour featured Poison as the support band for the second time in just a few short years, and the attendance at the show was only around 8,000.
As a result, Leppard was booked for the smaller Starlight Theater for their 2015 visit to Kansas City. Things had changed by then though, as their popularity had once again soared beyond that venue’s capacity of 8,000. They easily sold it out.
Def Leppard returned to Kansas City again in 2016 and was once again booked at the Sprint Center. Now touring in support of a new album, Leppard sold out the arena and played to a crowd of more than 13,000.
Now here we are, in 2017, and Lep is playing the Sprint Center yet again after less than 10 months. The show wasn’t sold out this time around, but it was damn close.
I probably should have looked at my review for last year’s show before starting this one, as I basically started it the same way… But oh well, that won’t be the only thing that is the same as last year!
Much like the 2016 show, I stayed away from VIP tickets and waited for a ticket drop to occur. I decided to gamble on tickets on Viv’s side of the stage this year, hoping that my limited knowledge of the venue would help in being just a few shows from the catwalk. I was in row 10, seat five.
Turns out… The floor set up wasn’t quite the same this year as it was last year. The middle section was arranged a little differently, which pushed the two side sections farther over. As a result, I was farther away from center than expected but I didn’t mind. Especially with three more shows in the next four days.
I was, however, bothered by the giant head directly in front me. There’s always a head. And I know that I am that head for some people, since I’m 6’1″, but considering I’m a bigger fan than the vast majority of the people at these shows… I’m willing to accept being that guy in front of casual fans.
The guy in front of me, though, was STATIONARY. The ENTIRE NIGHT. He was there with two kids, but he didn’t seem to be into any of the three bands. I may as well have been standing behind a statue.
But before the show began, I said hi to some fellow forum members as Karen, Ruth, and Steve were sitting just a section over from where I was. And later, Whitney came by to introduce herself as well. It’s always neat to put faces with the names I see online every day. I think I’ve met more people from the Rock Brigade Forum than I did from any forum in the years before it came along. It really is a great community.
We all took our seats shortly before Tesla hit the stage at 6:55. Their set was exactly the same as what I saw in Grand Rapids, as the only changes from 2016 were replacing “Rock Me To The Top” and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)” with “Into The Now” and “The Way It Is.”
Honestly, I can’t understand why Tesla doesn’t change the set up more. Yes, they only have 40-45 minutes. They should have one or two spots rotate each night to at least keep things fresh for themselves and have more of their discography represented throughout the tour. They have seven full length studio albums and yet they are only playing seven songs throughout this tour. I’m also curious why they’ve been demoted to seven instead of the eight that we saw in consistently in 2015 and occasionally in 2016.
They sounded great as they usually do, though I’m not sold on “Into The Now” as an opener. Props to them for playing something more recent by drawing from a studio album that came out in 2004. I love the studio version of that track, and it’s certainly heavy. It’s just not a great opener. Perhaps they should put “Edison’s Medicine” back in the first slot and move “Into The Now” to second.
It only took a few minutes after Tesla’s set ended for the dread to set in. When I last saw this tour in Grand Rapids back in April, I consciously tried to enjoy seeing Poison even though I despise them. I failed, and that made me once again just accept the dread that comes with having to see them.
After the permanent opener, “Look What The Cat Dragged In,” Bret introduced the permanent second song by saying “You made this a hit!” My immediate thought was ‘no the hell I didn’t, I was a toddler when that song came out. Don’t put that blame on me.’ And thus, “Ride The Wind” was played.
What the hell does “touch the midnight sun” mean anyway?
The first instance of extended stage banter followed, as Bret had to eat up enough time to play an actual song. Honestly, I’m not sure what’s worse… Four minutes of banter or four minutes of Poison music. He wasted no time in going for the cheap applause that comes from repeatedly shouting out the city name and calling out Def Leppard for bringing them on tour.
In one of few minor changes for the entire evening, Poison mixed up their set by simply shuffling “Talk Dirty To Me” from second to last to the third spot. It caught me off guard a little bit, but at least it was out of the way.
Michaels very weirdly introduced the next song as “Poison’s Something To Believe In” as if he had a momentary lapse in memory, forgetting that he was actually playing with Poison for once instead of putting on one of his solo shows at the local Chuck E. Cheese. But it turned out to not be the only time he did it, as it only got stranger when he introduced the next song as “Poison’s Your Mama Don’t Dance.” That’s not even Poison’s song… But whatever. I think the harmonica solo that was essentially Bret repeatedly doing the same two notes while stomping his foot was a worse offense. Steven Tyler, he is not.
Bret introduced CC DeVille for the 647th time, but this time it was before his actual guitar solo. I should have played a drinking game during Poison, drinking each time he said “Kansas City” or a band member’s name. Of course, had I done that, I would have passed out by the third song and likely been taken to the hospital. That might be worth it at the next show as long as I can make it back in time for Leppard.
Another thing that was off-putting was Bret using drummer Rikki Rockett’s cancer for applause. Literally everything Bret does feels like a cheap way to get applause, from calling out the city name or a band member’s name or references the armed forces… So when he references Rockett’s cancer multiple times, it also comes off as cheap. Take a band like Leppard, for instance, and you’ll see the right way to handle such a situation. When guitarist Vivian Campbell gets introduced, it’s simply that he is there, he’s happy, and he’s healthy. No need to milk what he went through for cheap applause.
Poison’s set ended as it has every single time since… The late 80’s I’m sure, and once again saw Bret wandering around the stage long after the rest of the band had left and the crew had come in to tear it down.
Def Leppard hit the stage promptly at 9:20. Their set and entire show was identical to what they did in this very same venue nearly 10 months ago. After the Grand Rapids show, I have a restored excitement for seeing the band live, and that made this show better than it was on paper.
Playing an identical show in the same venue in back to back years is risky, and not something I think ANY band should do… Especially my favorite band of all time.
But… As I said, I was just happy to be seeing the band LIVE again, even if there was a dome blocking my view of center stage. The three new songs were the obvious highlights and I’m making sure to enjoy them as much as possible this week, as there is a good chance I won’t see two or more of them live ever again after this tour.
Singer Joe Elliott once again commanded the stage with a restored confidence, which made the show that much more enjoyable. And I think that rubbed off on the other guys as well as there were frequent smiles from each band member throughout the night.
I kept the photos to a minimum since I had a terrible line of sight, but I did shoot one video (around the dome) just to have something from the show.
Joe’s speech that gives a brief history of the band’s 40 years has been slightly altered to include a reference to original guitarist Pete Willis, something that didn’t happen a single time in my first 50 shows. It may be notable that Joe is mentioning that 2017 is the band’s 40th anniversary, so it makes me wonder how an anniversary tour will be handled, when and if it happens.
After the dreadful “Rock On” (cue the dead horse), “Man Enough” got the show back on track. And then “Rocket” kicked things off for what feels like the second half of the show, chock full of the massive hits.
Another very, very minor change was Joe’s tag at the end of “Hysteria.” He has been singing the same lyrics from David Bowie’s “Heroes” at the end of “Hysteria” since the 1990’s, but tonight he switched it up by singing the actual chorus. And he once again pointed to the sky after doing so to honor his late idol.
Phil’s guitar failed to work when the band kicked off “Let’s Get Rocked,” so he had a tech bring him another. But it too didn’t work, so he was basically just standing at his mic and singing all the way until the second verse kicked in and he received his third guitar.
The crowd reached peak craziness during “Pour Some Sugar On Me” as it often does, which led to the encore break.
When the band returned and Joe was giving his encore speech, Vivian spotted me and pointed me out for my Last In Line shirt. He was quite animated about it too, making fists and a ‘metal’ face before giving me a thumbs up.
“Rock Of Ages” and “Photograph” closed out the show as they have at every gig since March 2013. It’s time for a change, not only to freshen things up but also to spare Joe having to sing two of the most difficult songs in the set last.
During the goodnights, Viv called me out and tried to throw a guitar pick to me. But since I was so far, it was deflected by people two rows in front of me and didn’t make it. The fact that it came as close as it did was pretty amazing. Viv looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “well I tried,” which was pretty funny. Since he directly handed me a pick at the last show for my (unofficial second) birthday, I wasn’t upset about it. I’ve had it good.
With show number 51 complete, I’ll have very little time to rest as number 52 will be seen tomorrow where it all began…
Media Review:
TurnToDust86 