Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2018
City: Indianapolis, IN
Venue: Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
Opening act(s): Journey
Headlining act: Def Leppard
Journey Setlist:
Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
Only The Young
Be Good To Yourself
Stone In Love
Wildest Dream
Lights
Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’
Piano Solo
Open Arms
Escape
La Do Da
Drum Solo
Any Way You Want It
Guitar Solo
Wheel In The Sky
Faithfully
Don’t Stop Beleivin’
Def Leppard Setlist:
Rocket
Animal
Foolin’
When Love & Hate Collide
Let’s Get Rocked
Armageddon It
Rock On
Two Steps Behind
Man Enough
Love Bites
Bringin’ On The Heartbreak
Switch 625
Hysteria
Pour Some Sugar On Me
———————
Rock Of Ages
Photograph
Notes:
- First show of the 2018 tour.
- Second consecutive Def Leppard show at this venue (now called Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center), just over a year after the last.
- First time seeing “When Love & Hate Collide” since April 12, 2013 in Las Vegas, NV (show #33).
- First time seeing “Two Steps Behind” since October 7, 2015 in Moline, IL (show #42).
- First time seeing the full band version of “Two Steps Behind” since August 28, 2014 in St. Louis, MO (show #36).
- First open for “Rocket” since August 15, 2008 in Grand Rapids, MI (show #21).
- First set change after ten consecutive shows with identical setlists.
- Set back down to 16 songs.
- Attendance: 24,044 / 24,044 [100%].
- Show #5 at this venue; first since June 25, 2017.
Videos:
Review:
Curse the person who dreamt up the package tour.
Thanks to that person, I’ve been exposed to countless bands I have little to no interest in seeing. Ticket prices for those I actually want to see have gone up and yet I get less stage time with that actual band thanks to the package tour. It’s a win for the casual fan desperate to relive the glory years in a drunken fit of nostalgia. But for the real fans of these bands, it’s beyond frustrating to pay ever increasing prices for shorter and shorter shows by our favorite bands.
Especially when the content of those shorter shows remains virtually the same year after year.
Even more frustrating for me is when my favorite band, Def Leppard, runs the gauntlet of taking the bands I dislike the most on tour… In consecutive years! In fact, it has gotten worse each year, as each band that has been featured has been more disliked than the last.
It all started in 2015 when Styx was featured as the second band on the bill. I’ve never liked them dating back to childhood, when they would come on classic rock radio and or their greatest hits album was in my mom’s cassette player. I didn’t enjoy being forced to see them in 2007 and I was grateful to escape seeing them in 2008 thanks to a rescheduled show. Styx returned in 2015 and in all honesty, I tried to give them a chance to win me over. But… After five shows opening for Leppard, I’d had it… Especially after hearing the astronomy lesson during each of those shows.
2016 saw Styx being replaced by REO Speedwagon, a band I had only seen once and thought I liked slightly more than Styx. Turns out seeing them open for Leppard seven times that year made me dislike them more than Styx, especially thanks to the horrible stand-up comedy routine that preceded the cheesiest of the cheesy when it came to the songs they played.
Things seemed to reach the peak of shittiness in 2017, as REO was replaced by Poison. I had already been subjected to Poison on Def Leppard tours twice: first in 2009, second in 2012. Poison hadn’t played live as a band since the 2012 tour had ended despite Bret Michaels incessantly suggesting that they were going out on tour with Def Leppard again. Sadly that rang true for 2017. I saw them open for Leppard five times that year and much like I did in 2009 and 2012, I rejoiced after the tour ended, hoping it would be the last time I ever had to see them.
The worst seemed to have passed. Rumors swirled of Def Leppard going on the road in 2018, possibly performing in the round for the first time in 25 years. Maybe they’ll even be playing the Hysteria album all the way through. The band members themselves spoke of a completely revamped stage show and changes to the setlist, which would be the first in two years.
Instead, the band I hate the most was tapped for not just a package tour, but a COHEADLINE tour.
See, Styx was only a mild annoyance as a kid. My hatred of REO Speedwagon wasn’t fully realized until 2016. Poison wasn’t a burden to me until the 2009 tour confirmed that they had even less substance or skills than I thought.
Journey, however, I have flat out HATED since I was a kid. Much like Styx, I would hear them on the radio or hear their greatest hits album in my mom’s cassette player. There was something about them that just got on my every last nerve. I especially didn’t like “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’.” The latter was especially bad thanks to its ridiculous sappiness and ultra-annoying extended na-na-na-na-na-na outro. My mom and little sister would get a kick out of sending me into a rage hearing that go on for what felt like forever. So perhaps they stoked the fire of hatred that still burns to this day.
The 2006 tour with Journey was also a coheadliner, but it had two things going for it that made it just slightly less annoying… First, Def Leppard closed every night. Having learned from the 2005 tour with Bryan Adams, Def Leppard was going to blow any other band off the stage each night so they were locked in to close every show with Journey, and rightfully so. Second, Journey’s lead singer at the time, Steve Augeri (Steve Perry Sound-Alike #1) had recently been exiled due to being busted for using prerecorded vocals or something, and he was replaced DURING THE TOUR by Jeff Scott Soto. Soto sounded nothing like Steve Perry and gave the band and the songs an edge they were otherwise sorely lacking. It made them… Dare I say… Tolerable? So I was able to get through three shows that year without feeling the rage explode within. In fact, I was even looking forward to what they would do next with Jeff Scott Soto.
Turns out, they were going to fire him. Yes, guitarist Neal Schon’s massive ego couldn’t handle Soto getting so much acclaim for his performances that elevated the band, so he fired his friend and then found a complete unknown Journey tribute band singer on YouTube and recruited him to sing. Arnel Pineda stepped in as Steve Perry Sound-Alike #2 and began karate kicking his way around the stage in 2007. And thus, what little interest I had in the band was gone as quickly as it had been there. Just like Jeff Scott Soto!
Thankfully, Journey was pretty well off my radar after that. Now that I was an adult, I could prevent nearly every instance of a Journey song entering my ear canal other than the odd broadcast of “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which had for some reason exploded in popularity after being featured on a TV show or some shit.
I told myself I wasn’t going to spend this entire review hating on Journey, but I’m a thousand words in and I have yet to even talk about the show itself.
But now that the stage is set, you know what to expect. Just as I did going into this concert, being forced to see Journey for the first time in nearly 12 years.
The final show of Def Leppard’s 2017 US tour took place at the Klipsch Music Center in Noblesville, IN (just outside of Indianapolis). I attended that show and had a blast. Just over a year later, the band and I were back in the same venue (now horribly called the Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, which is the third name in the seven years I’ve been going to this venue) for my first show of the 2018 tour.
After dealing with a torrential downpour, stand-still traffic, and a mile walk from the parking lot, I finally got into the venue… But like last year, I was forced into the back entrance that gave my mom and I had no choice but to cut through the 18,000 capacity lawn to get to the reserved seats.
Due to the nature of the tour (again, coheadlining with my most-hated band), I didn’t splurge on tickets for this show. Rather than spend the $175 per ticket for a seat on the first level, I stuck with the $99 seats in the second level. Roughly six weeks before the show, I was able to upgrade from row M to row E, which was the first row of the section I was in.
We took our seats just in time for Journey to start. Now that I was seated (and I was seated), I couldn’t believe that I had to see the band again. Since my last time in 2006, not only had the singer changed, but the drummer had too. Now on-again-off-again drummer Steve Smith was back in the fold. Keyboardist Jonathan Cain remained, even if only for the money considering the feuds he’s had with Schon in recent years. And bassist Ross Vallory, who looked like he was 150 years old in 2006, was still there as well.
The band unceremoniously waltzed onto the stage and fiddled around with a self-indulgent musical intro before finally starting the first goddamn song, “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart).” For the sake of trying to be unbiased, I will give credit where credit is due… That song is one of few that I can actually enjoy from Journey. In fact I think it’s a damn good song. Live however… It left much to be desired. The energy in the crowd faded quickly, so I’m not sure it works great as an opener. My view also faded when folks started taking up space in the box seats directly in front of my seat, but I didn’t care enough to stand up so I could see.
The opener went straight into “Only The Young,” which was followed by “Be Good To Yourself.” All I could think was that I certainly was not being good to myself by subjecting myself to this band.
“Stone In Love” is a song that really sticks out to me from the 2006 tour for some reason. That’s likely because it wasn’t one I heard constantly as a kid, so rather than associate it with childhood, I associate it with 2006. That bad thing about that is that it makes me think back to the summer of 2006 when I was with my ex-girlfriend, and it’s not a time I remember fondly. Def Leppard being on a shitty tour with Journey was just the shitty icing on the shitty cake for that year.
The show continued with “Wildest Dream” I think, but I’m not sure because I didn’t know it.
After the song, Neal stepped to the mic to acknowledge the crowd by saying “it’s been awhile since we’ve seen your beautiful faces.” I was just thinking “yeah, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen your creepy face, but not long enough sadly.”
Once he finished yapping, Journey decided to try to kill as much momentum as possible by doing “Lights,” “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” a keyboard solo, “Open Arms,” and “Escape” all in a row. That was a bunch of slow, boring songs with a boring solo and then a boring song I didn’t know (that featured a distracting video with what I think was supposed to be a flying scarab but really just looked like a flying meatloaf on a serving tray) in a very confined space. I feel like there was a guitar solo in there too but I can’t remember now because I was so spaced out during the whole thing.
Recent setlists suggest that a song called “La Do Da” (another I didn’t know) was next though I couldn’t tell you if that was the case. What I can tell you is that Steve Smith’s drum solo, which preceded the usual closer “Any Way You Want It,” went on for entirely too long. The drunks in the crowd cheered at every break in sound thinking it was over, but it just kept going and going and going. I’ve seen Rush four times and I don’t think I ever saw Neal Peart, the greatest drummer in the world, play a solo that long. His aren’t gimmicky like Smith’s either.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Neal Schon returned to the stage and then did another solo. I don’t get why anyone thinks he’s a spectacular guitarist. He’s better than me, I’ll give him that!
Once Neal fed his ego yet again, the band finally got back to playing actual songs. “Wheel In The Sky” was played to bring a little energy back, but then they proceeded to kill momentum again by having Jonathan Cain take the stage by himself for story time.
What is it with these bands doing this shit? Styx had the astronomy lesson (also told by a guy at a keyboard), REO had the stand-up comedy (which was a story about the guy at the keyboard), and Poison had Bret… Well, just being Bret: hawking his solo shows without saying they were solo shows in between namechecking the band members/headliner/city and reminding you how many years they’ve been playing shows in the area.
After the over told story of how “Faithfully” came to be, they played the song.
For some reason at this show they skipped the encore (that they wouldn’t have deserved anyway) and moved straight onto the most overrated song in the history of music. Yes, “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Unfortunately for me this was one instance where I couldn’t prevent it from entering my ears, so I just had to wait it out.
Meanwhile, the confetti canon to the right of my section went off prematurely, which looked ridiculous. As the song came to a close, the rest of them went off and the wind blew most of the confetti toward the stage. My nightmare was over, but now the two road crews had to deal with a shitload of confetti all over the goddamn place while trying to tear down Journey’s basic stage in order to build Def Leppard’s massive stage.
It’s almost like an opening band shouldn’t be using confetti or something. But hey, what do I know.
As expected, my hatred of Journey had grown. Even if I was trying to be objective, I can’t give them good marks for the show. They started off well enough after the musical intro, as they played four upbeat hits to get things started. But the pacing after that was terrible, as there were way too many long, boring solos in between slow boring songs. To make matters worse, their sound was muddy as shit. I couldn’t make out anything Arnel was saying (other than “Indianapoleeze!”).
I sat back down thankful that it was over. Only three more times… Though in reality, I’ll probably only have to see them one more time. But we’ll see how the rest of the summer plays out.
The countdown for Def Leppard started at 30:00 with an advertisement for the Def Leppard Pale Ale beer that was available somewhere in the venue, but I didn’t seek it out. I wouldn’t mind having a can as a souvenir, but I’m not a beer drinker my any means.
I was rewarded for putting up with Journey though, as I had completely forgotten about Def Leppard’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” The song was recorded as part of a Spotify session earlier this year but has yet to be released. Videos of the song playing before Def Leppard’s concerts have popped up on YouTube, but I had yet to listen as I preferred to wait for the official release. Since that hasn’t happened yet, I got to hear it for the first time here in Indianapolis and it was pretty good. Not something I ever would have imagined them covering. Quite honestly, I’m completely over covers from them, but this is the only new recorded material we’ll have from them for at least a couple more years I’m sure.
In fact, it’s really the only new thing we’re getting from them at all.
These last few years as a fan of Def Leppard have been full of ups and downs. 2013 was a peak high thanks to the Viva! Hysteria residency. But it also brought the terrible news of Vivian’s illness, which thankfully he has battled through. The 2014 tour with KISS was a letdown on paper, though I enjoyed the hell out of the two shows I saw that year despite the worst setlist in the band’s history (yes, even defeating the basic 2006 and 2011 setlists). 2014 also delivered news of the band’s first new studio album in several years, though it wouldn’t see the light of day until late 2015. The 2015 summer tour was great since Leppard was back as a headliner where they belong. Their set had gone up from 14 songs in 2014 to 17 songs in 2015 and featured the return of classics like “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop),” “Promises,” and best of all, “Paper Sun.”
Their first new single in over four years, “Let’s Go,” was released in September. I was extremely lucky as I got to see the first ever live performance of the song on October 7, 2015 during their show in Moline, IL. The album was released on October 30 and was highly praised by fans and critics alike. Things were great in Leppard World.
And then 2016 happened. The disastrous cruise kicked off the year and its repercussions echoed through the extremely disappointing summer tour that nearly killed my love for the band.
Thankfully, 2017 righted the ship. Everyone got healthy, returned to the top of their game, and I celebrated that with my 50th Def Leppard concert. And then shows 51-54, including the final four shows of the tour.
Following the tour, Def Leppard released a 30th Anniversary Box Set for their best-selling album, 1987’s Hysteria. The box set had been talked up by the band before the announcement, with fans clamoring for previously unreleased material like we saw in the excellent 2014 deluxe edition of Slang. Instead, fans were treated to a pricy box set that included ZERO previously unreleased songs. Instead, it featured a slightly expanded collection of b-sides (taking what was already done on the 2006 deluxe edition and adding extra radio edits, etc) and two lackluster DVDs (some music videos and TV appearances easily found on YouTube and the Classic Albums DVD everyone already bought in 2002).
2018 saw Def Leppard finally get with the times and release their music digitally, long after music downloads have peaked. Thanks to the new agreement with their old label, a series of reissues for their entire catalog was planned. The first box sets were released in June of this year but sadly, there was once again ZERO previously unreleased material. Much like the Hysteria box set the year before, the only thing die-hards (you know, the main group that is going to shell out money for a release like this) could really take away from it was a few tracks previously only available on vinyl being released on CD for the first time.
And then there’s the 2018 tour… The band had been talking up changing their stage presentation entirely, which was severely overdue since they had played the exact same 17 song setlist for nearly two consecutive years. And there was talk about mixing up the set as well, digging out some lesser known songs or featuring an extra song or two from Hysteria.
Instead, the 2018 setlist varied little from 2016-2017. Out went two of the three new songs (“Let’s Go” and “Dangerous”) and one deep-cut-turned-overplayed-standard (“Let It Go”), in came two ballads… One of which was special, I’ve give them that. But the other was just another overplayed, boring hit (it’s the actual boring one in a concert setting) and the set had been shortened by a song.
Sure, the stage presentation had mostly changed, sans a few songs. Running order of the songs changed a tad, but barely. The encore remains the same as it has been every year since 2013.
Between the box sets and the concerts, all of this rehashing of the same exact stuff being sold to fans for hundreds of dollars really begs the question of why should I keep paying for it?
Which is why I was sitting on level two of the venue tonight. And why I very likely will be skipping the July 14 show at Wrigley Field in Chicago. And why I’m sitting on level two of the venue in Kansas City later this month.
I love Def Leppard. I’ll never skip a tour. But it’s getting to the point where I will begin skipping shows (and man do I wish I would have skipped most of those 2016 shows) because it’s really starting to feel like a rip off at this point. Nearly $100 for a Hysteria box set containing nothing I didn’t already have, nearly $300 for CD and vinyl box set of the first four albums containing nothing I didn’t already have, and a top standard ticket price of $180 for a concert featuring nothing I haven’t already seen? And it’s 88% the same as what I saw in 2016-2017?
The thing that gets me the most is that anyone who dare remark on the setlist gets painted as a villain by the band (one member in particular) even though most fans just want to hear SOMETHING different, especially when they play many of the same venues year after year. These expensive releases and the most expensive seats (especially VIP) are all geared toward the die-hard fans, and the band is more than happy to take their money… But recently, it hasn’t felt like they’ve wanted to give much in return. Just more and more of the same.
Now…
Having said all that…
This was my first show of the 2018 tour, and I was excited as hell to see them. The first show of the tour has that extra boost going for it that makes the lack of variety a little less apparent. Plus, let’s face it… It’s 2018. The end is closer than the beginning. I may not enjoy these shows as much as I would with more variety, but I will still enjoy them for what they are.
Following my first time hearing their cover of “Personal Jesus,” the countdown clock expired, the lights went down, and the album intro for “Excitable” had a cameo despite the song not being featured in the set. The drum loop for “Rocket” kicked in as the screens in front of the stage displayed television sets and then started to rise.
Finally, with the crowd getting louder and louder, Joe yelled “guitar!” and the band was off with “Rocket,” opening a show I’ve seen for the first time since August 15, 2008. And it was my first show since September 5, 2015 to not be opened by “Let’s Go.”
The band sounded amazing as always, and their mix was much cleaner than Journey’s. The cramped stage meant the top of the video screen behind the band was cut off, hidden behind the lights. But I barely paid attention. I just enjoyed the show and “Rocket” is my favorite of the big hits.
As with every show since 2015, “Animal” was played second. It’s another one of my favorite hits, and since I had stopped filming (having taken video of “Rocket”), I was now fully watching the show… And the excitement really took me over at that point. I was so happy watching Def Leppard perform live that I damn near had tears in my eyes. 55 times is a lot to see one band live, but all things considered… I’ve been on this planet for 11,613 days. That means I’ve only spent 0.0047% of those days seeing Def Leppard live. It’s a lot, but it’s still a special event.
The third song was anything but special, as “Foolin’” fell in a very common place in the set.
The 2018 tour has only provided one surprise so far, which is the fourth song in the set: “When Love & Hate Collide.” The song is tied for the band’s biggest UK hit, but it didn’t have as much success in the US. Despite being featured on the Vault album, which still sells by the thousands each week, the song had only ever been played at shows in Las Vegas before this year (not counting Crossroads).
I’m not sure what made Leppard finally give this song its due on a regular US tour. Perhaps it was down to simplicity, as they clearly didn’t rehearse anything different. The song was featured at their show at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year, so adding it to the US set meant they needed the minimum amount of rehearsal.
Regardless, I’m glad it made the cut. I was fortunate enough to see it at my third show during the Viva! Hysteria residency on April 12, 2013. So far, it’s the only song that I saw live for the first time there that I’ve seen outside of Vegas. It sounded great then and it sounded great tonight, which was my mom’s first time seeing the song live.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the variety from recent years. The song had barely ended when Joe kicked off “Let’s Get Rocked.”
Vivian received a short and sweet introduction before kicking off “Armageddon It,” which thankfully has a new screen animation to go with it. So far most songs have been updated, with “Animal” being only slightly changed (starting tonight, actually) and “Photograph” remaining unchanged. So the band came through for the most part with changing their presentation, it’s just a shame that the set remains so similar to the last four years.
One can’t remark on the setlist without mentioning the bane of every Leppard fan’s existence… “Rock On.” This fucking thing reared its ugly head in 2005 and it only left for a brief period of time from 2012-2014 (though I was ‘fortunate’ enough to see its single performance during that time period). With Def Leppard limited to 95 (or this year, 90) minutes, the fact that there is so little variety and this shitty cover song continues to take up space that an original Leppard song deserves is a fucking travesty. The recorded version is beautifully done, I’ll give it that. It just needs to go. There aren’t many tours left with this band, and they should be out there giving their own material its due instead of a goddamn cover.
Making matters worse, Joe’s speech before the song has changed. Instead of discussing the history of the band, he now went over the history of this song. All that did was make the rage burn even hotter, fueling the hatred for this shitty waste of time even more.
The lull continued as “Two Steps Behind,” the only other setlist change, followed. I’m not sure if Leppard was trying to lighten up their set by replacing three rockers (“Let’s Go,” “Dangerous,” and “Let It Go”) with two ballads since they are touring with a shitty light rock band, but if so… Mission accomplished. The pacing of the middle and end of the main set is a little off due to the cover and a handful of slower songs.
I haven’t seen “Two Steps Behind” live since October 7, 2015 in Moline, IL. Back then, it was just Joe performing the song solo. I have to go back to August 28, 2014 in St. Louis, MO for the last time I saw the full band version live. Rick even joined them this time around.
Before the tour started, I fully expected “Man Enough” to be the first new song to be nixed from the set, and I expected “Let’s Go” or “Dangerous” to remain as the sole new song… IF one were to survive. Turns out one did, but it was “Man Enough.” Having seen it the fewest times of the new songs (though not by much), I enjoyed it quite a bit since it’s a surprisingly good live song. And it too had new screen animations despite already having two different versions through 2016 and 2017.
From there, it was nothing but familiar territory. “Love Bites” slowed things down again. Thankfully the presentation of this song has changed, now featuring an awesome laser display that was aided by the crowd shining their cell phone lights on the stage.
“Bringin’ On The Heartbreak” didn’t really pick up the pace.
Thankfully “Switch 625” did, and while I’m ready for the song to be rested, it’s still a complete joy to see Rick do his thing at the end of it. He once again received a loud ovation.
As with every show since 2014, “Hysteria” followed.
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” pushed the crowd over the edge.
After the brief encore, Joe remarked that this was the loudest crowd of the tour. Whether he has said that to other cities, I don’t know. But it is impressive considering they played a stadium in Atlanta just two days prior with over 38,000 in attendance. But the 24,000+ in attendance tonight sure gave them a run for their money.
The encore has remained unchanged since 2013, making it the part of the show needing an overhaul the most.
The Pyromania duo of “Rock Of Ages” and “Photograph” closed out the show, the band said their goodnights, and the dreadful “Kings Of The World” began playing over the PA system.
My 55th Def Leppard concert was in the books, and it was a great one. Saying that after what I’ve written makes this review very conflicting, but that’s just the thing. The show itself is very stale when it comes to content, but the band is still at the top of their game. They should be, having played little else other than these songs over the last four years.
I had a great time and loved every minute of the all-too-short show, but I still long for a legitimate change from year to year, tour to tour. Not just different visuals or lights or a slight change in running order. Some of these songs are long overdue for a rest, and countless others are even more overdue for a return to the stage.
Again, that doesn’t mean drop “Photograph” or “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” But there is more wiggle room than just two songs.
If this set remains the same through next weekend, I will for sure be skipping my first Chicago show in nearly 20 years. It pains me to say that, but the band has finally pushed me to the point where I will stop paying for the same thing over and over again.
And it’s a damn shame.
Gallery:
TurnToDust86 