Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2019
City: Las Vegas, NV
Venue: Zappos Theater
Opening act(s): N/A
Headlining act: Def Leppard
Def Leppard Setlist:
Die Hard The Hunter
Animal
Excitable
Foolin’
Promises
Paper Sun
Slang
Bringin’ On The Heartbreak
Switch 625
Let Me Be The One
We Belong
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
Two Steps Behind
Now
Rocket
Let’s Get Rocked
Hysteria
Love Bites
Armageddon It
Pour Some Sugar On Me
———————
Action
Rock Of Ages
Photograph
Notes:
- Third show of the 2019 Def Leppard Hits Vegas Residency.
- Show #10 of 12 for the band.
- Portions of the show were filmed for a future documentary on the band.
- First time seeing “Paper Sun” since August 31, 2019 in Las Vegas, NV (show #59).
- First time seeing “Slang” since August 31, 2019 in Las Vegas, NV (show #59).
- First time seeing “Action” since April 10, 2013 in Las Vegas, NV (show #32).
- First encore performance of “Action.”
- First three song encore since July 30, 1996 in St. Louis, MO (show #1).
- “Let Me Be The One,” “We Belong,” “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad,” and “Two Steps Behind” were played acoustically with the full band at the end of the catwalk.
- Each band member sang his respective lines for “We Belong.”
- First show with multiple Retro Active songs since September 4, 2005 in Chicago, IL (show #15) – 14 years to the day.
- Longest show since June 18, 2003 in Moline, IL with 23 songs.
- Longest show since April 6, 2013 in Las Vegas, NV if the pre-show VIP performance of the acoustic medley is included.
- Show #3 at this venue; first since September 1, 2019.
Videos:
Review:
After two amazing shows to start our trip to Las Vegas, we had two days off to relax and explore the strip despite my sunburned legs and feet.
Monday was spent on one part of the strip, exploring the Venetian, having dinner at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, going to the Fashion Show Mall (complete with a Lego Store!), walking the Strip including Caesar’s Palace and the Mirage volcano, and even going all the way down to New York New York to ride the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad roller coaster.
I don’t remember it being that bad in 2013. But it’s one of the worst I’ve ever ridden.
Tuesday was similar, except we explored other areas on the Strip. We went down the other side to take in the likes of the new Hard Rock Cafe, the Coke and M&M stores, the MGM, and we walked all the way down to the site of the tragic mass shooting of 2017. We enjoyed Hattie B’s chicken for dinner, went through the entirety of the Forum Shops at Caesar’s, and then made our way back to our hotel at The Strat.
By Tuesday night, having been all over and frequently surrounded by smoke, I began to feel an irritation to my sinuses. I chalked it up to the excessive smoke that we were constantly around and went about my night.
Finally Wednesday arrived and it was time for Def Leppard concert three of five. After getting dinner at Chipotle, we made our way to the venue to get in line early. This was the one and only show that we had general admission pit tickets for, and I had spent the extra money for ‘Beat The Line’ tickets to get early access to the venue floor.
When I received the tickets in the mail, I was concerned that there was nothing on them designating them as ‘Beat The Line.’ So I emailed the venue in early August to confirm if I needed anything else. I received a response confirming they were ‘Beat The Line’ and I was good to go.
Naturally, that was wrong.
When we arrived at the line, I had to pull up a receipt on my phone to prove that they were in fact BTL tickets. Which was quite annoying since I had even gone as far as trying to prevent this very thing from happening.
Finally we were able to get in line and had to wait roughly an hour before we were moved into the venue. While waiting, we once again saw Andrew Freeman of Last In Line. He was going to the show with a large man that was from the Tenors Of Rock show that also plays at Planet Hollywood. Later, we also saw Phil Soussan from Last In Line.
At 6:30, we were allowed into the venue and were lined up against the wall to wait for another half hour. One thing I noticed on the way in is that there was a sign set up saying there would be filming on the evening. So I had to wonder if tonight’s show was being recorded for possible release in the future, or if that sign had been there all along due to the cameras used for the stage screens and I just hadn’t noticed it until tonight.
When 7:00 hit, the doors were opened and we rushed our way down to the pit on Vivian’s side of the stage. We snagged positions directly next to the catwalk, which gave me a flashback to my Wednesday show in Vegas on April 10, 2013. At that show, I was able to snag a guitar pick from Phil Collen. Would I be so fortunate to get one at this show?
The wait felt longer thanks to the fact that we had to stand the entire time and were packed in like sardines. It actually wasn’t overly crowded at first. While waiting, I spotted fellow forum member Cindy in the seats and waived to her, as this was the first time we were crossing paths at a show.
We were going to have a great view of the show, especially the acoustic segment… But then a couple of people switched spots and the only female in the entire venue (state?) that was taller than me wound up directly in front of Brittany, and Brittany was directly in front of me. So both of our views of the stage would be obstructed to some extent.
Finally the countdown expired, the lights went down, and the intro for “Die Hard The Hunter” began. I was now convinced that it would open every single show, and as much as I would have liked rotating rarities in the opening spot… I was also perfectly happy with the chance to see “Die Hard The Hunter” as many times as possible.
After the two days off, the band sounded refreshed and Joe’s voice was better than it had been over the weekend. Not that it was bad, but time time off certainly helped.
Despite this being my third time seeing “Die Hard The Hunter” performed live, the disbelief remained and I loved every minute of the song.
The set continued in typical fashion and I had now picked up on where the rotating spots seemed to fall.
As “Foolin'” drew to a close, my excitement shot up as I awaited what would follow… And Joe once again said they rolled the dice backstage and came up with a mini block of Euphoria songs.
That confirmed that “Promises” and “Paper Sun” would follow, and they did. For a moment, it made me wonder exactly how many songs the band had been rotating each night. When I think back to 2013, there were six songs swapped out between the first and second shows. Here I was at my third of this residency and only two had been swapped.
But when the returning songs were “Promises” and especially “Paper Sun,” I was still excited. I’ll forever be happy to see anything from Euphoria in the setlist, especially multiple songs.
And I was also thrilled to hear “Slang” live again since it’s the only song from my favorite album of all time to live on. Hopefully some day the band resurrects something else from it, but for now, I’m happy to have “Slang” back in the set. In fact, having the chance to see it live again has reminded me how much I loved the song in a live setting back when it was more of a standard.
The only downside is that the return of those three songs meant tonight’s set was looking to be identical to Saturday’s. Both the band and fans had suggested that no two sets would be the same for this residency. I hadn’t seen any of the setlists prior to my first show on August 31, but now I was thinking we would have a duplicate set on our hands.
But again, when the set is 22 songs in length and includes as many awesome and different songs as what they did on Saturday… I’ll gladly take it.
As expected, we had a great vantage point for the acoustic part of the set. We especially had a great spot to watch Rick Allen do his thing. It’s the closest I’ve ever seen him perform and it was even more of a treat to watch up close. The man is a legend.
Each member got his introduction and took his spot on the catwalk. Multiple cameras surrounded the area, and there had been additional cameramen on stage the entire night. That led me to believe that tonight’s show was, in fact, being filmed and recorded for more than just the screens on the stage.
The most unexpected song of the entire set, “Let Me Be The One,” sounded as great as ever. I still can’t get over the fact that it’s being performed live. What’s not surprising is how great the band sounds performing it, as they can make anything sound amazing.
The same goes for “We Belong,” which included the added treat of not only seeing Rick play up close, but sing as well. The song is beautiful as it is on the album, but the acoustic version is just as good and everyone sounds great singing it live.
Performing “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” acoustically is genius as well, and it really spotlights the band’s backing vocals and invites crowd participation. It really makes one wonder how it has been played only a handful of times since 1997, though one could argue that it was dropped after only 10 shows in 2005 for not going down all that well… Which would be the band’s own fault for dropping it in the first place.
I noticed a bug flying around the end of the catwalk, which apparently flew too close to Phil and his guitar. I didn’t quite catch what happened to it and video of the song from Phil’s side has yet to turn up, but he was enjoying quite a laugh at whatever it was.
“Two Steps Behind” is what it is, and “Now” is always a set highlight. Hopefully it will see life beyond this residency, as seeing it live for the first time in so many years has really shined a light on how cool of a song it is. Of course it was really cool back in 2002-2003, but hearing it live in 2019 exposes just how modern it sounds… Even at 17 years old.
The band truly has a knack for that, as any time they stretch their wings with a different sound (such as with Slang or “Now”), they manage to capture a sound that is both modern and timeless.
The home stretch began with “Rocket” and the crowd got increasingly louder with each song over the course of the entire night. In fact, I’d say the Wednesday crowd was the loudest one I’d heard yet, which was good since the show was apparently being filmed.
I was prepared for the standard two encore the band has been doing at every regular show I’ve seen since the first residency in 2013…
But tonight, they pulled a fast one on me.
Rather than have the lights come up for them to return to the stage, the intro to “Action” began playing and the lights started shining all over the place.
After a few moments, the band emerged and kicked off “Action,” a song I haven’t seen live since April 10, 2013… Yes, the Wednesday show of the first residency when I was directly next to the catwalk. Quite the coincidence.
My many pre-residency write-ups about the Vegas shows stressed that I didn’t want to see any covers. Until now, I hadn’t. But if there was one that I would be happy to have return, it was “Action.” And it sounded as awesome as it ever did and I sang every word.
That also meant tonight’s set was different from Saturday’s and at 23 songs, it was the longest show I had seen since June 18, 2003. Although technically, one could argue that I saw 23 songs performed on April 6, 2013 when you factor in the pre-show VIP performance of the acoustic medley to go with the 22 song setlist featured during the actual concert.
In even more of a coincidence, this was the first show to feature multiple songs from Retro Active since September 4, 2005 in Chicago, IL. 14 years to the day.
The status quo resumed as the show was closed with “Rock Of Ages” and “Photograph.”
That made tonight’s show the first to feature three full songs in the encore since my very first show way back on July 30, 1996. I was later told this was also only the second three song encore of the entire residency and tonight was the first residency performance of “Action,” which made me wonder what the other song to be played in the encore was.
The band took to the catwalk to say their goodnights. Brittany and I each got a high-five from Rick.
Bringing my Wednesday-by-the-catwalk thing full circle, Vivian stepped over and gave me a guitar pick.
That awesome moment brought show number three to a close.
As expected, it was awesome and my throat was raw from singing over 20 songs for a third night on the trip.
Gallery:
Links:
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