Def Leppard off to a slow start

DEF LEPPARD, JOURNEY, USANA Amphitheater, West Valley City, Wednesday.

WEST VALLEY CITY — Admit it, you've turned up the radio and sung along with "Pour Some Sugar On Me" or slow-danced at prom or homecoming to "Open Arms."

Wednesday night at USANA Amphitheater, a near sellout crowd relived some of those memories with a double-bill of two of the biggest acts of the '80s.

Def Leppard headlined with its typical high-energy, large bi-level stage production. Unfortunately singer Joe Elliot's voice stumbled out of the starting blocks with un-Leppard-like awful rendition of "Let's Get Rocked."

In fact, it took about four songs for his voice to really get warmed up, and those stratospheric screeching high notes just aren't happening anymore.

But the band made up for its slow start with a strong finish, focusing primarily on the "big-three" hits from Pyromania— "Foolin," "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages" — and the blockbuster "Hysteria."

"Rocket," "Armageddon It," "Animal," "Love Bites" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" kept the crowd on its feet and blended nicely with "No Matter What" and "Rock On" from Def Leppard's latest CD of all-covers.

Whether it was because it was opening for Def Leppard or because it had veteran rock singer Jeff Scott Soto filling in for the ill Steve Augeri (who replaced Steve Perry), Journey delivered a performance that was more upbeat than any concert in a long time.

Opening with "Stone in Love," Neal Schon and company ripped through "Ask the Lonely" and such Journey standards as "Wheel in the Sky," "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin," "Anyway You Want It" and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)."

Journey played only songs from the Perry era, pulling out such deep cuts as "Chain Reaction" and "Edge of the Blade" from Frontiers.

A heavy selection of songs was also played from the band's best album, "Escape" (which turned 25 just a week ago), including the title track, crowd favorite "Don't Stop Believin" and a couple of gems, "Keep on Runnin" and "Dead or Alive."

Birthday boy Deen Castronovo showed once again that he is more than a drummer. His chops hit the high notes better than anyone Journey has had since Perry on such songs as "Who's Crying Now," "Faithfully" and the Bic-lighter anthem "Open Arms."

---

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com

Comments