BABY ANIMALS, Perth, 21 Nov, 2015

Shane | 26 November 2015 | Reply

LIVE: DEF LEPPARD/ LIVE/ BABY ANIMALS, Perth, 21 Nov, 2015

DEF LEPPARD with LIVE and BABY ANIMALS
Red Hills Auditorium, Perth – Saturday, 21 November, 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Maree King

Anyone who baulked at the long drive into the Perth hills for Def Leppard’s third Perth visit in eight years obviously didn’t do their research very well: idyllically set amongst near-virgin bushland, with the city and sunset glinting in the distance, Red Hill is a hidden treasure, and one well-catered for with excellent facilities and a bevy of shuttle buses ferrying punters in and out.

BABY ANIMALS took the stage as the sun edged lower and lower, local frontwoman Suze DeMarchi packing as powerful a punch as always through a set which focussed primarily on their 1991 debut. Favourites Rush You, One Word and Ain’t Gonna Get were all delivered with rocking fury in the fresh air of dusk, with last year’s scathing Email a more contempory highlight.

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American post-grunge outfit LIVE seemed an odd fit for the line-up when announced, and stood out like a sore thumb on the night. Bookending their set with their big hits Selling The Drama/All Over You and Lightning Crashes/I Alone at either end of a too-long set, they tried hard but played all the wrong cards. New singer Chris Shinn resembled a tribute band version of Ed Kowalczyk, and the rest of the band had no engagement with the crowd at all, resulting in a tedious hour or so for most of the crowd.

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DEF LEPPARD, rightfully the stars of this show, had no such problems, bursting on stage with new single Let’s Go, and delivering a selection of their greatest hits with a couple of surprised thrown in for good measure. Guitarists Vivian Campbell – newly shorn after chemo for a recurring bout of cancer – and the seemingly permanently topless and baby-oiled to within an inch of his life Phil Collen threw all the right shapes as their guitars meshed perfectly, while the faultless rhythm section of the Ricks – Savage and Allen – never skipped a beat.

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With so much material to choose from, each fan was bound to have their own dream set list, but these old pros did a good job cherry picking a hit-packed ninety minutes. Animal and Armageddon It had the crowd singing along in raptures, their modernisation of David Essex’s Rock On was a winner, and singer Joe Elliot’s solo acoustic performance of the bands best non-album track, Two Steps Behind, was a treat.

At their rocking best for the early instrumental Switch 625 and the double-whammy encore of Rock Of Ages and Photograph, Def Leppard gave Perth a little bit of everything that has made them endure so well for so many years, leaving Red Hill well and truly ‘Rocked.’

An edited version of this review was first published in X-Press Magazine’s 25th November, 2015 issue

Def Leppard’s set list:
Let’s Go
Animal
Undefeated
Dangerous
Love Bites
Armageddon It
Rock On
Two Steps Behind (Acoustic)
Rocket
When Love and Hate Collide
Switch 625
Hysteria
Let’s Get Rocked
Pour Some Sugar on Me

Encore:
Rock of Ages
Photograph