Heart and Def Leppard – Arena Rock with a Punch

Aug 16 2011 – Tonight, the crowds gathered en masse to see two major acts of the stadium rock era. I was excited about this one. Heart with 30 million record sales and Def Leppard with 65 million were on the bill tonight. Unlike last week’s Foreigner/Journey show, tonight’s gig featured the original line-up of both bands from their glory days. The Molson Amphitheater was sold out once again (price reductions sure go a long way – thanks Live Nation) and the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor concert.

Let’s start with Heart who in my opinion has phenomenal musical abilities. To see such a strong opener is nothing new for bands these days, in fact it’s quite common – Motley Crue did it with Poison, Journey brought in Foreigner and Def Leppard played with Poison a couple of years back. Heart is made up of two sisters, Ann and Nancy Wilson plus their various backing musicians. Six months ago, I saw Heart headline at Massey Hall, a much smaller venue. Check out my YouTube clip of a major highlight that night, The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me”. I strongly recommend watching it to see the power of Ann’s voice in a small venue. Ann Wilson is considered one of the best female rock vocalists and it is easy to hear why. Heart has been fortunate to peak twice in their careers. In the late 70’s they were known for producing hard rock anthems such as “Barracuda” and “Magic Man”, and the mid to late 80’s was their era of power ballads with such mega-hits such as “Alone” and “What About Love”.

This evening, Heart kicked it off with some Led Zeppelin to get the crowd going. Roars and cheers continued all the way through to the encore of (more) Zeppelin and The Who. I wonder if Robert Plant can still hit the notes like Ann can today…? The middle of their set was packed with all their hits and the audience applauded loudly every time a song finished. Heart’s setlist was:

Like Heart, Def Leppard has had an illustrious career but on a larger scale. From 1983-1992 Leppard had three massive albums – Pyromania, Hysteria and Adrenalize with a string of ten top 40 singles. Leppard’s last visit in Toronto was a couple of years ago with Poison as their opener. Def Leppard came on with a bang (literally) – they kicked off the show with a new song called “Undefeated”. The audience responded as well as could be expected, but then Def Lep started a relentless six song machine gun attack with mega hits like “Foolin”, “Love Bites” and “Rocket”. Joe Elliott and gang slowed things down a bit in the middle with a two song acoustic set (including an awesome rendition of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”) which ignited a massive sing-along from everyone in the audience. Another five songs immediately followed (“Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me” were highlights) and the show concluded with “Rock of Ages” which clearly evidenced the longevity of classic stadium rock – almost 30 years later. When Joe Elliott introduced the final song, you can hear the joy in his voice at being able to sing the music he loves for so many years, and he vowed to continue for the next 20 years (which would make him 72 before he retired). His voice showed a bit of strain through the night and lacked the range of his earlier years but that did not bother anyone. The dual guitarists (Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell) nailed all the notes and had fun with alternating solos. Bassist Rick Savage, a founding member of Def Leppard along with Elliott, played his role perfectly and along with the one handed drummer Rick Allen kept the rhythm section rocking.

Verdict: 4 Thumbs up. 2 for Heart and 2 for Def Leppard!