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| Indianapolis |
| I recently saw Def Leppard in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Dayton. Which is a feat in itself as I live in Connecticut, but I combined this trip to see ‘the guys’ with a visit to see my best friend Debs. We had a blast together both going to concerts and just being us. Three shows in four days, does wonders to ones voice. It’s over a week later and it’s still not back 100%. First show was Indianapolis and a bonus about this show was that I was going to meet a lot of people that I had only talked to online, but not in person. Going to this show was Debs, her daughter Mandy, her boyfriend Greg and Me. Debs and I are major DL fans, while the other two like them but not to our crazy degree. We all drove the almost three hours to Indy and thanks to Mapquest we made it to the hotel without getting lost. First thing we did was call our friend Kathy. She lives in Indy and she and her husband were going to meet us for dinner. Debs and I were excited as we have become great friends with her over the last year or so, and we were finally going to get to meet her. |
| It was a fun dinner of Mexican and new friends. Kathy and Vince are great people and we all loved getting to know them. After a few pictures, we headed over to Conseco Fieldhouse. A radio station has DL music blaring outside and we got on line to get inside. Lots of people and slow moving lines, so it took us a bit to get inside. They were quite security conscious as they searched bags and wanded everyone. I was glad that was over. Then with tickets clutched in our hands we were trying to figure out where to find out seats, when I spied the merchandise booth. I was not leaving without a T-shirt and tourbook. Since I was the brave one to face the lines at the booth, I got orders from everyone else. I was on a DL shopping spree and the large amount of cash I paid out, definitely helped to support the band! I take my huge purchase and found Debs and the gang again. This time we really head for out seats on the floor…thirteenth row, Phil’s side. We had been seated for only a few minutes when people started to come over to talk to us. It was great! Lori (Collensgirl) saw me first and it was great to meet her. We had chatted only a million times online. Then I saw my other friend Lori! We meet through this website and have become great friends. After a whole lot of hugs and “It’s great to finally meet you.” We settled in out seats for a bit. Then Debs and I went on a hunt for another Lauri. She was able to get front row seats and we were quite jealous of her! It was crowded up front so we didn’t stay long. Then we realized that Kathy and Vince had seats in the section right next to us! Cool cause we could yell over to them! Then a guy came out of the stands and asked if I was Lori. It was Susan’s friend Jeff. So I went up to chat with her for a bit. She’s another cool person I have met through the SA website! Finally it was getting to be time for the show. Malvin came out on stage and had us laughing. He said the guys were getting ready backstage doing one armed pushups and stretching their ‘penises.’ I would have loved to have seen that! Then he introduced their opening act Ricky Warwick. I had heard about Ricky and most of it was positive, but many people questioned DL having a guy playing acoustic guitar as their opening act. Well I had seen several of the bands they had open in the past and figured Ricky couldn’t be worse that the Unband. God they were awful! I had decided a while ago to go into this with an open mind. And I am so glad I did! Ricky is awesome! I love his music. It also takes a lot of guts to go stand in front of thousands of people with just his acoustic guitar and his voice. Bravo Ricky! Bravo! He just added another fan to his list. Then shortly after that, Def Leppard came out and blew us all away. This was my sixth rime seeing them in three years and it was the best show I have ever seen! Joe’s voice was awesome! Sav can’t stand still to save his life, plus he was flirting with everyone so bad that I couldn’t believe that was him! Phil is simply a guitar God extraordinaire! The way the stage was set up I could see him take off his shirt after the fourth song and that was four songs too many Phil! Vivian was on the quiet side, but that just seems to be his style. And finally Rick was just grinning the whole time he was on his drum kit. Maybe he was happy or maybe it was all that incense he had burning! The setlist was the High and Dry one and I’ll post it later on the page. I left the arena on a Leppard High and a hoarse voice. These guys haven’t lost a step at all. Joe even did a very short bit from the song “Indiana Wants Me” which was so cute. The guys wore the same outfits for all three shows. Joe was in black leather pants (Thank you God) and that glittery shirt he wore during the UK tour. Sav still has those falling-off-his-hip-paint-splattered-jeans on with a tight (Thank you God) black tank like shirt that left his belly showing! Phil had jeans and a black sleeveless shirt that doesn’t last on too long. Vivian wore a Nike T-shirt and jeans. And last but not least the ThunderGod was back to his old self. Shorts, black t-shirt and barefoot, plus his curls are back! |
| Cleveland |
| Next on my agenda for a show was Cleveland. Debs and I were going to this show by ourselves. She volunteers me to drive all the way (three hours) to Cleveland. Great! So off we go driving through a state that everyone actually does the speed limit. The speed limit? What the hell is that? Well with Debs navigating and me driving we make it to the hotel without incident…thank god. I’m pulling up in front of the hotel and talking with the valet and bellmen. This is a weird car, so I am telling them don’t lock the doors or we will never get in it again. Debs is trying to talk to me, but I’m in my element (I work in a hotel) dealing with these guys. Finally I grab my bags and I’m like “What?” And she rolls her eyes at me and asks, “That isn’t a tour bus is it?” Turning I look at the LARGE vehicle that was parked in front of the car and the realization hits. That’s DEFinitely a tour bus. That’s THEIR tour bus! Hot damn we guessed right! Knowing the type of hotels the band prefers to stay in and hotels they have stayed in before, I put two and two together and BINGO we have Band! We didn’t need to bribe anyone or sell our souls for the info either! Happily we check in and get the lay of the land. Where is the bar? That’s the most important question of all. We scout out two possibilities, before we head out for bite to eat. Once it gets near show time we wander over to the Gund Arena. This time our seats are still on the floor, but in row 20 something or other, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. We actually were almost in the same place as our seats for the Indy show. Once again Ricky put on a great show and I was starting to appreciate his talents more and more. Then about 25 minutes later out comes the band! It seems cliché to say that they just rock, but the do. There is no other way to describe them. This time they did a different set list from what they did in Indy. |
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| Ricky Warwick has an album coming out in June 2003 called Tattoos and Alibis. Checkout more on Ricky and hear clips from his Cd at www.rickywarwick.com |
| They added a few songs and took away a few older ones, but alas they still didn’t do Slang as Debs would have hoped. The arena wasn’t as crowded as it was in Indy and I felt bad for the band. They deserve to have sold out arenas! I forgot to mention above that in all of the shows they play three songs off of ‘X’…You’re So Beautiful, Now, Four Letter Word and Long Long Way to Go. This time Joe sang a few bars of the song “Cleveland Rocks” for the audience. The crowd here definitely wasn’t as enthusiastic as Indy was. I mean if you are going to a rock concert, who wants to sit down??? Not Me!!! After the show was over, we headed back to the hotel. We stopped off in the room for a minute and headed outside so Debs could have a cigarette. Then we headed for the bar we thought was the obvious choice. We grab a table and Lauri (Hi Dub!) saw us and came over to chat. Then Lisa and Lisa stopped by and introduced themselves to us. We agreed to exchange phone calls if the band showed up. I don’t remember if Debs and I were on drink two or three, when she said she saw the tour bus drive by. I gave it about four minutes before I said “Let me go have a look in the hall.” I went-a hunting. But I saw nothing. So I walked toward the front door and as it opened my heart started to beat wildly. There in front of me…walking toward me was Joe (arm in sling), Sav (Oh Lordy), Rick, Vivian and Ricky. They stopped at the elevator and I calmly (yeah, sure) walked past them with a smile toward the door. Phil was standing out there talking to Malvin I think. Then I turned around and walked past them AGAIN and headed to the bar. The whole time I’m thinking “Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God!” Well Debs sees my face and immediately demands to know what happened. God I felt so bad that she wasn’t there, but…I just went with a gut instinct. So we sat and drank and waited for them. Then to our surprise the waiter announces that it’s last call and we are surprised. NO!! The band is coming! Don’t they realize that?? They can’t close!! We get yet another drink (wrong thing to do on my part) so we can keep waiting. A guy in a black t-shirt comes in and we both check it out, it's no one interesting. Then another guy comes in also in a black t-shirt, it has to be the same guy, so we ignore him again thinking "no one..." Long story short…it turned out it was Ricky Warwick. Some new fan I am! I didn’t recognize him, but he was kinda far away. Then a few minutes later Joe walks in with Vivian, two other people and Ricky…and get this, the bartender turns them away! Yes folks, he says NO to Joe Elliott! Stupid Bar! So they leave kinda pissed off. Debs and I decide what to do and after about 5 long minutes we grab our drinks and head out to the elevators. Quick elevator lesson…this hotel you take one elevator from the first floor directly to the sixth floor. Then you cross the small lobby to take the other elevators up to the rooms. As the elevator doors open, who do we see waiting by the other elevators??? RICKY WARWICK! Since I was feeling little pain, I pray to God when I said “It’s Ricky! to Debs…the whole hotel didn’t hear it! We cross over to join him in his elevator ride and the doors immediately open and there’s Viv and another couple. It seems the elevator is being fussy and they couldn’t get it to work. So Ricky walks in there as do Debs and I. Holy Shit! I’m in an elevator with Vivian and Ricky! My fuzzy brain was working weirdly though. Okay I had my back to the wall of the elevator with the elevator buttons to my immediate left and Vivian next to me on the right. Debs was facing me with an Oh My God look on her face and Ricky was next to her. Little did we know that in the evening you need to use your room key card to activate the elevator. Hell I had no idea what pocket mine was in, so Vivian literally reached between Debs and myself, to insert his card into the slot. Now mind you I didn’t know why he was reaching between us and the space in the tiny elevator was small to say the least. And I happen to be well-endowed, so I was wide eyed wondering exactly what Vivian was reaching for!! Alas, it was just the elevator slot, but both Debs and I were thinking the same thing, so I couldn’t have been too off base. Sorry Vivian! Now much to our embarrassment, neither of us can say “Great show guys!” or “We love you” or in my case “Ricky…take me home with you!” Nothing! We say absolutely nothing! We are an embarrassment to fan world-wide! In shock we go back up to our room…the guys are a few floors up from us, to wallow in our misery. Debs needs a cigarette after our failed encounter, so back down we go. Well, while she is smoking, I get the idea that since I can’t get a photo of the guys…you have to actually open your mouth and ask them…I may as well get the tour buses. I leave Debs smoking and head back up to the room, but now my card won’t get the elevator to work, so I head over to the front desk for help. On my way over there I hear “The Voice” a voice I will know until the day I die! Joe Elliott is somewhere near! There is a small lounge there with a few couches and chairs and peaking in, I see him talking to a few people. WoW! The desk guy gets the elevator working, I run to grab my camera and quickly head back to Debs. Out of breathe I’m panting “Joe…upstairs…Now!” She understands Lorian thank God and up we go. However, once again we freeze. Sitting in the outer lobby trying to decide what to do, we meet Lisa and Lisa again. We chat with them for a bit before they head upstairs. They we move into the lounge were Joe is and sit like two silly fans. Joe is so Joe! I find him intimidating and I don’t know why. Finally he gets up to leave and says goodbye to his friends…his arm is still in the sling. He’s standing by the ‘up’ elevators and Debs and I get up to leave. There by himself is Joe Elliott! I can ride the elevator with Joe, maybe even say something to him. Maybe! That’s what a normal fan would do, but not us! Oh no, we try to head for the elevators he’s at but instead we take the down elevator out of patheticness. Another Lep… a major Lep, we didn’t talk to. So we go to bed…being pissed off at ourselves, but with the knowledge that we saw, but we didn’t intrude. Our final Lep Encounter of the Third Kind was the following morning. Debs was up early and decided that since she was, I had to be…grrrrr. So I grumpily get up, get dressed and outside we go again for her cigarette. And guess who is standing outside…Rick Allen. I mean he sees us, Debs is dressed in her concert T-shirt so he knows we are fans, but do you think we could say anything to him??? NOOOO!! We finally check out of the hotel in shame, our proverbial tails between our legs and Back to Debs house we go. More of driving the damned Ohio speed limit! |
| Dayton,OH |
| On to Dayton! The final show of our series. We have the best seats yet, 9th row!! It’s the four of us again..Debs, Greg, Mandy and Me. Trying to get us out of the house isn’t easy. Finally Mandy shouts out the only appropriate comment that could be made “Let’s get the rock outta here!” So off we go, with me leaving my digital camera behind. Couldn’t take it to the other two shows, so why was this show going to be any different. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Cameras were welcome! All types of cameras! I immediately go into a kick myself depression! I was so stupid!!!! Within seconds we see Lisa and Lisa again! Damned lucky! We chat with them for a bit and they head down to their second row seats..grrrrrr. We then meet another friend who recognized me…Hi MJ!! And finally head down the long flight of stairs to the floor. Great seats, short people a head of me and NO camera. Debs did get a disposable out of the car, but those pictures as you see didn’t come out that great. Ricky did a great set, the band had a awesome show. The crowd wasn’t as big as Indy, but just as loud! But the best part was Phil! Before they did the acoustic set with Two Steps Behind, Phil was strumming his guitar as Joe was chatting away as usual. Joe turns to Phil and asks laughing, “What are you going to take requests?” Phil smiles and says “Sure, what do you want to hear?” or something like that. For once in my life I didn’t hesistate and I yelled out “WASTED!” Phil heard me! He said “Wasted?” and proceeded to play a Wasted riff!! I was heard!! My big mouth was heard!!! Thank you Phil! By the end of the show (the song list was the same as Indy) I was out of a voice but in Leppard Heaven! Three shows in four days, a week with my best friend and her family. Thank you Def Leppard! Thank you! |
| Ricky and Vivian performing Three Side to Every Story |
| The guys under the lights! |
| Sav singing and playing his little heart out! |
| More of the band rockin' the night away |
| Sav looking right at Debs as she took the pic! |
| Pics from Dayton by Debs and Myself. |
| Intro--Disintrigate Let It Go Another Hit and Run High N Dry Bringin' On The Heartbreak Switch 625 Foolin' You're So Beautiful Hysteria Long Long Way To Go Four Letter Word Promises Two Steps Behind Now Women Rocket Photograph Animal Armageddon It Pour Some Sugar On Me Rock of Ages Encore..... Love Bites Let's Get Rocked |
| Setlists |
| Intro--Disintrigate Let It Go Rock, Rock Till You Drop Action Make Love Like a Man Bringin' On The Heartbreak Switch 625 Foolin' You're So Beautiful Hysteria Long Long Way To Go Four Letter Word Promises Two Steps Behind Now Women Rocket Photograph Animal Armageddon It Pour Some Sugar On Me Rock of Ages Encore..... Love Bites Let's Get Rocked |
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| Indianapolis and Dayton |
| Cleveland |