This show was incredible! First of all it was the first time I got to see Def Leppard in my home state. No planes rides across the country, no driving all night to get to the next show, it was just get in the car (no directions needed) and poof I was there. I went with two of my closest friends, Debs and Cathy, and Cathy’s boyfriend. Determination, timing and using my brother’s cable modem computer enabled me to get excellent tickets. We were second row DEAD center. At the Oakdale, the edge of the stage is right in front of the front row, so you could actually lean on the stage. In other words you can reach out and touch them if you want. And I want! LOL

Ricky Warwick came out first and did his 30 minute set. He was wearing a black sleeves cut off country looking shirt, not one of my favs of his. However, I happen to love his music, so I was singing away! Plus I was waving my Irish flag! Did I mention that the front row was still empty so it was like we were the front row. There was no one between Ricky and us. I caught a smile from him during Church of Paranoia. Hell I know all the words! He did Church of Paranoia, Can’t Live With Maybe and just as he was about to go into Nothing is Real, even announced it was the next song, he changed his mind and said “No, this is Enemies.” I immediately called my friend Lisa in New Mexico so she could hear this song. Lisa is a huge fan of Ricky’s (check out her  Ricky Warwick website at www.almightyone.net) Unfortunately,  the poor girl got more of me singing (offkey) than Ricky. Sorry Lisa!

Unfortunately, the theater was only partially the way filled for him. He didn’t have a bad reception from the crowd, but I’ve seen him have better. One jerk from the back said something rude and Ricky answered him, “I'm just picturing duct tape over your mouth right now. Don't think I'm somebody who gives a fuck."

Needless to say, Ricky put on a great show as always, broke a guitar string again (he sure plays that acoustic loud and hard) and it was sad to know that was the last time I was seeing him play live.

Thirty minutes later, Def Leppard hit the stage, and the crowd goes wild! It was a packed sold out show and every voice was heard! Every voice except the four seats in front of us, as they were still empty. EMPTY FRONT ROW CENTER! By the time the lights went down at the end of Let It Go, I was over the seats as was Cathy. But after maybe four songs, the people showed up, so we had to go back. Who shows up late for front row center? I will admit that when i was up front, Joe came right to the edge of the stage by us and I did the teenage thing of touching his shoe! I am sooooo silly.

As Joe was talking with the crowd before Two Steps Behind, the front row center late-comers, offered him a beer. He mentioned it was good and asked what it was. Turns out it was "Miller Lite" which he called "weasel piss." We all roared with laughter.

I got one of Joe’s guitar picks during Now and I got smiles from Phil through out the night! I think it was between Two Steps Behind and Now, but either way it was around that time that Joe was waffling away and he used the word wasted and Mr. On-The-Ball Collen immediately starts in the opening riff from 'Wasted', then Viv joined in and soon they were all playing it! Joe was laughing, but sadly they stopped. I love that song.

Joe loved the way the seating was at the Oakdale. He said that he could see everyone and that they thought this was a great show and he wished they had been there sooner. I know he says a lot of the time that "You guys are the best! This is the best show of the tour." I've been to 9 shows this tour and it was the best crowd! Connecticut rocked!

He also talked about the new album. Joe referred to it as " X or Ten’, whichever you want to call it, we don't give a fuck. Yeah right Joe, it was you who kept calling it ‘Ten’ when the rest of the band called it ‘X’.

One thing that I didn’t notice, but several people told about (I gotta stop watching Sav and Joe so much) is that Vivian was kissing girls in the front row. Now how could I have missed that? One thing I didn’t miss was the annoying fan in the front row just to my left. This guy was very drunk and kept trying to act like he was part of the band. He’d turn and point at the crowd like he was asking us to sing. The guys started to stay away from him a bit as I knew they were afraid he’d grab them. Once Phil was doing a solo and into his zone and the guy almost touched Phil’s guitar. He did try to take my Union Jack flag that Cathy grabbed back from him!

The extended version of Rocket has never been a favorite of mine to listen to, but I love to watch it. Vivian and Phil do their dueling guitar solos, which I love. They always have just the right combination of technical genius and great melodies that sound so fantastic together. Phil also goes down on his knees and finally onto his back, while still playing! Can we say he is quite flexible?

Then during PSSOM when Joe was doing his "From my head to my..." and he trails his finger down from his head to his....umm, ahem...well he stops before he got to his toes , well he was looking straight at me and i was singing and pointing to his "ahem non-toes" and he was laughing!

God that show was so much fun! They did three encore songs again. Instead of the Badfinger tune they had done the previous two shows, we got the premier of a Thin Lizzy song 'Don't Believe A Word."

After the show I met up with a friend Michelle who was at the show all the way from Florida and she had a photo that Steph had sent me. Thanks Steph!! It's awesome!!

Then we walked around the building and waited by the buses. The buses were behind a fence that we could maybe kinda see through. The whole time I was thinking "They are just gonna get on the bus and head out." We could see them come out the door of the building and walk around. Then!! Joe walked to the fence and came out! UNBELIEVABLE! I had printed out a pic of each band member from the tour. It was a favorite of each one of them. So i'm digging in my bag to find the envelope with them in it. Finally I can reach forward and Joe signs it! WOOHOO!! Then as Joe is going back in, Debs realizes that Rick Allen was out with us and we didnt even know it! Next came out Rick's pic! I hold it for him to sign and he looks at it and goes, "Great photo! Where's it from?" From? Where's it from? It's from my computer! I had no clue what show it was from! So that's what i told him. I had no idea, but it was my favorite! And he smiled! Then he goes back inside and Phil comes out! And now i'm searching for Phil's pic. I hand it to him to sign. He looks at it and goes, "Great photo! Where's it from?" Oh God Not again!! So I told him the same thing I told Rick...I had no clue, but it was a favorite of mine. The only pic I had that I remembered what concert it was from was the one Michelle had given me from Steph! And Sav was already on the bus and wasn't coming out. I don't know if Vivian came out or not as I was so excited already that we started to wander away.

It was a fantastic concert, an incredible experience and I will never forget it!
Here are copies of the autographs I got at the show. These photos are not mine. They happen to be some favorites of mine that I chose to print off the computer and use them if I had the chance to get a Lepp autograph.
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