Def Leppard / Tesla 06/12/2005 - Resch Center - Green Bay, WI
Def Leppard returned to Green Bay, and this time they brought their friends with. Tesla was a great pick for Def Leppard's opening band. Not only did these two bands tour together back in the ‘80s, they both share the same fan base. They sounded incredible, receiving cheers for their hits "Signs" and "Love Song". Even the recent but fairly unknown song "Into The Now" received good feedback from the crowd. It was a tight set by a seasoned band. Lead singer Jeff Keith grinned from ear to ear, clearly enjoying what he was doing. And it was contagious. Too bad they weren't given a full timeslot to fill, or even an encore. I'm sure many Def Leppard fans walked out Tesla fans as well.
Def Leppard hit the stage with their version of Sweet's "Action", a jamming up-tempo tune but not one that all the fans knew. The first thing I noticed was that lead singer Joe Elliot's mic volume was too low. I could hear the backup vocals of his fellow band mates better than his.
They all looked great and all seemed to be in great spirits. But everything really comes down to the music. It was a very muddy mix. It would be easy to blame this on the Resch Center's acoustics, but considering Tesla sounded crystal clear, that's not a valid excuse. It was simply a poor mix from the console.
Joe Elliot is one of the top front men in rock music, but unfortunately he was struggling with the high notes. Considering that many of their hit songs require him to hit these notes, it causes a bit of a problem when performing the songs live. This was most evident with their hit "Promises". But my hat off to him, he hung in there all night giving it his best.
I personally was hoping to hear some songs off of a more recent release "Slang" and their last studio release "X", but being this was a greatest hits tour… they were absent from the set list. They did perform two covers off their soon to be released covers album; "No Mater What" and "Rock On". While "No Mater What" sounded great and fit very well with their other material, "Rock On" seemed to fall flat. The crowd favorites, "Rock Of Ages", "Photograph" and "Let's Get Rocked", were performed flawlessly.
Their encore consisted of "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me", which left their fans walking out satisfied. And there wasn't a single person from either band that came out wearing a Packer jersey. How refreshing! Overall, it was a good performance from a very talented band. Here's hoping the Leps realize how poor their mix is, and take steps to correct it.
