Two giant rock bands for the price of one. But fans who had brought tickets for this Trent FM Arena show were given an extra surprise-Thunder as support, so in my view that is three great rock bands for the price of one!
Due to a balls up with start times, a lot of fans didn't make it in time to see Thunder who kicked off the show at 6.45pm. Even the Arena stewards hadn't got a clue about the start time.
As the lights went out and AC/DC's classic rock anthem 'Thunderstruck' (well, what did you expect?) reverberated throughout the arena, a wave of energy surged amongst the fans.
Thunder have certainly perfected their craft, vocalist Danny Bowes voice was as close to perfect as possibly can be.
Songs like 'Dirty Love' and 'I Love You More Than Rock n Roll' were an absolute pleasure to hear live. To say the crowd were eating out of the palm of his hand would be a slight understatement. The only fault I could find with Thunders slot is that it was too short. Like all good things, in no time at all Thunder had come and gone all too quickly.
The stage was then set for Whitesnake. David Coverdale and company were clearly going to put on impressive show, which they did with sickening ease. Mr Coverdale living upto the expectations of delivering a polished performance, one of the few genuine rock ringmasters around.
Whitesnake gave the fans what they wanted, which was all of the vintage songs and then some. Sure enough the sing-a-long stadium anthems came cascading over the arena, 'Still Of The Night', 'Is This Love', and the immortal classic 'Here I Go Again', all had the crowd swaying and singing along.
There have been reports that David Coverdale's voice was missing the notes, but from what I could hear, he seemed to be hitting the notes with perfect precision.
This classic rock band had set the standard exceptionally high, Def Leppard would need to be nothing short of spectacular to outshine Thunder and Whitesnake.
Def Leppard got their set underway with 'Rocket' and treated us lucky fans to nearly two hours worth of pure stadium rock anthems. The loyal fans had their senses assaulted with a barrage of sing-a-long anthems, such as 'When Love And Hate Collide', 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', 'Make Love Like A Man'.
Joe Elliott was making full use of the oversized stage and its gigantic runway, he bounced and pounced from one side to the other to ensure all of the fans got a good view of the band, even it was for a few short seconds at a time.
There is no denying that their music is still some of the best British rock music ever, songs like 'Hysteria' will always have a special place in rock music history.
As well as treating us to the classic tracks, they shared with us their new single 'Nine Lives' taken from the new album 'The Sparkle Lounge', which was well received by the vast sea of people.
The only downside to Def Leppard's set was that Joe kept telling us that it was the last night of the tour and how he wanted the audience to be the loudest on the tour, which he mentioned way too many times.
All three of the bands that were on this bill were childhood heroes of mine, and to see them nearly 25 years later still being able to belt out the tunes as well as they did when I first started to listen to them is an incredible feat.
This is really one of those shows that will remain etched into my memory forever for all the right reasons, great songs, great bands, and best of all it was British rock music!
Setlist:
Rocket
C'mon C'mon
Animal
Nine Lives
Make Love Like A Man
When Love and Hate Collide
Bass Solo
Rock On
Two Steps Behind
Bringin' On The Heartbreak
Hysteria
Armageddon It
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Rock Of Ages
Encore
Lets Get Rocked
article by: Luke Seagrave
photos by: Luke Seagrave
published: 22/07/2008 10:05
FUTURE GIGS
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