Def Leppard have always been something of a guilty pleasure of mine, and so when ‘Live at the Leadmill’ dropped in my inbox it was a case of… “ooh interesting, I’ll have me some of that!”. In truth though it’s been some time since I listened to anything new from the band from Sheffield and the last full album I encountered was ‘Viva Hysteria’ recorded live in The Joint in Las Vegas, for which had I certain personal reasons for looking up, one of which being, I was there at the recording! I can still recall coming out of the venue and commenting to my now estranged wife quite how impressive a live outfit they were. A few thousand miles east, (or west depending on if you fancy going over the Pacific rather than the Atlantic!), at a very different venue indeed and 10 years later, they’re back in their home town for a set of 13 songs swiped from six of their albums, and one somewhat unexpected cover.
“Action” opens the set and the album, and given I’d not looked at the track listing initially it came as something of a surprise. “Sweet!” I thought, and tickled myself at my own sense of humour. Somehow Joe Elliot Vivian Campbell et al. manage to make it very Def Leppardy, but then follow up with a song I didn’t know, “Fire it Up”, from an album I wasn’t even aware existed. ‘Diamond Star Heros’ was released in 2022 apparently, and this was single number three but then throw me a curveball by dropping “Let it Go” from ‘High ‘n’ Dry’ straight after. The guitar work is crisp, and the sound excellent. You can tell it’s a live album rather than studio but that surprisingly adds to the sound rather than detracts from it, especially on the end solo, where you can almost picture the blur of fingers! The crowd sound genuinely joyous on the recording, enthused and excited, and it’s easy to see why. If this is a decent rendition onto digital music as to what they actually sounded like that night, they had something of a treat.
Jumping forward an album, “Too Late For Love” from ‘Pyromania’ comes next and again feels like something of a surprise as it’s not a single that did well at all in the UK, but that was probably due to the success of the album, and being released nearly a full year after, thus, most people probably already owned a copy. You have to wait until track five for a song from ‘Hysteria’ to pop up, and it’s “Excitable”, one of the few songs NOT to be a single from it! It’s good they’ve mixed in a few of the lesser obvious songs and as I’m writing this, I find myself wanting to review this like I was at the concert rather than listening to it through my laptop. That’s impressive! 10 out of 10 for the production! The sounds are all level, all distinguishable and exceptionally clean. Suddenly we’re thrown backwards again, and “Mirror Mirror” gives Joe Elliot a chance to get his shout on and regress back to 1981, which he then acknowledges and notes that the venue The Leadmill had only been open a year then! Nothing about the sound or the songs feel dated though, far from it, and while both “Slang” and “Kick” drop the pace a little I suspect this is as much for the audience to have a singalong as it is for the band to get their breath back.
Curiously there’s nothing from ‘Adrenalize’ to be found here, an album I have fond memories of but Joe states to the audience that, they’ve a bigger gig coming up and so they’re saving some songs for that, and I guess this is an attempt to make the audience feel like this is something more intimate for Leppard’s homecoming, and after all, who doesn’t like to be able to brag about having heard a track or two others might not see? ‘Bringing on the Heartache’ again nudges them back to 1991, and tapers into ‘Switch 625’, an instrumental with Rick Allen getting his moment in the limelight with a short but pretty damn decent drum solo. Two more from ‘Hysteria’ follow, including the eponymous track, as well as ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’, the former sung in something of a delicate style, the latter very much not so! Disconcertingly I’ve a questionable visual of Tom Cruise from the film ‘Rock of Ages’ to go along with this, but it’s attacked with vim and vigour as it should be and sounds just as good as it did originally.
The final track ‘Wasted’ is preceded by a small monologue from Joe about how far the band have come since 1979 when this was released. It’s not a song I know, and an interesting one to have been used as an encore/final track, and it reminded me of UFO’s sound more than Def Leppard’s but then that makes sense as they were still developing that at the time of this release.
As live albums go, if you’re a Def Leppard fan this is placeable in the same category of release as most metal and rock fans drop ‘Live and Dangerous’, ‘Made in Japan’, and ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’. Rocking up at around and about an hour long, it’s not too long, and not too short, well executed, and a really nice piece to add to their catalogue of releases, showcasing a band that doesn’t seem to be aging. I’m almost sad I wasn’t there in person, but then as noted earlier, the quality of the sound on show here makes it possible to experience it closely enough that you could lie to your mates about it anyway! Not that I’d advocate that kind of behaviour obviously, ‘cos that’s just wrong!
Def Leppard: Live at the Leadmill is available to buy in physical formats, as well as available all good streaming services.
Track Listing
Side A:
1. Action
2. Fire It Up
3. Let It Go
Side B:
1. Too Late For Love
2. Excitable
3. Mirror Mirror
Side C:
1. Slang
2. Kick
3. Bringin’ On The Heartbreak
4. Switch 625
Side D:
1. Hysteria
2. Pour Some Sugar On Me
3. Wasted
