It seems that Def Leppard decided to make up for lost time in regards with the live albums…let me remind you that this was the sole supergroup that hadn’t released a live album even after 31 years of recording history. So, the band came up with the excellent “Mirrorball” a couple of years ago and now is about to unleash the bombastic “Viva Hysteria” which pretty much leaves its predecessor miles behind!
The occasion was the series of concerts that the band gave in Las Vegas a few months ago in which they presented the monumental “Hysteria” album in its entirety (thus the album’s title “Viva Hysteria”). Leps divided the show in two parts: in the first one, up on stage the fans were treated with a stunning performance by…Ded Flatbird which were really Def Leppard as the Ultimate Leppard Cover Band! And what they played on the first part so as to warm up the crowd…? You’d better sit down because the set list was cued out of the wildest dreams of the die hard Leppard fan! 7 tracks from “High N’ Dry”, 2 from “On Through The Night” and a few more from the band’s back catalogue. In one word…brilliant! Personally, I couldn’t help but getting chills on my spine upon the sheer listening of “Stagefright” that took me back to the classic VHS “In The Round In Your Face” and I must say that it perfectly fitted with “Mirror Mirror”.
In the second part, we got to listen to the main attraction of the evening, the hard rock milestone that goes by the name “Hysteria” plus 2 tracks from the sister record of “Pyromania”. We should note down right from the beginning that the sound is crystal clear while the band has made an obvious effort to keep the overall feeling of the album. In this direction, they have reserved intact the interlude of “Rocket” and the intros of “Gods of War” and “Excitable”. Joe Elliott’s reference to the mighty Steve Clark was not only fitting but it also reminded us how much we miss him.
Take my word for it; go out there and buy “Viva Hysteria”. It will be a point of reference in the year to come. Viva Hysteria, Viva Def Leppard!
Highlight: An one-armed drummer, a death and a cancer diagnosis…this is an Undefeated band!
