Def Leppard & Motley Crue & Steel Panther - 8th December 2011, Nottingham Arena

At long last us Brits have got us a mini tour of the UK of 2 of the greatest hard rock bands of the 80's. About time too. Now this was certainly going to be a hot ticket and as such within 48hrs all the standing tickets were sold out at Wembley Arena, hence my review from Nottingham. Having seen the Crue (albeit from a distance) in Toronto in June, I was determined to get near the front to experience a piece of their action. However before the main event there was 40 mins of Steel Panther. Now I've seen these guys twice before and I think they are a great band. Not only have they got great songs, but their onstage banter (between Michael Starr & Satchel) is extremely funny. Remember people rock concerts are meant to be fun! Having not got their latest album 'Balls Out', I was not familiar with their songs. However the pick of the new songs they played for me was 'Just Like Tiger Woods' and '17 Girls in a Row'. I will be certainly buying their album now. Of course they played favourites as 'Community Property' and ending with 'Death to all but Metal', with the imortal line, "where is Def Leppard, where is Motley Crue". Not everybody's cup of tea but certainly a good choice as support band. Check 'em out when they tour in March 2012.

Now how would Motley Crue compare to my Canadian review? Would they play a similar set? As in Toronto, the Crue hit the stage without a fanfare but with a mighty bang, ploughing straight into 'Wildside'. One again this was a greatest hit show. A shorter set than in Toronto (although still playing for 90mins) but with all the hits nonetheless. Vince Neil  does run about the stage a lot but lets the crowd sing a fair bit of the songs. Is it because he's forgotten the words, out of breath or his voice is not the same as it was 30years ago? You decide. Nikki Sixx still looks menacing as he commands the stage. Mick Mars stays in the shadows but his guitar playing is phenominal. He does speak later on only to apologise for his poor guitar sound. Tommy Lee is still like an excitable puppy, not surprising as he has brought his rollercoster drum kit over. Apart from the drum solo and guitar solo we also get explosions, video images, and a glittery grand piano used for the intro to 'Home Sweet Home". What about the songs? Well we get a good mix from all their albums including 2 songs from the underrated 'Saints of Los Angeles'. They eventually finish off with 'Kickstart My Heart'. Another memorable concert, much better than Toronto. The only drawback was that there were too long a gap between each song. I'm sure they could've squeezed an extra song in!

Now could Def Leppard follow that? I'm certainly a big Def Leppard fan but following the Crue their performance was certainly more safe & pedestrian. They had brought over their full American production and like the other bands they used full use of the stage included the added extension. They had the lights and video screens , but they were the only band to have their performance projected on the video screens. They started of with a new track 'Undefeated' from their lateat live album 'Mirrorball'. Next up was 'Rocket' which was 1 of 8 songs they played from 'Hysteria' album. 'Gods of War' was another song they played from that album. I haven't heard that in ages and forgotten how good it was. They slowed things down with a couple of accoustic numbers, 'Two Steps Behind' and 'Bringin on the Heartbreak' which they played at the front of the stage. Both Viv Campbell & Phill Collen's guitar playing was spot on. Later on when Joe Elliott anounced it was Phil's birthday, he lead the crowd to a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. The hits kept coming, 'Make Love like a Man', 'Animal' & finally ending with 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'. 1 encore followed with the show finishing with 'Lets Get Rocked'.
This package was certainly value for money and we should have more arena tours like this for 2012. Now I wish Poison make it over to the UK for a long overdue tour!

Motley Crue setlist:  'Wildside', 'Saints of Los Angeles', Live Wire', 'Shout at the Devil', 'Same Ol Situation', 'Primal Scream', 'Home Sweet Home', 'Looks That Kill', 'Dr Feelgood', 'Muthafu**ker of the Year', 'Girls Girls Girls', 'Smokin In the Boys Room', 'Kickstart My Heart'.

Def Leppard setlist: 'Undefeated', 'Rocket', 'Action', 'Make Love Like a Man', 'Let it Go', 'When Love & Hate Collide', 'Women', 'Gods of War', ' Two Steps Behind', 'Bringin on the Heartbreak', 'Switch 625', 'Hysteria', 'Armageddon It', 'Animal', 'Photograph', 'Pour Some Sugar on Me', 'Love Bites', 'Lets Get Rocked'.