REVIEW: Def Leppard – Los Angeles 1992 (bootleg)

Gifted to me by the notorious Aaron of the KMA!

DEF LEPPARD – Los Angeles 1992 (Red Line bootleg CD)

It’s the Seven Day Weekend tour!  Def Leppard brought back the “in the round” stage concept from their previous tour and played a set of hits with a few deeper cuts.  This audience recorded bootleg captured the Los Angeles date permanently.

Wasting no time, it’s straight into the first single “Let’s Get Rocked”.  I have never particularly felt this song was as strong as past efforts, but Def Leppard had overcome such tragedy.  I was willing to forgive them for painting by numbers a bit with the new songs.  One thing apparent on a bootleg with no post-production sweetening:  Def Leppard’s vocals are 100% live.

Right into something better, it’s “Tear It Down”, better because it’s originally a B-side from the inspired Hysteria sessions.  Speaking of Hysteria, onto “Women”!  You can hear that new guitarist Vivian Campbell fit right in, seamlessly.  A couple seriously great tunes follow — “Too Late for Love” from Pyromania and Hysteria‘s title track.  Two of Leppard’s most accomplished singles.  Slower, ballady, and not at all weak.  “Hysteria” live begins just a little differently, but quickly becomes familiar and authentic.

I never cared for “Make Love Like a Man”, but it’s a temporary speedbump before a deeper track.  “White Lightning”, the tribute to the late Steve “Steamin'” Clark is very hard to find live.  This is the first version I’ve owned.  It’s every bit as epic as it deserves to be.  The stone cold classic “Foolin'” follows, and the Los Angeles crowd goes nuts when the track explodes.  They are just as excited for “Animal”, sounding brilliant in live form, although hampered on audio by a loud talker in the crowd.  New guy Vivian Campbell gets a big showcase solo next.  I’m sure this show is edited down to fit on CD, since Phil usually gets a big solo too.*  Viv’s is impressive and he gets to show off his shred a little bit, though his solo is more of an instrumental composition that sounds delightfully Vai-ish.

Another big epic, “Gods of War” from Hysteria is a serious thrill and chill.  Say what you will about Leppard’s more pedestrian material.  When they wanted to do something a little more challenging, they nailed it.  A big long version of “Rocket” including the “Whole Lotta Love” segue closes the CD prematurely, which is a shame, and one can hope that the second half of the set was issued elsewhere.

4/5 stars

*Here is the full setlist that night according to setlist.fm:

  • Let’s Get Rocked
  • Tear It Down
  • Women
  • Too Late for Love
  • Hysteria
  • Make Love Like a Man
  • Guitar Solo (Phil Collen)
  • White Lightning
  • Foolin’
  • Animal
  • Guitar Solo (Vivian Campbell)
  • Gods of War
  • Rocket (
  • Acoustic Medley Section
    Enter Sandman (Metallica cover) (Vivian)
    Back in Black (AC/DC cover) (Phil)
    Tonight (acoustic)
    You Can’t Always Get What You Want (The Rolling Stones cover) (acoustic)
    Bringin’ on the Heartbreak (acoustic/electric)
  • Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
  • Armageddon It
  • Rock of Ages
  • Pour Some Sugar on Me
  • Encore:
    Love Bites
    Photograph

29 comments

  1. “Make Love Like a Man” makes me understand why people switched to grunge. Then I hear this and I’m confused again.

    Connective aside. I bought Pixies debut EP today entitled Come On Pilgrim, which I keep misremembering as Come On Me Pilgrim because that’s how my mind works. After listening I promptly returned it. Haha. How did they ever get big? I saw the critics praising it, but it was horrible. Out of tune vocals, shitty playing, bad sound, disorganized arrangements, it gave me a headache.

    I’ve now come to the conclusion that everything good about Shitvana came from R.E.M., and everything else came from Pixies. Shitxies?

    A cool score though was the long out of print The Gold Experience by Prince on CD for $6. Stellar price, fetched way more online and in store usually. My Prince collection is pretty damn stellar. Wasn’t trying, it just sort of built up and I just recognized that it was pretty good. But the best is the one I emailed you about. It took my breath away.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I’m curious about your Prince collection. You go on Wikipedia and see just how damn extensive it is. I remember playing Emancipation in the store when it came out. Kind of a big deal to have a 3 CD new album. And then he went and did a 4 CD one next.

      Not really all that into the Pixies. Just not my thing I guess. Maybe I’m averse to the worship that is so common.

      Like

      Reply

    1. I am kicking myself for not buying a Lep bootleg at one of the first record shows I ever attended. I remember it had Frank Noon on drums and must have been a bunch of their earliest material.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I caught this tour twice. Oct 92 was in Winnipeg and early November it was Duluth. Great show and of course they had the In The Round thing going on.
    One thing they did not do was that whole acoustic mid set cover set. They did do Bringing On The Heartbreak acoustically so kinda but I don’t recall those covers being played at either show I attended.
    Great writeup

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I think that setlist with the covers might have been very short lives on stage. I sure don’t remember ever hearing about them.

      Thanks man! I enjoyed this one a lot and thanks to Mr. Books it’s mine now.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. What confused me about that song was the credits — Phil Collen on “Cockney rhyming rap”. I’m still not 100% sure I understand that.

      Worth it for White Lightning!

      Like

      Reply

        2. At least he got to do his wee strut in the video.

          I actually did zone out from Lep in this era. Retro Active won me back. And then I taped a late night interview with Joe Elliot that showed all the Adrenalize promo vids and I just watched it over and over until I was hooked. Now I’ve got a real soft spot for that album. It’s got heart. And some of their best stuff on there. Tonight, Stand Up, White Lightning.

          Like

    1. It was a big hit Geoff — as you probably know since you became a fan right around the time it was a single!

      I don’t mind the song. I generally leave ballads off my lists but I will admit to singing along!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. I’m still upset they never released a live version of “White Lightning” yet, not even on the deluxe version of ‘Adrenalize.’ I’m with you on “Make Love Like a Man,” I liked it at first, but then I got sick of it months later. Especially when Joe does the “better” long note in the end, I always worry he’s going to hurt his voice and he almost did at the 1999 gig in Tokyo.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. You gotta admit, Joe’s voice has aged well compared to other singers at least. Maybe we’ll be lucky and get a live version of “White Lightning” one day. At least they are not afraid of releasing old concerts.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Ah, he quit smoking, interesting. Well you can hear the difference if that is the case.

          LOL I was in first year university when Adrenalize came out. I’d never waited 5 years between albums for any band before. They were my favourite band through most of highschool. Kiss WERE my favourite band but in the late 80s, Kiss were…not very good! LOL

          Liked by 1 person

        2. Smoking plays a huge difference, try listen to Brian Johnson’s vocals in the 80s and how he sounded in like 1995 and onwards. Brian is still awesome though.

          Lucky for me, I never experienced waiting that long for albums because I got into bands late lol! I never got into Kiss mostly cause of how unpredictable Gene Simmons can be.

          Liked by 1 person

        7. Justin Bieber and his wife lives about 20 minutes away from my place. Or at least. they have a home 20 minutes away. I’m sure he has more than one home. His parents are 35 minute in the other direction. Radio stations here do “Bieber sightings” when he’s in town.

          Liked by 1 person

Rock a Reply