Concert Flashback: Def Leppard

93defleppardA mere month after the Bon Jovi show, the group got back together and headed to the World Music Theatre to see Def Leppard and Ugly Kid Joe.  While I don’t remember anything about this, school would have been back in session, so Scott and I would have had to drive up from college for the weekend in order to attend this show.  While Def Leppard was certainly the draw, I would be lying if I said seeing Ugly Kid Joe wasn’t an added bonus.  Sadly, lead singer Whitfield Crane had other plans and managed to get himself arrested the night before in Columbus, Ohio after allegedly encouraging the crowd to attack the security guards.  Of course, we were not aware of this until we showed up to the World.

So, two members of local band Enuff Z’nuff were recruited to open the show with what I remember being an acoustic set.  To this day, I can’t name an Enuff Z’nuff song, so I can’t say that they made much of an impression.  The Internet tells me that they may have done a cover of the Beatles Revolution.

My main memory of the Def Leppard portion of the show is lead singer Joe Elliot trying to curry favor with the crowd by wearing a Chicago Bulls t-shirt.  Judging by the setlist posted on the Interwebs, it was a pretty solid show, with all of their big hits being covered, including their latest from the Last Action Hero soundtrack.  Given my fandom for the band at the time, I’m glad I got the chance to see them live.  And, all these years later, I would rather have the story of Ugly Kid Joe missing the show than having actually seen them.