06/01/03 Tulsa OK Review

From: "Chris Moore"

My review of last night's show (Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, OK, June 1st, 2003):

I got there just in time to hear the sound check.
They were switching back and forth between Let It Go,
Slang and other songs. I didn't hear them do any
complete songs, it's like they'd just do a verse of
something here and there. I was in the convention
center lobby and it was so loud that the lights and the doors were vibrating.

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but opening
act Ricky Warwick got started about 7:15 so they
kicked it off early. He was very good, doing almost
half an hour of acoustic Irish rock. I will probably
get his album when it comes out in July. After
he was done I actually got a chance to meet him
because he came out and sat down by the sound man
which is right by where my seat was. I shook his hand
and got his autograph, he seems like a friendly guy.
I think I started a trend because I went up there and
5 more people went up there after me, and 2 of them
asked if they could borrow my pen!! Vivian came on
during and did one song with him (3 sides to every
story), which I thought was very cool.

Def Leppard came on about 8:20, they started out
playing We will rock you and rock and roll part 2 and
then the lights went dark and they played
"disintegrate" over the speakers as the band came out
and the curtain dropped, revealing Rick's drums and
the backdrop, a giant black and white X which of
course is the cover of the new album. With a bunch of
blinking blue lights and stuff going off they started
off with Let It go, and went all the way through the
first 5 tracks of the high and dry album!!! The
overload during Another Hit and Run almost gave me a
heart attack. I headbanged so hard I got dizzy and
fell down during High 'N' Dry (Saturday Night) it was
funny!!!!!!!! Of course all the lighters were flying
for bringing on the heartbreak, very well performed,
done "as is" rather than half acoustic as they've
done many times on past tours. The lighting during
"Switch 625" was extremely psychedelic and I was very
impressed with it.

They then went through Foolin', Make Love Like A Man,
and Hysteria. After all that they started with stuff
from the new album. They dedicated long long way to
go to the families of people serving in Iraq which I
thought was very cool. It was a good tasteful way to
acknowledge the troops while still keeping their real
political opinions to themselves, and Joe even said
when he introduced it that the song was "not a
commentary on whether the war is right or wrong, but
it's just for the families of people over there."
They did Four Letter Word and the whole arena
jumped up and down at once!!!! They did promises
after that and I had to sit down and rest but the
crowd responded really well to it and they kept
jumping up and down.

Joe got out his acoustic guitar and sang the first
verse of "Sweet Home Alabama" which I thought was
totally awesome and then went into Two Steps Behind.
Of course they did Now, the first single from the
album, which came across much better as a live song
than I expected to. It's not my favorite track from
the new album but performed live it came across
extremely well.

They did Women after that and during the first verse
Joe dropped the microphone and it made a loud pop but
the audience kept the song going. I had worked my way
to about 4 rows back by then and I was close enough
by then to see their facial expressions. Poor Phil
was trying hard to keep playing without busting out
laughing, it was FUNNY!!!!!!!!

They sang Rocket after that and they had the long
psychedelic guitar solo, and Joe sang a verse of "My
generation" before the song was over. They did
Photograph and Animal back to back, and they sound
really good together I think!!! They did Armageddon
it and Pour Some Sugar on Me of course. He introduced
Rick Allen and he got a standing ovation, and he
introduced Rock of Ages, which they ended with. A
couple minutes later they came back out and did the
encore.

In the encore they did Love Bites and Lets get
rocked, both of which sound really good live. The
lighters flew all the way through Love Bites, and
they ended the show with Lets Get Rocked.
Overall I was really happy to see a good mix of old
stuff as well as plenty of stuff from the new album.
They did 3 X songs and they did the entire "first
side" of the high and dry record. It's well worth the
fairly steep 40 dollar price tag, I highly recommend
you catch them if you can!! That was my big complaint
on the Euphoria tour, it was an awesome performance
in Columbia MD (9/22/2000) but the only song they did
from the Euphoria album was Promises and I wanted to
hear more stuff from it!! I mean that's the POINT of
touring, to promote the NEW RECORD!!!!!

I was also a bit upset that I paid 30 dollars for a
baseball cap, but on the same token it's a REALLY
NICE CAP!!!! All elastic all the way around,
embroidered design, the works!!!

To recap here's their setlist:

Let it Go
Another Hit And Run
Saturday Night (High 'N' Dry)
Bringing on the Heartbreak
Switch 625
Foolin'
Make Love Like A Man
Hysteria
Long Long Way to Go
Four Letter Word
Promises
Two Steps Behind
Now
Women
Rocket
Photograph
Animal
Armageddon It
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Rock of Ages
Love Bites
Let's Get Rocked
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