Thanks for the update!

Another minor update, according to Phil Collen's wife (of all people), the re-issue is due out this summer.

On a side note, they've decided to release "It's All About Believin'" as a single. Pointless as it's not a brilliant song and Mirrorball is coming up to a year old. They could have written and recorded a couple of new ones in that time.

Have you read Vivian and Phil's fb walls? There's some entertaining tidbits and I can't fathom how Vivian is still in the band.

No, I don't do Facebook anymore.

What makes you say that about Viv?

They get pretty snarky at people from time to time when the same question is asked over and over. Phil recently lost it on someone bitching about the lack of new music. Vivian...I just get the feeling he's the last to know about everything and he complains with the fans about the last decades albums style. It just feels like everyone in that band is on a different page.

I'm inclined to agree with Vivian then. There have been some nuggets scattered among the releases, but songs written entirely by outsiders, songs and strategies that directly rip from a more successful peer, rehashing old hits.... I do expect better and know they are capable.

Anybody listen to Manraze' Low?

I've had that impression actually, come to think of it. Each member of the band seem to give off different and sketchy information regarding new releases, etc.

The lack of new music bothers me as well. Just 2 studio albums in the last decade? Really? Even during their "dark" period in the 90's they were still consistent and active with writing/recording. Rather than constantly touring America co-headlining with other (hate using this term) "has-beens", they could have easily knocked out a few more albums and maintain some sort of vision and direction with their writing. The reason I say that is we waited 6 years for Sparkle Lounge and whilst it was decent listening for the most part, it just seemed like a bunch of random ideas and cast-offs thrown together. Compare this to Slang, Euphoria and even X which sound like much fuller albums. Plus the new songs on Mirrorball were very uninspired.

I'd forgotten about the studio tracks on Mirror Ball. Utter crap. Should have been more live songs in their place.

I did like Undefeated to be fair, particularly when they opened with it live. Though as a hardcore fan I probably shouldn't. The other two were quite lame.

I've never bothered to check out Manraze. Silly question but how do they differ from Def Leppard?

I really recommend checking out Phil and Viv's FB page for the questions they answer. Phil finally drops cocky "We're the best band in the world" garbage and flat out says no one gives a shit about their new material. To the point where they don't want to make another album. Vivian and Phil are not on the same page at all.

I follow both Phil and Viv and don't know what you're talking about them being on "different page". Phil has said that they don't want to release a whole album of new music as it won't sell, but they're thinking about releasing new material digitally a few songs at a time. I haven't seen anything from Viv to contradict that. Viv just likes to get out and play, and he's playing with all these different bands around the world. Phil doesn Manraze, Joe has Down'n'Outs... I don't see what the fuss is about.

Ice

"Hi Viv! Sad to hear Phil Collen say that Def Leppard have decided to not make anymore studio albums. How does that feel, as an creative artist, to be in such a band? Or do you all agree?"

"I'm not certain that we're all on the same page as regards that."

I realize nothings set in stone but here and there Viv mentions that he agrees with the fans the next album should be far more raw and rock and complains he doesn't have the loudest voice in the band.

I don't think he complains, but he's just being realistic. He's the "new guy" and Joe and Phil (and I'm sure Sav to some extent) are the ones driving the Leppard ship. As to them making a new album, all we've heard is Phil saying he'd like to do songs in batches of two or three and release them digitally. I think that would be wise in the current situation, but I've no idea on what the others think.

But I still don't think there's any problems between the members, it's just normal banter between tours when they're not discussing with each other face to face.

Ice

Vivian now reckons the Slang reissue won't be out til later in the year.

http://www.deflepparduk.com/2012newsjun37.html

http://www.deflepparduk.com/2012newsjun38.html

Kind of expected this seeing as they're putting finishing touched to an old Christmas song they originally started work on during those sessions.

Oh and they've released re-recorded versions of "Rock of Ages" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" this week.

Thanks for the news.

I did see the mention of the re-records. What's the point?

I know, waste of studio time really. They should be recording new songs instead.

The point? Rock Of Ages movie in theatres, another nostalgia NA tour (with Lita Ford and Poison) in support of the movie (or rather vice versa?) and their only possibility how to release the songs on itunes since they haven't find a way to get the original songs from their former record company...

I love DL, they were an amazing band once but they're totally destroying their legacy now. On the other hand, even if I don't like those nostalgia co-headlining tours (they're not friends, they just know that each band is not able to sell out even smaller arenas on its own and it gives them another reason to play 90min shows full of songs from Pyro-Hyst-Adre time), I'd love to see both Poison and Def Leppard once. And such double show would be a great solution for me because it'd mean just one ticket and one journey to and from the show. I need to hear Hysteria live. One of the best songs in history () ((and this one pleasee ))

Another update on Slang... :D

http://www.deflepparduk.com/2012newsaug130.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ear...romance-357344

This is a good interview regarding the re-recordings.

I understand why they're doing it, but I probably won't be buying them.

Ice

I understand it too, but it doesn't stop them (the re-recordings) from being pointless.

Hysteria 2013 has now been released.

As with PSSoM and RoA 2012, largely identical to the original album version.

I havent heard this yet, if its identical i dont think i'll bother buying it.

Speaking of Def Leppard, they finally played a worthwhile setlist in Vegas:

Good Morning Freedom
Wasted
Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
Foolin'
Promises
When Love and Hate Collide
Let It Go
Slang
Bringin' on the Heartbreak
Switch 625

Hysteria Live:
Women
Rocket
Animal
Love Bites
Pour Some Sugar on Me
Armageddon It
Gods of War
Don't Shoot Shotgun
Run Riot
Hysteria
Excitable
Love and Affection

Encore:
Rock of Ages
Photograph

Great bunch of songs, but woah, talk about being 'nostalgic'! JBJ would never do something like this.. ONE song from 1999, ONE from 1995, and all the rest from the 80's/70s.

And they're not afraid to do so! Respect? Or desperation?

Still all great tunes though, but what's the point in them still recording new music if they are never going to play it live?

Andi

Yeah it would be nice if they had squeezed in a track from SFTSL and a track from X. But maybe they will in subsequent days.

And there is nothing wrong with nostalgia :)

Cool (if random!) set list. They did hint at doing tracks from the first album and I'm glad they dug "Slang" out as well.

That actually is damn good set. Some other band(s) should look, listen & learn. Everything doesn't have to be on-the-day. Quite the opposite. Paying tribute to ones past is not all about turning ones back to present, it's about new generation of fans as well.

I never thought I'd see/hear this happen. When they did Don't Shoot Shotgun on the Hysteria tour... they were lazy about that intro and opted to just skip right over it and go into the first verse. They really do it justice here!

This. Just because a band can keep releasing new albums doesn't mean the band cannot revisit the past.

One of the reasons I have only seen Def Leppard live twice in the past 12yrs as opposed to Jovi's 16 times is the fact that the setlists are so predictable and too heavily focused on the past. I Love the music, don't get me wrong, but if they don't play a decent chunk of new material on each tour then what is the point, it's just going to be a repeat.
I want to hear the new material too, it keeps it interesting. I want them to be proud and not afraid to show of their work. I saw them on the sparkle lounge tour and it was 2 new songs of the album plus an old setlist they have played a 100 times.

Bon jovi certainly pick the wrong setlist, but at least each tour, and even nights within the tour they mix it up, in addition to usually around 5 new songs, they play an almost career spanning set.

Andi

Aloha !

I've read other Def Leppard fans say the same thing and complain about Def Leppard's stale setlist many times. However, would it have been different if they'd have focussed on the past but would have selected different songs from their back catalogue?

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

When it comes to Bon Jovi, for someone who has seen them several times, there's generally no more than 2 songs in the set that are something less predictable. And when tour goes on, even those two turn to predictable.

No. What would be exciting is for different back catalog songs thrown in with good focus on the new album songs. I've saw them twice in the last decade because of this. I actually had an excellent show in 2002 on the X tour with the kind of setlist I wanted, but it was the last of such shows. The last time I saw them was ridiculous.. even playing Mirror Mirror did not make up for it and I walked out during the encore. I don't walk out of shows.

Rush serves up a shining example of exactly how to do it. Their sets are made up of a good chunk of the latest album along with well known classics and obscure album tracks. Just look at the Clockwork Angels setlist. Their setlists are pretty static! When they toured doing the entire Moving Pictures album... it was done with that focus while still doing obscure material from throughout their history (which is precisely the model Def Leppard is currently following.) So if Bon Jovi were to do it.. it's fine to do a tour that celebrates Slippery When Wet or New Jersey by doing the entire album.. but NOT on a new album tour. It would have to be a separate tour.

Nope. Even though this is not a bon jovi setlist thread, which has been discussed a million times on here before, I can look at the setlist from, say, a Dublin show of each tour from These Days right up to 2011, and the setlist is significantly different each time. Even between the two back to back shows in 2011, totally different sets. Some lousy choices and/or performances of course, but this band do (at least more than DL) attempt to represent their entire career catalogue across a tour- with the exception of 7800 of course :(! - I'm talking about mixing sets up, not playing rarities btw.

As for Sebby there;
Meh, not really, but that's just me. I like hearing new fresh songs by a band I that I am seeing live who I have seen several times before. That ''current'' feeling, knowing that your listening to a current song, written recently by the artist in front of you is a good vibe. The song might suck of course, but I still find it exciting. That is why I like watching support bands too, or when an artist I like says they are going to play a brand new song I haven't heard, I am very interested and usually would take this over a song I've seen them perform countless times before.

I love a bit of nostalgia, don't get me wrong - but the reason I probably won't be going to see bands like Aerosmith or Leppard again for example is that I have seen them already and could probably predict 95% of the set, and I know they won't be playing any of the newer stuff, especially once that tour is over. I Liked 'Just push play' and 'Songs from the sparkle lounge'' for example, but it sucks that it's pretty unlikely I will see the songs live at a new gig.

Andi

They did play songs from the new albums - before they had to do double-headlining. During Slang tour, they played 4 Slang songs when I caught them. Euphoria, same thing Ditto for X tour. That's a good amount to represent the new album. I don't want to hear more than 5 new songs in a show. Bon Jovi and Iron Maiden, which are two of my favorite bands are the worst in this - let's face it, none of their recent albums are classics, so goddamn play more songs from your history (excluding the hits that should be played anyway), you have at least 10 studio albums! ****ing Maiden toured AMOLAD playing every snooze inducing songs from that album and ****ing Bon Jovi played 8 HAND songs and didn't play BOBITA. Those suck balls. I understand you need to promote the new albums but that's overkill.

Anyway back to Def Leppard, after X tour, they started doing those double headlining shows and that's when the setlist started to suffer. I think they played max 2 songs out of YEAH and 2 (or max 3 songs) for SFTSL. Way too few. I used to say they caught the Poison setlist disease. But maybe that has something to do with the shortened time - they did double headlining after all. BJ never had to suffer through that.

This LV residency is focused on Hysteria. The first part of the set is just a bonus and they've done well busting out old songs including Good Morning Freedom (come on, in BJ history that's like busting out Love Is War).

I'm good with bands touring and playing full albums as long as it's their classic albums. I am totally against bands touring and playing 2/3 or the entire new album. That is just shit.

Ha, we are very different it seems, which is fine. And ''Matter of life and death'' is actually by favourite Iron Maiden Album as a whole, so I was ecstatic at that setlist on the tour, as I have seen Maiden several times before and this was a new experience plus I loved the songs.

But yeah, you raised a good point re: these co-headlining tours being part of the problem for DL. Both times I saw them they were 'sharing' (still as headliner..) the bill with first Whitesnake/Alice Cooper and on the second show Journey.

Andi

You must've enjoyed that AMOLAD show then, good on you. I absolutely hated it. Not a big fan of the album either - was very happy with BNW and DOD, not happy with AMOLAD.

I also caught the DL double headlining, with Whitesnake, but I went because I wanted to see Whitesnake not DL.

Hopefully DL can headline again in the future. Or if they want doubleheadlining, just tour with Bon Jovi. That would be a great tour if they each play their full set.

I don't get how playing 8 songs of a new album in that album's tour is overkill and it isn't overkill when they play the same greatest hits songs since they've been released. I'm totally in if a band is playing new songs, that's what makes it interesting to see them several times and it's what makes you know that you'll hear the new songs live and they won't be just forgotten in time.

According to this, it looks like the Viva Hysteria shows from earlier this year will be put together for a DVD!

http://www.deflepparduk.com/2013newsjul141.html

Thanks for the heads up, Dave! I had been following that site during the Viva Hysteria shows. They did announce they were filming at the time. I do hope they wind up releasing the entire show or what would be equal to one between the two filmed shows with the different songs. One of the nights they filmed they opened with "On Through the Night" unless I am mistaken.

Looks like Don't Shoot Shotgun is now getting played in the sets out in Europe now. Nice!