{"id":2715,"date":"2018-12-13T05:00:27","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:23:35","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T16:23:35","slug":"def-leppard-cheap-trick-cardiff-motorpoint-arena-4th-december-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=2715","title":{"rendered":"Def Leppard\/Cheap Trick \u2013 Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena \u2013 4th December 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s a staggering 32 years since Cheap Trick last played the capitol city of Wales, and whilst I\u2019ve seen the band a good few times since that Motley Crue support slot it was their return to Cardiff that meant for the first time in many a year I not only snapped up a ticket for this show in double quick time but I\u2019m also queuing early doors in the pouring rain outside one of my least favourite venues just to make sure I don\u2019t miss a note. Ever the fan boy eh!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad I did too because tonight really does belong to the boys from Rockford. Playing a tight and sadly shorter set than I\u2019ve come to expect from the band they still manage to change things around set list wise from the previous two nights (I just couldn\u2019t resist a sneaky peak online beforehand) slotting in the sublime \u2018Big Eyes\u2019 and a crowd pleasing \u2018The Flame\u2019 as tonight\u2019s curveballs around the rest of the set \u2013 which effectively plays out like a greatest hits of Cheap Trick.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The addition of Robin Zander\u2019s son Robin Zander Jnr on second guitar and backing vocals certainly adds a new dimension to the band, one which allows his father to make full use of the ego ramp and concentrate on hitting all the right notes, something the 65 year old still does with the utmost of ease. Whilst behind the kit Daxx Nielsen has become as much a feature of Cheap Trick these past seventeen or so years as the legendary Bun E Carlos. And whilst legendary is a term bandied around all to easily these days when it comes to songs like \u2018 If You Want My Love\u2019, \u2018I Want You To Want Me\u2019, \u2018Dream Police\u2019 and \u2018Surrender\u2019 right here in these four songs you have perhaps the very cornerstones of many a subsequent musical genres. Without this band there would certainly be no power pop, there would be no hair metal and perhaps maybe even no alt-rock or grunge so when Kliph Scurlock takes to the drums for a song tonight everything comes kinda full circle and I feel honoured to witness such a magical one-off event.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ending their ten song set with \u2018Goodnight Now\u2019 Rick Nielsen\u2019s ludicrous multi neck guitar once again makes a long overdue appearance on a Welsh stage before it\u2019s all over in the blink of an eye. Short and sweet this might have been but I adored every single sugar coated second of it, long may the Trick shine on.<\/p>\n

Having witnessed the tail end of Def Leppard\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary tour for the \u2018Hysteria\u2019 album at Hellfest five years ago I was certainly interested in seeing what the band might do to top that stealing performance this time around.<\/p>\n

Okay there\u2019s a few small changes \u2013 there\u2019s no Def Leppard supporting themselves \u201cdeep dive\u201d archive set to start things off, plus (and this bit does seem strange) there\u2019s no repeat of the intro film that they used to set the scene for what was about to follow, but what we do get tonight is the twelve song, bazillion copy selling, album played out in sequence in meticulous detail and boy does it sound good. How can you critique arena rock perfection? You can\u2019t, you just have to simply accept that songs like \u2018Animal\u2019, \u2018Armageddon It\u2019 and \u2018Gods Of War\u2019 (noticeably now devoid of the Mrs T outro speech) were written for \u201cSold Out\u201d nights like tonight and whatever you think of Def Leppard you cannot deny these guys have achieved a phenomenal amount in their time together as a band and tonight they have simply never looked happier \u2013 especially with the ecstatic crowd response.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Moving the \u201cdeep dive\u201d section to the encores (ah! I see what you did their guys) and noting that on previous nights classics like \u2018Wasted\u2019 and \u2018Let It Go\u2019 have been given an airing I have to admit that tonight\u2019s opening selection of \u2018Make Love Like A Man\u2019 \u2018When Love And Hate Collide\u2019 and \u2018Let\u2019s Get Rocked\u2019 kind of leave me feeling like I\u2019d been dealt a bum hand, I mean am I the only one who\u2019d have preferred to hear \u2018When Saturday Comes\u2019 at this point? Ha! Look, I\u2019ve still got the game changing \u2018Rock Of Ages\u2019 and the always awesome \u2018Photograph\u2019 so I\u2019m always going to leave here tonight with a smile on my face, just like pretty much everyone else, it\u2019s just that deep down inside I wish Da Lepps would have done a 35th<\/sup> year anniversary of the album those classics came from instead.<\/p>\n

Ah well, you can always dream\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Author:Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a staggering 32 years since Cheap Trick last played the capitol city of Wales, and whilst I\u2019ve seen the band a good few times since that Motley Crue support slot it was their return to Cardiff that meant for the first time in many a year I not only snapped up a ticket for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[465,874],"class_list":["post-2715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-cheap-trick","tag-def-leppard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2719,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions\/2719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}