Review & setlist: Rock legends Def Leppard proved the show must go on at Fenway Park
The band turned the spotlight on Aerosmith during a touching dedication.
Everyone knew Fenway Park would host one of the summer’s biggest singalongs on Monday night as Def Leppard, Journey, and the Steve Miller Band took the iconic stage during The Summer Stadium Tour 2024. But it turns out the audience played a much bigger role than expected.
When an upper respiratory infection threatened Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott’s vocals, he asked for singing help from the audience and thanked everyone for hanging in there during what he called “one of the strangest gigs I’ve ever done.”
Audience participation for one of the best-selling music artists of all time — the band has sold more than 110 million albums worldwide — was not a tall order. The multi-generational crowd sang and sang loudly, even taking over the chorus entirely for the band’s 1981 hit “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.”
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“None of us are stupid out there. We all know that there’s something not quite right with my voice tonight,” Elliott told Boston fans. “I got an upper respiratory infection about 30 hours ago and we’ve done everything we can. The doctors — fantastic doctors here — tried to sort me out but it didn’t quite work. So I thought, ‘What do we do? Do we cancel or do we give it a go?’ And f*** it, we’re going to try.”
Def Leppard did more than try. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, who have been entertaining audiences since 1977, delivered a solid performance of ’80s rock energy despite the setback even as Elliott eased off the vocals at times and let the crowd fill in the gaps. Hit after hit filled the warm night air at a festive Fenway Park as fans belted out ’80s staples such as “Love Bites,” “Hysteria,” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
The night included several songs off the band’s 1983 Pyromania album — which sold 10 million copies in the U.S. — in celebration of its 40th anniversary, including “Foolin’,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Photograph.”
Def Leppard also turned the spotlight on the Boston-based Grammy Award-winning band Aerosmith during a touching song dedication. Aerosmith announced its retirement on Friday, saying legendary frontman Steven Tyler’s larynx has been compromised and a full recovery is not possible.
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Before dedicating the song “This Guitar,” off Def Leppard’s 12th and latest studio album “Diamond Star Halos,” Elliott said the following: “Ironically and coincidentally, as we are in Boston, we’d like to dedicate this song to Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford, Joe Perry, and Steven Tyler. So let’s wish them well for the rest of their lives and thank them for over 50-plus years of f****** amazing music from one of the greatest American rock bands of all time.”
Elliott, who turned 65 on Thursday, told Dana Carvey and David Spade during the duo’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast on Wednesday that “the one thing this band will never be is a nostalgia act.”
Sure, Def Leppard faithfully performs the hits of decades past, but it is a band that’s also very focused on the present, he said. The band released a new album in 2022, has 15 million followers across its social media platforms, and boasts 6 billion streams since 2018, according to its website, which also noted that the 18-44 demographic now represents 58 percent of its fanbase. “Switch 625,” played Monday night, is featured on the popular Netflix show “Cobra Kai.”
No one could dispute the work ethic of all three bands on the bill at Fenway on Monday night, bands that have lasted for generations.
Journey, formed in 1973, is now headed up by Arnel Pineda, who slayed hit after hit before thousands of eagerly singing fans. The high-energy Filipino singer, who joined Journey in 2007 after the band discovered him on YouTube, brought an infectious joy to his performance as he took audiences through some of Journey’s biggest hits such as “Faithfully,” “Open Arms,” and “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
The Steve Miller Band, founded by its namesake in 1966, also had folks singing to well-delivered hits like “Take the Money and Run,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” and “The Joker.”
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