def leppard world tour europe

Def Leppard And Mötley Crüe Announce 2023 U.S. Dates For ‘The World Tour’ Following Massively Successful North American Stadium Run

with Special Guest Alice Cooper

Hot off the heels of the biggest North American stadium tour of 2022 with more than 1.3 million tickets sold, the world’s most iconic and celebrated rock legends  Def Leppard and  Mötley Crüe  are going global in 2023 with their co-headline ‘The World Tour’ along with special guest Alice Cooper.  After the launch of European and Latin American dates, the U.S. dates have been announced today.

Produced by Live Nation, the U.S. leg of the world tour kicks off on August 5 th  in Syracuse, NY. The bands will bring their electrifying stage shows across America throughout the month of August including being the first ever show at the H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, OK. 

“After finally getting back on the road this past summer, we’re beyond thrilled to bring this massive tour to a global audience including some special dates in America!” said Joe Elliott of Def Leppard.

“We had an incredible time playing The Stadium Tour in North America this summer and we truly can’t wait to take the show around the globe with  The WORLD Tour  in 2023. Crüeheads get ready because we have a few amazing U.S. dates set for you!” Mötley Crüe said in a joint statement.

TICKETS:   Check local listings for complete details including VIP offerings. To purchase tickets please visit  motley.com  &  defleppard.com .

Citi is the official card of  ‘The World Tour’ . Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, December 13 th  at 10am local time until Thursday, December 15 th  at 10pm local time through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details visit  www.citientertainment.com . 

Tickets to the general public will go on sale on Friday, December 16 th  at 10am local time for all shows.

THE WORLD TOUR DATES: 

Saturday, August 5        Syracuse, NY                JMA Wireless Dome

Tuesday, August 8        Columbus, OH              Ohio Stadium

Friday, August 11          Fargo, ND                     Fargodome

Sunday, August 13        Omaha, NE                   Charles Schwab Field Omaha

Wednesday, August 16  Tulsa, OK                     H.A. Chapman Stadium

Friday, August 18          El Paso, TX                  Sun Bowl

CURRENTLY ON-SALE

Fri, Feb 10, 2023           Atlantic City, NJ                          Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena^

Sat, Feb 11, 2023         Atlantic City, NJ                        Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena^

Sat, Feb 18, 2023          Mexico City, Mexico                   Foro Sol

Tue, Feb 21, 2023         Monterrey, Mexico                     Estadio Banorte

Sat, Feb 25, 2023          Bogota, Colombia                      Parque Simon Bolivar

Tue, Feb 28, 2023         Lima, Peru                                Estadio Nacional

Fri, Mar 3, 2023             Santiago, Chile                          Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida

Tue, Mar 7, 2023          Sao Paulo, Brazil                       Allianz Parque

Mon, May 22, 2023        Sheffield, UK                             Bramall Lane

Thu, May 25, 2023         Mönchengladbach, Germany     SparkassenPark

Sat, May 27, 2023        Munich, Germany                      Koenigsplatz

Mon, May 29, 2023        Budapest, Hungary                    MVM Dome

Wed, May 31, 2023       Krakow, Poland                          TAURON Arena Kraków

Fri, Jun 2, 2023              Prague, Czech Republic            Prague Rocks *

Sat, Jun 3, 2023             Hannover, Germany                  Expo Plaza

Wed, Jun 7, 2023          Solvesborg, Sweden                  Sweden Rock Festival *

Fri, Jun 9, 2023              Hyvinkää, Finland                      RockFest *

Sun, Jun 11, 2023         Trondheim, Norway                   Trondheim Rocks *

Wed, Jun 14, 2023       Copenhagen, Denmark              COPENHELL *

Sun, Jun 18, 2023         Dessel, Belgium                         Graspop Metal Meeting *

Tue, Jun 20, 2023         Milan, Italy                                 Ippodromo SNAI San Siro

Fri, Jun 23, 2023           Lisbon, Portugal                         Passeio Maritimo de Alges

Sat, Jun 24, 2023          Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain          Auditorio Miguel Ríos

Tue, Jun 27, 2023         Thun, Switzerland                      Stockhorn Arena

Sat, Jul 1, 2023              London, UK                                Wembley Stadium

Sun, Jul 2, 2023             Lytham, UK                                Lytham Festival *

Tue, Jul 4, 2023                         Dublin, Ireland                            Marlay Park

Thu, Jul 6, 2023                         Glasgow, UK                              Hampden Park

^  no Alice Cooper

*  Festival Date

ABOUT THE BANDS:

With more than 110 million albums sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards in the U.S., 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® inductees Def Leppard – Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) — continue to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career the band has produced a series of classic ground-breaking albums that set the bar for generations of music fans and artists alike. The group’s spectacular live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading Def Leppard to be heralded as the world’s greatest live rock band. Def Leppard’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, capturing the group’s legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard hits such as “Rock of Ages”, Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Foolin.” For the first time, in January 2018 Def Leppard debuted their full recording catalogue worldwide via streaming and download platforms. As they did with the original release of their records, Def Leppard dominated the worldwide charts again, which found their albums charting in the iTunes Top 10 in more than 30 countries, including Hysteria at #3 in the US, and #5 in the UK (36 years after the album had charted at No 1 in the Billboard charts). Def Leppard also had the #1, #2 and #3 records on the US catalogue albums chart. The band have gone on to amass a staggering 5.5 billion streams since 2018, reaching a younger 18-44 demographic that now represents 58% of their fanbase. Additionally, the band have garnered an impressive 15 million followers across their social media platforms. In May 2022, Def Leppard released their twelfth studio album Diamond Star Halos. The album debuted at #1 on the Apple and Amazon Music charts. The album also scored a Top 10 debut on North America’s Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, marking the band’s eighth Top 10 album of their career, and garnered a #1 debut on Billboard’s Hard Rock chart. Diamond Star Halos had numerous Top 10 chart entries globally including a Top 5 debut in the UK. Following the close of their historic 2018 co-headline stadium and arena run in North America, Def Leppard sold in excess of 1,000,000 tickets and the tour grossed over $100,000,000.00, a massive feat in today’s touring world. Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe topped that number yet again with another sold out North American stadium run in 2022 selling over 1.3 million tickets which grossed a staggering $173,500,000.00. As always, the group keep pushing the boundaries with their electrifying live shows.

Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, the quartet —Vince Neil (vocals), Nikki Sixx (bass), Tommy Lee (drums) and Mick Mars (guitars) —  has commandeered the rock pantheon for 41 years. The band has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, garnered 7 USA platinum and multi-platinum albums, 22 Top 40 mainstream rock hits, 6 Top 20 pop singles, 3  Grammy  nominations, 5  New York Times  best-selling books, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a  Netflix  hit movie. Mötley Crüe continues touring the world with John 5 on guitar as they push the visual limits of live performance. 

Mötley Crüe  have amassed over 5 billion streams across digital platforms and the band has over 8 million followers on social media. Known for their iconic live performances, the band has sold-out countless tours across the globe in front of millions of fans with groundbreaking production highlights such as Tommy Lee’s drum-rollercoaster and Nikki Sixx’s flame-throwing-bass. They  pioneered the Las Vegas rock residency with a sold out run in 2012. Mötley Crüe’s hit songs  such as “Kickstart My Heart” and “Home Sweet Home” are frequently licensed by major brands such as  NASCAR, Dodge, Coldwell Banker, Carl’s Jr. and KIA  to name a few and their music can be heard on TV hit shows such as  Stranger Things  and  Cobra Kai  amongst many others.

The band’s biography “The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band” became a New York Times best-seller in 2001 and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Members of the band have authored 4 additional  New York Times  best-selling books since. In 2019 Netflix premiered “The Dirt” biopic based on the bestselling book which became a global hit movie scoring a 94% positive audience score on  Rotten Tomatoes . As a result, Mötley Crüe gained an entire new generation of young fans who discovered the band through the movie and further solidified their iconic status, relevance and the timelessness of their songwriting. 

Fans of the band are also able to buy/rent  The Retaliators  movie on VOD platforms now; Nikki Sixx co-wrote the haunting theme song “21 Bullets”and Tommy Lee makes a cameo appearance in the rock-infused thriller movie. For more info go to  www.retaliatorsmovie.com     

Mötley Crüe remains a huge global draw 41 years into their career and, in the summer of 2022 co-headlined a nearly sold out North American stadium tour with Def Leppard. The tour is set to travel to the rest of the world in 2023. 

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical brand of hard rock that was designed to shock audiences of all ages.  Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood and boa constrictors. He continues to tour regularly, performing shows worldwide with the dark and horror-themed theatrics that he’s best known for.

His 2021 album “Detroit Stories,” inspired by his hometown’s legacy of rock, debuted on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart at #1, and his recent “Live From The Astroturf” video/audio release recently did the same on the UK’s Official Music Video Chart.  

While preparing two new albums for 2023 release, Alice continues to do his nightly “Nights With Alice Cooper” syndicated radio show, and still manages to tour up to six months each year on the road.  Alice Cooper continues to bring his own brand of rock psycho-drama to fans both old and new, enjoying it as much as the audience does. Known as the architect of shock-rock, Cooper (in both the original Alice Cooper band and as a solo artist) has rattled the cages and undermined the authority of generations of guardians of the status quo, continuing to surprise fans and exude danger at every turn, like a great horror movie, even in an era where CNN can present real life shocking images.

BAND WEBSITES:

www.defleppard.com

www.motley.com

www.alicecooper.com

About Live Nation Entertainment

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit  www.livenationentertainment.com .

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Live Nation Concerts

Monique Sowinski |  [email protected]

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Motley Crue and Def Leppard Announce 2023 World Tour

Motley Crue and Def Leppard are going global with their wildly successful Stadium Tour, hitting Latin America and Europe in 2023.

The globe-trotting trek will begin on Feb. 18 in Mexico City and is currently scheduled to conclude on July 16 in Glasgow. You can see the full list of dates below.

"We had an incredible time playing the Stadium Tour in North America this summer and we truly can't wait to take the show around the globe with the World Tour in 2023," Motley Crue shared in a statement. "Crueheads in Latin America and Europe: Get ready!!"

Def Leppard's Joe Elliott added, "After finally getting back on the road and having a monumental summer tour in the U.S. and Canada this year, we're beyond thrilled to be bringing this massive stadium tour to major cities all over the world, and kicking off Europe in Sheffield where it all started for us 45 years ago. We're looking forward to seeing you out there somewhere soon!"

The Stadium Tour — which also featured Poison , Joan Jett and Classless Act — grossed over $173 million this summer and sold approximately 1.3 million tickets across 36 North American dates. It ranked as the biggest tour of any of the bands' respective careers, with a staggering average gross of $4.82 million per show. "Somebody said rock is dead," Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx said onstage at the Sept. 9 tour finale in Las Vegas. "They can suck my dick."

Motley Crue and Def Leppard 2023 World Tour Feb. 18 - Mexico City, Mexico Feb. 21 - Monterrey, Mexico Feb. 25 - Bogota, Colombia Feb. 28 - Lima, Peru March 3 - Santiago, Chile March 7 - Sao Paulo, Brazil March 9 - Curitiba, Brazil March 11 - Porto Alegre, Brazil May 22 - Sheffield, UK May 25 - Monchengladbach, Germany May 27 - Munich, Germany May 29 - Budapest, Hungary May 31 - Krakow, Poland June 2 - Prague, Czech Republic @ Prague Rocks * June 3 - Hannover, Germany June 7 - Solvesborg, Sweden @ Sweden Rock Festival * June 9 - Hyvinkaa, Finland @ RockFest * June 11 - Trondheim, Norway Trondheim Rocks * June 14 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Copenhell * June 18 - Dessel, Belgium @ Graspop Metal Meeting * June 20 - Milan, Italy June 23 - Lisbon, Portugal June 24 - Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain June 27 - Thun, Switzerland July 1 - London, UK July 2 - Lytham, UK @ Lytham Festival * July 4 - Dublin, Ireland July 6 - Glasgow, UK * Festival dates

Motley Crue Albums Ranked

More from ultimate classic rock.

DEF LEPPARD Announces Most Intimate Show Band Has Played In Europe In 35 Years

In what will be one of the live events of 2023, DEF LEPPARD is coming home. On the eve of the band's biggest-ever European tour and the launch of new album, "Drastic Symphonies" , DEF LEPPARD is set to play a one-off club show at the iconic Sheffield venue The Leadmill. The 850-capacity venue will be treated to a must-see performance from one of Britain's greatest-ever rock bands. It will be a huge night for fans of the band who get the chance to hear the band's extraordinary stadium-style catalog in a club setting. It will be the most intimate show the band has played in the U.K. or the rest of Europe in 35 years. The setlist will be for one night only — unique to this show and different to the setlist the band will play three days later, when they start the European tour at a sold-out Sheffield United's Bramall Lane on Monday, May 22.

DEF LEPPARD is looking to shine a light on The Leadmill, a vital part of the Sheffield and national U.K. music scene and is among many of the small U.K. music venues threatened with closure. Net proceeds from ticket sales from The Leadmill show will be donated to Music Venue Trust who diligently work to help struggling U.K. music venues.

DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott says: "Sheffield is in the very DNA of this band!

"We are ecstatic to be starting the European leg of our world tour at home at Bramall Lane!

"When thinking of a warm-up, it made sense to do a special set at The Leadmill, in the city where it all started.

"We know there are a lot of small music venues struggling across the U.K., so we wanted to give back to what gave to us.

"The net proceeds from the evening will go directly to Music Venue Trust in an effort to keep U.K. clubs alive…and to coincide with the release of our symphonic record, 'Drastic Symphonies' , on the 19th of May. It's all very special!"

Tickets for The Leadmill go on general sale at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, May 12. However, there is also a special pre-sale from 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 11. To get access to the pre-sale and improve your chances of getting tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime intimate performance, fans can pre-order a copy of "Drastic Symphonies" on any format from the official DEF LEPPARD U.K. store before 5:00 p.m. on May 10 to receive exclusive ticket pre-sale access. Please note pre-sale access does not guarantee tickets.

Can't make it to the gig? Tickets for a one-of-a-kind livestream are available now through Veeps .

May 2023 will see rock and classical royalty unite on a brand-new euphoric album titled "Drastic Symphonies" — DEF LEPPARD 's greatest produced tracks dramatically reimagined and sounding larger and more exhilarating than ever before, teamed with London's iconic Royal Philharmonic Orchestra .

DEF LEPPARD have deconstructed and rebuilt not only some of their most well-known tracks but also some of their hidden gems as well. By and large, they have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . The album includes new vocals and guitars which culminates in stunningly beautiful symphonic arrangements. At different points you can hear vocalist Joe Elliott dueting with his younger self.

Asked by BBC Radio 2 's "The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show" how the "Drastic Symphonies" project came about, Elliott said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET ): "We first discussed this — it was put on our plate by some grownups about four years ago. And, obviously, because we were touring, we were sidetracked. And then with the COVID, we did the new record [2022's 'Diamond Star Halos' ]… It's only nine months ago now [that it came out]. We were actually under the radar. We were in Abbey Road recording this record without telling anybody. So we had it ready to go the following year, which is now."

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road in March 2022. Produced by DEF LEPPARD , Ronan McHugh and Nick Patrick (producer of the following RPO /orchestral albums — Elvis , Roy Orbison , BEACH BOYS and Buddy Holly ) with arrangements by Eric Gorfain ( Neil Diamond , Ryan Adams , Christina Aguilera ).

Joe told "The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show" : "What we've done is we've reworked 16 of our most symphonic songs and done them with the Royal Philharmonic . We wanted to make sure that everybody knows this is not just the records from the past with an orchestra chucked on the top like icing on a cake. We took these songs all the way back to the beginning. I re-sang some of them, because the original vocals were out of place once you put an orchestra on it. So on one of the tunes, which is a song called 'Too Late For Love' , I did a duet with myself from 40 years ago. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever done. But it was great fun. The timing and the phrasing came to me instantly — it's like it never left my DNA — but it was one of the strangest things I've ever done. It was like singing with a ghost that's still alive, if that makes any sense."

Elliott added: "Yeah, it turned out really, really well. We're very happy with it. And to be putting out this record only nine months after 'Diamond Star Halos' , it just shows there's a forward momentum, not just from a touring point of view, but from a career point of view. We are always looking to just keep moving forward and doing something different."

When "Drastic Symphonies" was first announced earlier in March, Elliott said in a statement: " DEF LEPPARD has always enjoyed veering off the expected path — working with the likes of Tim McGraw , Taylor Swift and Alison Krauss , for example. So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, to a man we all jumped at it. Although we're far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up."

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen added: "When the offer of doing an orchestral album with the RPO was suggested, we were honored. But we didn't just want an orchestra plonked over our previous recordings. We decided to create something special where we would have something classic but present it in a brand new way that would involve making everything work in the context of 'Drastic Symphonies' . Recording new parts, remixing previous sounds, taking some of our instruments out so the orchestra could breathe and literally making a new album. It was an amazingly inspirational process culminating in the live recording of the RPO at Abbey Road studios in London. An absolute team effort that took a good part of a year. It's a new DEF LEPPARD album, it's a greatest-hits-plus album, with some rarely heard songs, it's a live RPO album and we think it's perfect. We're so proud of how 'Drastic Symphonies' turned out and can't wait to share it to the world."

Photo credit: Ross Halfin (via SpinLab Communications )

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Def Leppard confirm Stadium Tour will come to Europe

Joe Elliott says plans to bring The Stadium Tour to Europe in 2023 are being finalised, but it's definitely on

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott has conformed that the much-heralded Stadium Tour will come to Europe next summer. 

"I can’t reveal when or where it will happen because I haven’t been told that it’s okay to say anything yet," he tells us. "But the second that information is cleared, Classic Rock will know about it."

“One gig is absolutely confirmed so far, and we’re looking at a second one in a different city. There will be another in Dublin, and loads around Europe. Some of them will just be festivals [with different bands], but others will be what we’re currently doing here in North America."

The Stadium Tour – which also features Motley Crue , Poison, Joan Jett and Classless Act – kicked off at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA, on June 16, and has since visited Miami Gardens, Orlando, Washington D.C., New York City and Philadelphia. The next scheduled stop is at the Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on June 28.

Elliott mentioned the possibility of European dates in an interview with Germany's Radio 21 back in April, saying "I can't give you a specific date or dates, but we are bringing this tour – god willing – to Europe in 2023."

The previous month, he told Rolling Stone , "this stadium tour is potentially going to run for three years all over the world," opening up the possibility of dates in South and Central America, Asia and Oceania, in addition to Europe. 

Def Leppard have been documenting their experience on tour by releasing a series of videos, including one shot at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in which Elliott performs an acoustic version of The Beatles ' I've Just Seen A Face as a tribute to Paul McCartney on his 80th birthday. 

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"I took it upon myself to try and play I Just Saw A Face [sic] by The Beatles," says Elliott, "and I completely bollocked it up. I couldn't remember the words. I forgot the chords. I wouldn't have passed the audition for America's Got Talent , put it that way."

The stadium tour continues. Full dates below. 

The Stadium Tour 2022

Jun 28: Charlotte BofA Stadium, NC Jun 30: Nashville Nissan Stadium, TN Jul 02: Jacksonville TIAA Bank Field, FL Jul 05: St. Louis Busch Stadium, MO Jul 08: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL Jul 10: Detroit Comerica Park, MI Jul 12: Hershey Hersheypark Stadium, PA Jul 14: Cleveland FirstEnergy Stadium, OH Jul 15: Cincinnati Great American Park, OH Jul 17: Milwaukee American Family Field, WI Jul 19: Kansas City Kauffman Stadium, MO Jul 21: Denver Coors Field, CO Aug 05: Boston Mass Fenway Park, MA Aug 06: Boston Mass Fenway Park, MA Aug 08: Toronto Rogers Centre, ON Aug 10: Orchard Park Highmark Stadium, NY Aug 12: Pittsburgh PNC Park, PA Aug 14: Minneapolis U.S. Bank Stadium, MI Aug 16: Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium, IN Aug 19: Houston Minute Maid Park, TX Aug 21: San Antonio Alamodome, TX Aug 22: Arlington Globe Life Field, TX Aug 25: Glendale State Farm Stadium, AZ Aug 27: Inglewood SoFi Stadium, CA Aug 28: San Diego Petco Park, CA Aug 31: Seattle T-Mobile Park, WA Sep 02: Vancouver BC Place, BC Sep 04: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, AB Sep 07: San Francisco Oracle Park, CA Sep 09: Las Vegas Allegiant Stadium, NV

Tickets are on sale now . 

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.  

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DEF LEPPPARD In MÖNCHENGLADBACH, GERMANY On THE WORLD TOUR 2023 (Show Report/Setlist)

Def Leppard played another show on The World Tour 2023 last night in Mönchengladbach, Germany with 17 songs performed.

The show took place at the 21,000 capacity SparkassenPark.

The first show in this city and at this venue.

After a hectic week in their homeland the band took The World Tour on the road again (and in the air).

The World Tour Hits Europe

No Def Crue plane this time which was ditched after South America, thankfully not in the Ocean!.

After the Piano Room show for the BBC and two monumental home town shows in Sheffield it was time to head back to Europe.

Mainland Europe and the heartland of Germany.

First played by the band back in the summer of 1981 on the High 'n' Dry tour supporting Rainbow.

First Time In Mönchengladbach

Mönchengladbach, a city perhaps best known for being home to the Borussia Mönchengladbach football team whose 60,000 seat stadium stands nearby tonight's venue.

The city located 23 miles to the South West of Dusseldorf which was itself played for the first time in 2019.

A much smaller venue than Bramall Lane but full of fans - up to 21,000.

Show Time In Germany

And the band started their show in bright early evening sunshine at 6:30pm.

Most of the band wearing shades as the show started in the blazing sun.

This despite some pre-show confusion with local fans still asking promoters if there as an opening act the day before the show.

The venue site said it was to be a 5:30pm start, but some fans had contacted them and were told 6:30.

17 Song Setlist

And 6:30pm it was with 'Take What You Want' blasting out across the SparkassenPark.

Not a lot of footage or photos showed up during the show but since it ended lots of cool footage has appeared and revealed that another triumphant show took place.

And in the end there turned out to be no opening act as such, so it was Def Leppard's turn to be an opening act once more.

Or the first co-headliner to play a headline set and the usual regular 17 song setlist was performed once more.

Diamond Star Halos Debuts

'Take What You Want', 'Kick' and 'This Guitar' were all given their debut performances in Germany.

And 'When Love & Collide' played for the first time here in this form.

Back In Germany

The first of three scheduled shows in Germany but not the first time in stadiums.

Having played two with Bon Jovi in 2019.

Up next in Munich Def Leppard will potentially play to their biggest crowd as headliners since the May 1993 Rock Am Ring show.

The next Def Leppard show takes place on 27th May in Munich, Germany.

Mönchengladbach, Germany 2023 Photos

Screenshots by dltourhistory.

Watch some Fan Videos from the show here.

Def Leppard - Mönchengladbach, Germany 25th May 2023 Setlist

• 01 - Take What You Want - First Time In Germany
• 02 - Let's Get Rocked
• 03 - Animal
• 04 - Foolin'
• 05 - Armageddon It
• 06 - Kick - First Time In Germany
• 07 - Love Bites
• 08 - Promises
• 09 - This Guitar (Semi-Acoustic) - First Time In Germany
• 10 - When Love & Hate Collide (Short Acoustic/Electric Version)
• 11 - Rocket (Single Version/Album Intro)
• 12 - Bringin' On The Heartbreak
• 13 - Switch 625 (instrumental)
• 14 - Hysteria (Extended Outro)
• 15 - Pour Some Sugar On Me
• 16 - Rock Of Ages
• 17 - Photograph

Joe Elliott - End Of Show Speech

"Danke schön. Thanks for having us. Thanks for being here. Thanks for coming."

"We'll see you later. Auf Wiedersehen!."

Various Photos/Videos

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Def Leppard on the ‘Melodic Mayhem’ of ‘Pyromania’ & Why Taylor Swift Is ‘Bigger Than the Beatles and the Stones Combined’

The classic album's 40th anniversary edition is out now.

By Joe Lynch

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Def Leppard ’s first two albums vaulted five boys from working-class Sheffield, England to the vanguard of the new wave of British heavy metal. On 1983’s Pyromania , the quintet set their sights even higher. “There’s no point in trying to appeal to half the population,” bassist Rick Savage tells Billboard . “Why not appeal to 100% of the population?”

Thirty Years Later, Pete Townshend on Why ‘The Who’s Tommy’ Is Still Capturing Rock n’ Roll’s…

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The album’s blockbuster success — which also eventually included a diamond RIAA certification for over 10 million units shipped — paved the way for the pop-metal crossover of bands like Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses and Poison, and set Def Lep up for a long, fruitful career. In 2022, the still-active band became only the third group to notch a top 10 album on the Billboard 200 in every decade since the ‘80s.

Ahead of the 40th anniversary edition of Pyromania (out April 26), Savage and frontman Joe Elliott hopped on a Zoom call with Billboard to pull back the curtain on the making of the classic — as well as share thoughts on a former CMT Crossroads collaborator who has since become the biggest pop star in the world.

Pyromania had the same producer, Mutt Lange, as the album that came out before it, High ‘n’ Dry . Even so, that one feels a bit rawer compared to Pyromania . Was it a conscious decision to give the album a cleaner production?

Joe Elliott: Yeah, that’s a good way of putting it. The obvious observations for those two records is that High ‘n’ Dry sounds like a band playing live and Pyromania sounds like a band in the studio — à la Pink Floyd, à la the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper — that sat down to craft some songs. They’re not just, “Okay, hit the record button and play it live.” That’s what High ‘n’ Dry sounds like — even though it actually wasn’t, because we did that in bits and bobs. But it has that impression.

Technology was starting to change. Recording studios in 1981 were pretty much the same as they were in 1979. Recording studios in 1982, ’83, there’s new bits of equipment coming in on a daily basis that can do things: synthesizers, drum machines. Drum machines were a big part of the music industry, with The Human League and New Order. We were using this kind of stuff, but most rock bands weren’t. And the great thing about having Mutt on your side is he’d be very enthusiastic about saying, “Well, why not? Why can’t a rock band…” and then fill in whatever phrase you want. It would be like [why can’t a rock band] “use that technology that these arty pop bands are using within the field of rock and see where it gets you”? We didn’t want to make High ‘n’ Dry 2 .

I was looking through the Billboard archives, and an article from 1984 postulated that a lot of Def Leppard’s appeal was connected to youth. Other metal acts at the time – Ozzy, Motörhead, whatever – were in their thirties, but you guys were a bit younger and maybe more attractive to girls. Is that something you were aware of back in the day?

We want to appeal to as many people as we can. There’s no point in trying to appeal to half the population — why not appeal to 100% of the population? All of a sudden, from Pyromania onwards, so many women and girls came to our shows. And it’s just testament to the actual songs, because they’re the things that get people first interested, and then everything else follows from that.

Elliott : We are a weird band in that respect, because we’ve always wanted to be honest with people. When you are five kids from Sheffield and you want to get up on stage and play rock music, there’s an oomph to it. It’s got a feeling that I don’t think — with the greatest respect to, say, the Human League, when we opened for them one night in their embryonic stage, they’re behind plexiglass sheets with keyboards. It doesn’t really have that Townshend windmill factor to it. It’s always fun to play the rock stuff, you know, “Highway to Hell” or “Tie Your Mother Down.”

But honestly, when we were in the factory rehearsing before we even played our first gig, we’d be talking about music way different than what we were playing. Me and Sav instantly bonded over the fact that we loved Kate Bush. Or the first two Peter Gabriel albums, which we were listening to way more than Motörhead. I don’t think Motörhead ever sat up a rehearsal room and had a discussion about “Wuthering Heights,” whereas we would. We always wanted it to be a glam rock, power guitar thing: Bowie, Slade, Sweet, Queen. That’s the fun element.

Savage : I don’t think so. It kind of happened in reverse. We weren’t really trying to market anything or become influenced by the latest media thing. We just got picked up from it, and we were fortunate in that respect. Before Pyromania was released, we knew that videos were coming to the fore. MTV was getting more and more popular, so it was just an obvious thing to do. We made two videos, one for “Photograph” and one for “Rock of Ages.” That was done in December of ’82, the album didn’t come out till early ‘83.

Elliott : Yeah, there’s no doubt that when we were making the album, the last thing on our mind was worrying about, “Oh, we got to make videos.” The one that really started to get a bit of traction was “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.” In London, we’d start receiving the odd phone call from management in New York saying, “Oh, yeah, they played ‘Bringin’ on the Heartbreak’ 40 times on MTV last week.” “Okay, interesting.” Then you three weeks later you get another message saying that High ‘n’ Dry started selling again. Three weeks later, you get another message: “Bloody hell, it’s selling 50,000 a week.” By the end of the year, we’re getting this message that it’s gone gold, so we know that this is not going gold because the radio — it’s gone gold because of MTV. We were just getting little messages as we’re [making] the [ Pyromania ] album. It’s like a mosquito in your ear, like, “Yeah, okay, fine.”

As you were saying about youth, because we were all 21, 22 years old, when somebody says, “You got to spend a day in Battersea Power Station shooting videos,” you go, “Great.” We learned after the fact that a lot of seasoned bands from the ‘70s were reluctant to do them, which is why a lot of videos by bands from the ‘70s that were presented in the ‘80s were crap. I think the only band that really grasped the nettle when they came back with a resurgence was Aerosmith. Really, they did a brilliant job with videos. But lots of other bands were like, “I don’t see why we’re having to do this.” We were the next generation, and started to realize, “This is almost as important as making the record.”

Speaking of TV and “Photograph,” fast forward about 25 years. You’re on CMT Crossroads with a very young Taylor Swift singing that song. Did you ever think, “This person is going to become the biggest pop star in the world?”

Savage : She was pretty big then, to be honest. It was unbelievable that somebody had such youth, but almost like an old head on young shoulders when she came to songwriting. It was actually quite eye-opening. It was great fun; it was a bit of a laugh. She’s quite popular now, isn’t she? But trust me, she was pretty popular then as well. I mean, not to the level she’s at now, obviously — but within the country scene she was as big as they came. It was a really great experience working with her and the band. She had a great band back then as well.

What impressed me the most was that when we got to the table of like, which songs we’re going to do, she wanted to do a lot of [ Songs From the ] Sparkle Lounge . I’m thinking, “She’s heard that song?” And then “Two Steps Behind” got pulled out, which wasn’t going to be suggested, but she says, “I want to do that one.”

It’s all very logical and all very organic. It really was. I got to sing “Love Story,” bits from the perspective of a guy. She was really enthusiastic and obviously a big fan. And we became fans of her. I think we’d all be lying if we said we knew she was going to become as big as she has because she’s actually become bigger than anything that’s ever been before. She’s probably bigger than The Beatles and The Stones combined, for her generation of fans. I’ll probably get lynched by some 75-year-old reading this, but it’s all relative.

Today it’s all about the streaming numbers and all that kind of stuff. There’s been a lot of massively successful bands, but she’s taken success to a level that is unheard of. It’s absolutely mad. It’s success beyond anything that anybody could have ever dreamed of, probably her herself. I’ve seen the Eras film and it’s astonishing what she’s done. I hope she works with us again one day. [ Laughs. ]

I’ve read that “Rock of Ages” has a back-masked message of “F—k the Russians” on it. I wanted to ask if that was true, and if so, what inspired that.

Savage : [ Laughs. ]

Savage : The song is so sparse and open. We needed cues as guitar players as to when we’re going to come in because we didn’t have a vocal at the time. It was very easy to get lost in, because we’re just playing it to a drum machine. A lot of the stuff was there as cues to when the next part was coming up, of which “ gunter gleiben glauchen globen ” was one of them. It was much like saying, “1-2-3-4, here comes the bridge” sort of thing. So yeah, there was a load of stuff going down on that particular song, just to keep us interested.

Elliott : Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, this was born out of cabin fever, because this was the first time that we’d been in a studio doing 22-hour days, six days, maybe seven days a week and we’re probably into month six or seven so you start to go a bit ’round the bend. You start doing crazy stuff. People always mock rock bands for being silly, but I’ve read so many articles about what you might call sophisticated artists doing stuff just as stupid because they had cabin fever. The Beatles, Clapton, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, just doing goofy s–t in the studio because it relieves the tension, relieves the boredom.

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‘Argus’: Wishbone Ash’s Hard Rocking Masterpiece

‘rising down’: when the roots uplifted the masses, ‘california dreamin’’: mamas and the papas’ homesick shade of winter, remembering blossom dearie: a small voice with a mighty impact, ‘lo mato’: willie colón and héctor lavoe’s 70s salsa gem, surprise albums: 16 drops that shocked the music world, ‘stuck in the middle with you’: stealers wheel’s clowns and jokers, karol g and feid win big at latin american music awards, ringo starr offers up ‘gonna need someone’ music video, florence + the machine announce ‘symphony of lungs’ bbc proms performance, def leppard share 40th anniversary edition of ‘pyromania’, billy idol releases 40th anniversary edition of ‘rebel yell’, the warning share music video for ‘qué más quieres’, liana flores signs with verve records, unveils ‘i wish for the rain’, def leppard shares episode seven of ‘beyond the world tour’ video blog.

This week, the legendary rockers travel to Scandinavia for a trio of rapturously-received festival shows.

Published on

Def Leppard has shared episode seven of the on-going video blog series ‘Behind The World Tour’, charting the European leg of its “The World Tour” with Motley Crue. You can watch the newly-released episode seven on the band’s official YouTube channel , but if you scroll down, you can firstly enjoy a few extracts from it in advance.

Shop the best of Def Leppard’s discography on vinyl and more .

The previous episode of ‘Behind The World Tour’ followed the band as they touched down in Eastern Europe for a hectic run of shows in Budapest, Krakow and Prague . This week – following a short break (“We were based in Prague for six days and I went home for two, it was awesome!” Joe Elliott says) – episode seven of ‘Beyond The World Tour’ sees Leppard and the Crue head to Scandinavia for festival shows in Sweden, Finland and Norway, which just get better and better.

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“We’ve just had an astonishingly good gig”, Joe Elliott says following the band’s set in Solvesborg, Sweden. “I feel really blessed to be in this band and to do this. Tonight, with that audience…the “woah” bits at the end of “Hysteria”? Hold God…that was unbelievable! Thank you everyone.”

However, the band keep raising the bar as they visit Finland and Norway, despite playing long sets finding them going onstage – and also coming back offstage – in daylight. In Finland, guitarist Vivian Campbell notes “It’s almost 10.30 at night, but you wouldn’t know it, because it’s so bright I have to wear shades” but Leppard are playing triumphant shows regardless.

“So we just played in total daylight and it was amazing,” guitarist Phil Collen says in summation following the band’s show in Trondheim, Norway. “I think we’ve hit our stride. It doesn’t seem to matter if the sun’s up or we haven’t got all the lights, we’re just on fire at the moment.”

Following on from “The World Tour’s European leg, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe will team up with Alice Cooper for a U.S. mini-tour this summer. The trek will kick off on August 5 in Syracuse, New York and include stops in the Midwest before concluding in El Paso, Texas on August 18.

Just prior to the UK and European leg of “The World Tour”, Def Leppard released Drastic Symphonies , the much-anticipated new album which sees the legendary rockers teaming up with the UK’s widely-renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The album is now available on CD, 2LP black vinyl, limited edition 2LP colored vinyl, limited 2LP picture disc, CD/Blu-Ray (Atmos), and on digital platforms.

Buy or stream Drastic Symphonies .

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The World Tour – New U.S. Dates!

HELLO AMERICA! Just Announced – New USA dates for The World Tour 2023 with Motley Crue and Alice Cooper 🤘

Fri, 12/9 10am local – Rock Brigade Presale Tues, 12/13 10am local – Citi Presale Thurs, 12/15 10am – LN/Local/Venue Presale Fri, 12/16 10am local – Onsale

Sat Aug 05 Syracuse, NY Tue Aug 08 Columbus, OH Fri Aug 11 Fargo, ND Sun Aug 13 Omaha, NE Wed Aug 16 Tulsa, OK Fri Aug 18 El Paso, TX

Head to DefLeppard.com/tour for all tickets and info!