Concert Review & Live Video
By Dave Chinery, UK Correspondent

Bands: Def Leppard, Whitesnake and
Black Stone Cherry
Location: Wembley Arena, London, England
Date: 6/26/08

A warm summer evening in June sees me at Wembley Arena, a very prestigious venue just outside London with a capacity of around 12,000 people. Rock is defiantly on the menu with three superb rock acts billed. Tonight's 1st act is Black Stone Cherry, a no nonsense and loud rock band from Edmonton, Kentucky in the USA.

Wembley is plunged into darkness and the four long haired band members stroll on stage. Their sound is pure classic rock with apparent influences from likes Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The drummer, John Fred Young, with his very large mop of hair reminded me of Animal from the kids TV show the Muppets. He hit the skins like a man possessed! The 3 guitarists showed the London crowd just why we need another American rock band to follow. With some great guitar solos they put in a very impressive performance. Lead singer Chris Robertson told the crowd that it had always been the band's dream to play Wembley Arena and they felt very privileged to have the chance of supporting these two great rock acts. Great tracks such as 'Hell or High Water' and 'Lonely Train', from the band's forthcoming self-titled album due for release in August, went down extremely well with tonight's audience.

Whitesnake are a band I have admired from afar for many years, however, this was the very first time that I have had the opportunity at seeing them live. David Coverdale walked to the front of the stage and got an amazing reaction from the audience. I was lucky enough to be positioned right at the front of the central stage walkway and had a perfect view of the whole stage. The set was made up with tracks from the new album 'Good to be Bad', as well as many classics. They played for about ninety minutes and WOW what a 90 minutes it was!

Coverdale may be 56 years old, however, he is every bit the showman. He knows just what the audience wants, singing his heart out to every person in the hall. The showmanship includes various facial expressions, pointing at individual members of the audience and various simulated sexual actions with the microphone stand. Songs such as 'Fool for Your Loving', 'Love Ain't No Stranger' and 'Is This Love' had the audience eating out of Coverdale's hands. This was a very emotional performance as at one stage you could see tears in David's eyes. He stated this was a special show as his wife and daughter were in tonight's audience. The one thing that will stay with me for a very long time is the crowd's reaction during 'Here I Go Again' - as I looked around, every member of the audience were stood up with their arms in the air singing every word. To see 12,000 people all doing this in unison was something really special.

The rest of that band are made up of some really excellent musicians. Doug Aldrich (Guitar), Reb Beach (Guitar), Uriah Duffy (Bass), Timothy Drury (Keyboards), and Chris Frazier (Drums). All put in some great performances and were looking as though they were really enjoying playing together. The whole band finished the last song of the set and all came to the front of the stage to take their bows. There was a massive standing ovation from the very appreciative audience. All in all, a brilliant set! Could Def Leppard follow such a power-charged emotional performance?

After nearly three hours of bands, I felt quite drained... But, after the lights of the arena dimmed once again, I felt a surge of energy as Def Leppard hit the stage. Three huge video screens light up, with the two outside screens showing live footage of the band. The centre screen shows the English Union Jack flag and plays the British National Anthem. Images appear of Def Leppard throughout the years 1979 to 2008 stating, "That was then, this is now." The band then took to the stage. Joe Elliott called out "Guitar, Drums" and launched into "Rocket" with live images and animation on the rear screen of rockets flying through the air. All around you could hear the excited crowd singing along; this was just an amazing entrance.

Promoting their new album 'Songs From the Sparkle Lounge' the band performed the newer songs 'C'mon C'mon' and 'Nine Lives' early on in the set. The rest of the set was mainly made up of classics, which was just what the audience wanted. Rick Savage appeared high up on one of the platforms and proceeded to perform a bass solo with the band arriving to perform a cover of David Essex's 'Rock On' (taken from their covers album 'Yeah'). The whole band arrived at the front of the stage with acoustic guitars and performed a couple of stripped-down tracks: 'Two Steps Behind' and 'Bringin' On The Heartbreak' - both fully accompanied by the crowd who seemed to be word perfect.

The night continued with the anthems 'Hysteria', 'Armageddon It' and 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', which all were accompanied with further video and live footage creating some amazingly awesome effects. Other tracks from the new album, 'Bad Actress' and 'Let's Get Rocked', ended the night's proceedings with the whole of the crowd on their feet with their arms in the air... The band all then came to the end of the middle walkway to thank the crowd and take their final bows. Once again, the crowd showed their appreciation. As everyone filtered out of the arena into the wet London evening, I can't imagine that anyone has gone home less than totally satisfied with the evening's entertainment.

DEF LEPPARD SETLIST (with Video Links):

Intro:
Rocket
C'mon C'mon | Video
Animal
Nine Lives
Make Love Like A Man
When Love & Hate Collide
Rick Savage bass solo
Rock On
Two Steps Behind - Acoustic | Video
Bringin' On The Heartbreak
Hysteria
Armageddon It
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Rock Of Ages
Bad Actress
Let's Get Rocked

WHITESNAKE VIDEO:

Can You Hear the Wind Blow
Is This Love

Links:
Official Def Leppard
Official Whitesnake
Official Black Stone Cherry

Myspace Pages With Track Previews:
Def Leppard MySpace
Whitesnake MySpace
Black Stone Cherry MySpace