By 7:00 the crowd was getting a bit happier as Bryan Adams took to the stage. Now, I have never been much of a fan of his music, but he has been a talented purveyor of rock music for over 2 decades. The only song that I can really say that I know is "Everything I Do" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. But I will admit for the 90 minutes that he was onstage, he owned the crowd. He played a mix of old classics and more recent stuff, including the first single from his latest album, Room Service, there was also "Summer of 69," "Kids Wanna Rock," and "Can't Stop This Thing We Started." His voice sounded great ripping through all of the songs, from the rockers to the ballads. At one point he even brought a fan up from the crowd to sing a song with him, it was a great moment, showing Adams is a class act. To close out his set, he came back out to the stage by himself to give us a solo acoustic song, calmed the crowd down a bit to save their energy for what was still to come. The most notable thing had to be lead guitarist Keith Scott, his playing was phenomenal, a fan even threw a bouquet of flowers up onstage with a letter, which Bryan read, turned out they were for Keith! While I doubt the admittedly excellent performance will not turn me into a fan, I would definitely go to another concert. High energy and fun music always helps towards having a good time.
Now came the long wait, from about 8:30 until shortly after 9:00, while the stage was changed for Def Leppard. The drum kits were switched, a hanging screen was revealed behind the stage, some cameras were set up. Most of the time was spent by the crowd jockeying for position and moving ever closer to the barricade. At one point a fight broke out to my right which was broken up by police. That was the only sign of any real violence I witnessed, for the most part the crowd seemed to be well behaved. By the time 9 rolled around, the crowd was getting a bit antsy for Def Leppard to hit the stage.
At approximately 9:07, the canned music stopped and Queen's "We Will Rock You" started to get the crowd all riled up. Then they took to the stage, the crowd erupted and the band broke into the opening track "Action." The crowd was immediately into it. After the opening song, the question was asked "Do you wanna get rocked?" This revealed the screen behind Rick Allen's drum kit and the show was officially on. The entire stadium wanted to get rocked! It is not often that I am at a show where I can sing along with the majority of the songs played, much less with the rest of the crowd doing the same thing! This was only second outdoor concert, and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. They ripped through all of their old standbys, plus adding in a cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What." I remember losing it when "Rocket" began, it is hard to forget the first song you hear when you discover a band. At the end Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell traded leads, they sounded amazing. Their performance of "Rock On" was an incredible sight as well.
Article comments
1 - Andrew Ian Dodge
I do hope they bring this tour to the UK. I, for one, would love to see this double bill.
2 - Laryssa
My husband and I were at this concert as well, and could not get over..how great it really was!! Everything went so well, other then the small fight that started...Both Bryan Adams and Def Leppard were fantastic! We enjoyed ourselves so much, I think everyone there had a wonderful night and raived about the concert!
3 - Chris Beaumont
Very cool! Were you anywhere near the fight? I was on the stage side of it. I am not much of an Adams fan, but he did put on a great show. Lep was fantastic!
4 - Laryssa
Hi,
No, we weren't near the fight but saw the cops go running that one time, and heard it was a little nothing fight.
First we were the second "seat" row ( near the fried dough and pizza) stand, by 1st base, then we were out about 15 ft from the stage to the right of it..I thought it was a really cool concert too, I enjoyed Bryan Adams as well, but was there mostly for Def Leppard, but they all did an awesome concert!
Dutchess stadium should host more concerts like that, they'll always get a great turn out!
5 - D
Photos from this concert at Dutchess Stadium can be found here
Enjoy
6 - Eric Berlin
Chris -- This article appears on Google News' Entertainment News main page at the moment. Thought you'd like to know...
7 - Dan
I caught them last year. It was really good.
When you mention the song "action" do you mean the song originally recorded by Sweet? This was a defining moment of last years show. They played it for an encore. I've looked everywhere for a recorded Def lep version, but to no avail.
It's a little disappointing that they're only playing stadiums. I'd rather see them where I don't have to fight for position.
8 - Chris Beaumont
I am not familiar with the Sweet song, I do know that this Action appeared on the Retro-Active album.
I am not sure how they would sound in a smaller venue, their sound is very arena rock sounding.
Thanks Eric, very cool indeed!
9 - Sherry
In ref. to Randy Coleman. I know him and thought I would pass on this info. He and Carlos Rivera are the warm up band. Randy had a band called Zoo Story. You can go to there web site and get there CD and you can go to the Randy Coleman web site and get his CD there also. Randy has a very pure voice and great music. Take the time to listen to it. I have had the pleasure of hin doing a charity event for me and I have seen him in L.A. He is a great person to be around and it comes through in his music. It hits the heart and soul. His music reflects life. If you want to hear him with fullband check out the web sites. His music has also been featured in the movie Dragonfly with Kevin Costner and also The Event with Olympia Dukakis. Enjoy
10 - Chris Beaumont
Shery-
Thanks for that information, I will have to look into it some more. I did like what I heard.
11 - christina
hope you don't me chiming in: Just saw this show on Saturday in Schaumburg, IL and while we didn't care much (SORRY!) for Def Leppard (thought Joe's vocals blew, but I WAS on stage left so all we heard was him literally screaming), we were apparently the only ones ... it was quite evident that the happy crowd was there for DL rather than Bryan, but that was fine by me because I was there for Bryan who was, all bias' apart, FANTASTIC! Even my bf who is NOT a fan was impressed with his performance!
Although it's a very odd line up, it's DEFINITELY one to check out in this type of venue! Smaller, but not too small (wouldn't have worked for Joe's vocals for sure).
12 - Chris Beaumont
Glad to hear you had a good time, despite Joe's lacking vocals. It is an odd lineup, but it helps expose the opposing audiences with some more music, which, when done well, is always a good thing!
13 - Al
Massive Def Leppard fan since I first heard "Pour Some Sugar On Me" when it first came out (at a middle school dance in the 8th grade), but have never seen them in concert... Well, my wonderful wife, for my 1st year aniversary present (July 31st) bought us tickets for the West Virginia show. We are wondering, about what time did the show end? Just curious since we are debating driving home (Richmond Va) or getting a hotel near there that night. Thanks....
14 - Chris Beaumont
Def Leppard ended their set arounf 10:30. The whole show started at 6:30. I hope DL is closing your show! They are swapping the closing slots.
15 - christina
hey Al, don't remember where I found the list, but I DO know for sure that they're alternating who's closing and the show in West Virgnia would have Bryan closing -- have a blast! (And give Bry a try... you'll be surprised!)
16 - Tom
Hey all , I have been a DF fan since my high school days (84) and never got the chance to see them either until this year in Memphis. To much of my surprize my much younger girlfriend is even a bigger fan of them than I am. She has all their albums. it was a really big surprize for her when I got the sold out tickets at Mud Island on the Mississipi river. The crowd behaved great as hot as it was and was a night to remember. I cant beleve how great they still sound, One dissappoinment was they had a small local band that sucked opening for them but they didnt play very long. Rock on.
17 - Jaime M
I went to the show last night in Raleigh, NC. I loved it, they didn't play very long. We were sitting in the VIP section when the opening band and Bryan Adams played but got to our seats when Def got onstage. They played my FAV song last..Pour Some Sugar on me. I enjoyed this show very much....even the $55.00 dollar shirt my husband bought me...the one with the british flag...
18 - Dave M.
Went to the show last night in Everett, Wa. (11/8/05). Your review was excellent, the show was just as you described it. The only problem we had was the trip home, they were working on the freeway and reduced it to one lane. Thanks for the great review.
19 - Jon
I was at that concert it rocked out loud.
20 - Brandy
Yay!! I can not wait to go see them this April! I was reading your entire review and I can only imagine how amazing it will be! I've never seen them before, either; but even though I'm only 22 years old, I have been a fan longer than you have! LOL. My mother used to play their music videos when I was little (5 years of age) as she cleaned the house and she would just stop, stand in front of the tv and dance!! I would join her of course. I know that they are from the 80s, and are way older than I am, but I am just ecstatic that someday I will be able to brag to my kids about how I got to see such a legendary band up close! It's totally worth it!!