Throughout the ranks of underpaid, overworked interns in music magazine offices everywhere, a single cry rings out-why won’t Def Leppard die? After all, they’ve been through trials and tribulations that would bring the average band to its knees, and yet, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they are reborn with the help of crappy, sentimental TV shows to sell out stadiums all over our great land. Their latest conquest will take place at the PNC Bank Arts Center on July 1. For extra ’80s redneck credibility, bring a case of beer and a bleached jean jacket.
With origins in England’s legendary new wave of British heavy metal, Def Leppard became a commercial juggernaut in the early- and mid-’80s, mostly on the strength of their two massively successful pop-metal albums, Pyromania and Hysteria. The band’s penchant for excess and drug abuse has been chronicled in countless sappy documentaries and interviews; however, nonetheless, the band is one of very few in history with two consecutive albums that have sold more than 10 million copies a piece. Even the advent of death metal and grunge hasn’t hurt the band’s commercial sway-they’re touring across the world with Poison and Cheap Trick, fresh from a spot on England’s Download Festival in June.
PNC Bank Arts Center can be found on Exit 116 off the Garden State Parkway in Holmdel, New Jersey. Doors open at 7 p.m., and all ages are welcome to attend. Ticket range in price from $29.50 for lawn space to $125 orchestra seats. Visit defleppard.com for more information.
