When Def Leppard’s 2008 world tour in support of album Songs from the Sparkle Lounge wound up in Auckland, New Zealand, in late November, the five members could look forward to a five-month break from band commitments. For singer Joe Elliott, it initially meant spending a couple of weeks with wife Kristine’s folks in the US for Thanksgiving before returning to the couple’s Dublin home to celebrate Christmas and see in 2009. Then the couple managed to sneak away to their holiday home in the sun ahead of an announcement that the UK heavy rock stars would headline the third day of the seventh annual Download Festival at Donington Park, Leicestershire, in mid-June, two days after playing the new O2 Arena in Dublin.
Download would be followed by a morning flight to Nashville where Leppard would perform on a live country music TV awards show and stay on in Tennessee to prepare for a North American tour with Poison and special guests Cheap Trick kicking off a week later. Easter came and went, Joe and Kristine were able to relax in the sun again and, once he had suffered the disappointment of watching his beloved Sheffield United team miss out on promotion back to the top tier of English football, it was time to head for a Dublin reunion with guitarists Phil Collen and Viv Campbell, bassist Richard “Sav” Savage and drummer Rick Allen to ready themselves for the O2 gig.
Leppard were back in harness. Deluxe editions of their classic Pyromania and Adrenalize albums have since been released, while the first ever DVD of US TV’s CMT Crossroads series, pairing the band with pop/country teen Taylor Swift, hit North American stores. After opening in Camden, New Jersey, the tour had a day off. Not for Leppard, though – it was off to New York for a round of press interviews which Joe capped by introducing an evening open-air gig by hero and friend Ian Hunter at the Big Apple’s Rockefeller Park and getting up to join in All the Young Dudes. Of course, he was back on stage for Leppard’s Ohio show next day.
In late July, Joe and the band will take a tour break so he can mark his 50th birthday with a private celebration then it’s on the road again at Raleigh, North Carolina, to rock the rest of the 40-plus cities through to Auburn, Washington state, on September 12.
Jackie Strong invites you to read the next chapter in her Remember When series featuring singing legends. To read the full dramatic Def Leppard story in three parts go to part 1 DefLeppard-Remastered To read my blog on the download festival click here LeppardAtDonington-DownloadFestival
