Review: Def Leppard sugarcoats a dwindling State Fair crowd

After performing to crowded stadiums their last three times in the Twin Cities, Def Leppard might have thought Minnesota State Fair organizers were foo-foo-foolin’ with them on the attendance figure for their grandstand concert Tuesday night.

Only 9,418 fans showed up to see England’s greatest hair band at the Great Minnesota Get-Together, less than a third of the number that came out to see them at their recent Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium concerts. That was even 3,000 fewer people than local hip-hop group Atmosphere drew to the grandstand last Saturday. They were never on MTV on a 24/7 basis.

Granted, Def Leppard’s last three stadium concerts in town all featured other bands from your uncle’s or older brother’s old cassette deck, including Journey, Mötley Crüe and the Steve Miller Band. So then how come Def Leppard didn’t come down much in ticket prices compared to those shows? Tuesday’s range of $77-$292 per seat was the highest ever for a State Fair show.

Maybe there were other factors, too …

The scene: Any St. Paul residents who have ever attended a Battle Creek Junior High School Class of 1986 reunion would have felt at home here. Unlike other recent shows, there weren’t a lot of kids brought by their upper-middle-aged parents. That’s probably because the tickets were pricey. As has been the case at all the fair concerts so far this year, the weather once again was golden.

As for the scene on stage, the band members still look remarkably svelte for men in their mid-60s. And boy, do they let you know it, too. Guitarist Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell both wore tight shirts with the shortest sleeves you’ve ever seen, and bassist Rick Savage wore a chest-baring, sequined fishnet top that looked like he was vying to win both a Mr. Universe and Eurovision contest.

The music: The band actually played a new song! Just one, and ironically one about longing for the good old days, “Just Like ’73.” Otherwise, the quintet mostly stuck to the usual dozen fan favorites that could be heard on either MTV or FM radio literally at any given moment throughout the 1980s, starting with “Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)” — which, to be fair, does sound more relevant than ever — followed by “Rocket,” “Let’s Get Rocked” and “Foolin’.”

Biggest takeaway: As much as the ticket prices were a likely deterrent to a bigger turnout, maybe less-diehard fans of the band are finally starting to tire of hearing the same dozen songs they’ve heard at every Def Leppard concert of the past 37 years? In more ways than just the setlist, the show felt heavily pre-programmed, with a lot of big and perhaps sonically augmented choruses where the vocals sounded unusually, suspiciously clean and pristine.

Low point: A two-song acoustic montage halfway through the performance stripped back the thickly layered vocals, and Elliott sounded decently strong on the lead mic. Too bad the songs, “This Guitar” and “Two Steps Behind,” had all the flavor and squishiness of England’s popular side dish, mushy peas. Later in the show, though, Elliott’s voice really started to waver and fade in and out as he got to some of the higher-reaching old hits such as “Photograph.”

Coolest moment: Every Def Leppard concert since 1985 has been emotionally highlighted by drummer Rick Allen’s drum solo, always an impressive feat after his left arm was severed in a car accident. On Tuesday, though, even higher sentiment and louder cheers were attached to Elliott’s introduction of Campbell, who has been undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma (now in remission).

Best banter: Nothing, really. We’ve had no trouble filling this category with other singers’ funny quips in our other State Fair concert reviews, but about all that Elliott had to say on Tuesday were standard greetings and introductions of his longtime bandmates. Forty-eight years into the band’s undeniably resilient run, maybe there’s just not much else to say.

Encore: