I Arrived in OKC from Arkansas at 5:30 in the company of my best friend and fellow Lep Lover Becky, and my 16 year old son, Quentin. Some confusion about where to buy tickets had us walking around the stadium and then back again, but did not have to stand in line too long. Walking right by where buses pull in, I thought to myself that this may be where the Lep's bus may be after the show, and just filed that info away for later. I knew a lot of venues would not allow umbrellas or cameras so security was just a light pat down, and we were in. Walked down on the field that they had put a rubberized pedimat on - very springy, which I appreciated later!
Opening act Randy Coleman was very good, and sitting on our quilt I looked around and throughly enjoyed being in the company of other people with such great musical taste! There were fans of all ages, all there to have a great time. The weather was very warm, but the threatening clouds of a storm passing by gave us relief from the sun, and it was a great day be partying in Oklahoma!
Bryan Adams was excellent! This was the first time I've seen him in concert and was impressed by not only how many hits I recognized but also how great his voice sounded. I kept finding myself getting happy feet! He was very engaging and made a funny comment when a sprinkle that thankfully did not turn into a shower fell from a seemingly cloudless area above us. People around here are familiar that this area of the country has constantly changing and strange weather, and we all got a good laugh at his Canadian perplexity.
A highlight of his set was when 13 year old Jade (dammit I knew I'd forget her last name!) was pulled onstage to sing with Adams. I had read reviews of previous concerts on this tour where he did this, but obviously was bowled over with not only how young she was (she looked 17 from my view) but not only did she sound great, but KNEW THE WORDS! The crowd loved that! (I guess American Idol Carrie Underwood is not the only hot Oklahoman with talent!)
During the break to change the set the humidity started to climb through the roof. It was with gratitude we saw the sun finally slip behind the stadium's rim. And as Queen's "We Will Rock You" started to herald Def Leppard's arrival it finally started to darken.
The following 85 minutes was another great show! The screen behind the band was great allowing anyone in the venue a clear close up view of each bandmember, and added the creative element of a music video accompaning each powerfully and lustily performed song. A problem with the earpieces seem to trouble Phil and Joe, but they threw themselves into their performance and whipped the crowd into a gyrating, cheering, albeit sweaty, throng! The crowd really enjoyed their performance of their next single release, a cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What" (From their upcoming covers album) Everyone really went nuts! (Me included)
They rocked their socks off, as usual, and had me jumpin' with my pumping fist in the air so much that to my dismay I realized that I wasn't just wet with sweat. I had, in my ecstacy of rock and roll, wet myself. Thankfully I had on a light pad (not to get too personal?) but I was very selfconscious. I was so wet with sweat anyway no one could tell, so I kept rocking. Hell, I'd already wet my pants, so I rocked even harder.
I've read other blogs about this concert on the Official Web Site and they mention rude fellow fans, but those around me were pretty obliging. (I rock out very hard, jumping and throwing my arms in the air.) Thank you to the guy to my right for not getting mad when I slapped you. :-)
Was a little dissapointed with just one encore, but the heat and humidity (and my Def Leppard inspired aerobics) left me almost totally dehydrated and absolutely exaughsted and I'm sure they were too, as Joe said that we were the most rockin' sweatiest crowd they had played to, so with gratitude I threw kisses at them as Joe said their after-concert mantra : "Don't forget about us and we won't forget about you!"
So, exaughsted, dripping wet with sweat and with soggy drawers on, do you think I lingered by that back gate to meet any of the band? Hell no. And guess what I read on the Official Site's message boards about that concert? That Phil and Rick had gone back there and talked to fans!!! Phil is the one I want to talk to the most, and if I hadn't pissed on myself I would have been THERE.
>BIG SIGH<
I see on the touring schedule they will be in Memphis (a five hour drive) and Kansas City (a four hour drive) later this summer, but I doubt I'll come up with the money again, and will they be fan-accessable again? (Is this not meant to be?)
Oh, and I want to mention that this concert gave my son a real concert experience, standing in front of the stage instead of confined in seats. I didn't mention in the concert below that there were chairs on the arena floor in strict rows and the people down there were not allowed to move them or stand anywhere but right in front of them, keeping them boxed in tight. My seat in the back stands gave me more room, but that really sucked.
Other concert adventures:
Saw them June 1, 2003 in Tulsa!! We freaking ROCKED!!! The band had a great time (never heard Joe talk so much!), and played great!
Couldn't catch my breath for days! My lungs were SORE from screaming and dancing at the Def Leppard concert. Oh My God! Def Leppard Rocks so hard! Talk about euphoria! The entire stadium was filled with DIE HARD DEF LEPPARD FANS!!!!! We freaking rocked the place!
The band was great, pulling up songs they've not played in concerts since the mid-eighties. The light show was fantastic, totally creating the perfect visual mood for the music. I was so happy. Total freaking BLISS... I rocked my little heart out, to a level only possible with Def Leppard!
This was my 14 year old son's first concert and we both had such a great time! We'll be talking of this for years to come.
TO THE BAND, IF YOU READ THIS
What an increadible party!
Thank you so much for coming to Tulsa!
Viv: Loved the Hello Kitty t-shirt!
Sav: Couldn't read your shirt, but loved the color!
Joe: Hope you didn't get hurt when that fan tackled you on stage! (no, it wasn't me)
Phil: Before the concert as people were milling about, finding their seats, a young girl sitting to my left suddenly yelled out, "I love Phil Collen!" to which the guy sitting in front of me says quietly to his friend, "Phil Collins? She's at the wrong concert!" (grin)
Rick: I was sitting a couple of rows behind another big Def Leppard fan. He had on a beautiful tie-dye Def Leppard shirt who, in his excitement by the night's concert had apparently celebrated too much too soon. His anticipating was so great he couldn't help intermittently yelling "Bring out the boys!" He was so funny. I want you to know that once you started to play he knew every song, sang and danced with wild abandon, in short, had a great time and offended nobody. He obviously was there for you and was totally with you. I hope he can remember it. (grin)
The first time I saw Def Leppard in concert was during the "Adrenalize" Tour, and it was "in the round" like this concert:
I recently saw this picture on other websites, and it just brought back so many memories, I had to post it here! Now to my webpage:
July 1996
Yeah, I'm a real fanatic. But I do care about the band's reputation, and before I put my far-out Slang Interpretation on-line I really wanted to be sure it was o.k. by them. So I tried to leave a note to Phil through the Official Website, but to no avail. Then I learned they were going to be in concert in Little Rock, a mere 2 1/2 hour drive away! JOY!!!
So first I started to concentrate really hard on meeting the Leps. Nothing is impossible, I told myself. So I concentrated on a blissful scenario of me actually talking to Phil, Sav, Viv, Rick, or- dare I dream???- Joe!!! I got nervous even thinking about it. So I started to rehearse exactly what I would say, and kept that image alive as the days got closer to a certain hot July eve...
And it was definitely hot. My friend Becky and I head out for Little Rock early, but her car is not air conditioned, and we were sweating even though we were doing 75 mph. We pulled into Little Rock, went down to the Riverside Ampitheater and stood for three hours in the hot sun, 98 degree heat and about 80% humidity, to ensure us a good spot. Loved talking to the other fans, though. One told me the name of the hotel the band was staying in, and I mentally took note...
Tripping Daisy was a bit much for me to take as an opening act. I was already dying of heat exaughstion and they seemed so..so...unpolished. Their music was hitting me like a physical assault. Unfortunately they are from Little Rock, and there were many of their slam-dancing fans there. I didn't stand at the stage's edge as I had hoped.
But when Def Leppard's "Rock Rock!" started everything was back to perfect. I was standing on the first rise of the lawn, right in front of Joe. Through my binoculars I could count his eyelashes...heaven! Of course I sang right along with them and danced like crazy. But Joe appeared to be ill. He had no zest at all, in fact he even leaned back against the wall running along the sides of the stage... and yet he sang anyway! How much do I love this band???
Then this guy standing behind me started to annoy me. He was taking pictures and asking me to lean to one side during several songs. I was starting to get pissed, but he soon quit bothering me and of course I immediately lost myself in the glory of the concert. Nothing could get me angry when Def Leppard is playing right in front of my eyes! (Just don't block my view!) :-)
When the concert was over, the lights coming up, and I was gasping for breath, sweat pouring out of every pore of my body, a woman appeared to my right. I hadn't seen her before, and I had been people watching for hours before the concert began.
"Do you want to meet the band?" she asked.
I was completely nonplussed.
"What do you mean?" I stammered.
She had a little girl with her, and she bent down to tye the girl's shoes.
"I've met them before, in Shreveport, in Memphis...they're very nice. I just go to the hotel bar where they are staying. Do you know where they are staying?"
As a matter of fact I did, and I told her what I had been told.
"Well, I'm going there right now." she seemed to be ready to dash off. I felt my shirt sticking to my back, my hair in wet tendrils around my face. I had gotten so hot my stomach felt like a rock and my legs quivered from dancing for two hours straight. I needed to consult Becky...
"Maybe I'll see you there..." I told her, but she was already dissapearing into the crowd. I told Becky everything she said. Becky, looking even worse (if that was possible) than me, said: "First I must get cleaned up..."
Oh vanity; thou art the slayer of many a dream.
By the time we got to the hotel I didn't see the woman anywhere. We lingered for an hour, then gave up, and I was kicking myself in the butt for the whole drive home. We had waited too long, I figured. They had come down to the bar, got their drinks and went back to their room before we got there.
I felt worse than dissapointment. I was heartsick, and ashamed. Here my "spell" to meet the Leps had worked, but it wasn't as I had expected and I fumbled it! What stupidity! I should have went with that woman (God love her, whoever she was!!) and let the band see what they had done to me! Then I would have their attention and ask them about Slang...
Well...as the fates would have it...there would be another concert within driving distance to me: Oklahoma City. So I began to concentrate on it. I was SO CLOSE before, surely this time my magic would work and THIS TIME I would JUMP ON IT!!!
My husband was certain I was out of my freakin' mind, but once again on a hot afternoon, Becky and I were doing 75 mph on the interstate...going West, this time! I didn't intend to go to the concert, just find out the hotel they were at and be waiting there for them. Well, by the time we got there, "Rock Rock!" had just started, and I felt my blood sing in my veins...they were there! Outside the gates we asked everybody, but y'know, OKC had a little bombing incident not too long ago and security is impenetrable. Becky saw my crestfallen face, and said "F**K it! We're gonna see the concert!" She paid for my ticket (I was broke.) and we went in...this time the breeze was cool, even for August, and we eased ourselves into the crowd standing in front of the stage and ROCKED!!!
Since the Little Rock concert I had narrowed my focus on connecting with one Lep in particular instead of just hoping to talk to any of them. I decided that Phil's personality was in affinity with mine more than the others and had been meditating on him for two weeks.
Now he was no more that 20 feet away. All during the songs of course I danced. Can't help myself don'tcha know. Especially the songs from Slang, which, being unfamiliar to most of the crowd, kinda set me apart from most of the other people around me. (I can't understand people that can be still and stoic at a Def Leppard concert; can you?? Most people are just afraid of appearances, I guess.) Anyway, he kept looking in my direction, but I told myself, naw. You are really losing it if you think he's looking at you in the midst of thousands of faces! So, at a lull between songs, he's got his hands on his hips, looking out towards me and I reach out and wave at him. HE WAVES BACK!!! Magic works, brothers and sisters, when it's pure love!
There's something else I should mention about the concert in OKC...there was a woman sitting on top of her boyfriend's(?) shoulders right in front of Joe. Topless. I mean bare breasted right there in front of him. This, of course, puts all of them in a randy mood and at one point during a song (I'll have to ask Becky which one) Joe bends at his knees and licks that microphone stand all the way up the the mike! Good GAWD!!! (Becky's knees got so weak she had to grab hold of my arm.) There were also some inflatable toys thrown on stage, and of course, it being Oklahoma, they were not women, but SHEEP! The guys were laughing and having a great time. The whole concert had a better feel than the Little Rock gig, and even though I didn't get to talk to them, I still felt so much better than before.
Do I believe in magic? You BETCHA!
I saw them August 10th, 2000 in Little Rock. It was sweltering hot, but the guys still kicked jammin' ass! In defiance to the heat they kept the crowd pumped up with high octane rock and roll and turned the ampitheater into a dog days of summer party! If they come near you you've got to see them!
In the meantime I'm working out to get ready. I can't be still, y'know, when I hear their music, and I swear they try to kill me at their concerts! I'm getting up in age (still have my own teeth, tho.) so I don't think they'd like it if I passed out during their gig. But they usually hit Little Rock in AUGUST! Guaranteed heat stroke...but I'm there.
The year before, on August 10, 1999 I saw them in Tulsa with Becky. It's so much fun having a friend it's safe to go crazy with! The acoustics in the auditorium sucked, but I rocked right along with them. We had missed out on getting pit passes, so we got high up along the top row of seats. We were looking down at them from above. Being behind the crowd gave me a certain freedom, and I rocked out! I could see all four of them at once, and the reaction of the crowd! It was one huge Def Leppard party that left my ears singing during the two hour euphoric drive back to Fort Smith.
I glowed for days afterward.
Then, to our utter delight, Becky and I found out from our favorite Def Leppard websites (see my Def Leppard Obsession Page ) that they were coming back to Little Rock August 10, 2000, exactly a year from the Tulsa show, but bless their blimy hearts, they were going to be back at the ampitheater again! Who is punishing them so? Across the river is the huge, AIR CONDITIONED Alltel Arena. It was 103 degrees that day in Little Rock.
We didn't get there until the sun had already started to set because of a 20 mile traffic jam on the Interstate caused by construction. After crawling for 30 minutes we took a side road, but unfortunately a huge tractor trailer rig did too and held up traffic again because it was too curvy for him to get it out of second gear! We missed most of the Unband. But then Buckcherry's "Lit Up" started to come from the speakers- Joe's recent favorite artist, and I started getting excited! It was hot, but I was fine until I started to get into the press of people standing in front of the stage. The suffocating heat was terrible! A security man sprayed a hose over everyone's head, which cooled you down, but made the humidity so thick I couldn't breathe. It was a standing steam bath, and I could feel my energy draining away with every panted breath. By the time the guys took the stage I was already fighting heat exaughstion, but I didn't care. I danced and kept my hands up in the air, because being able to party with Def Leppard is my vision of heaven! And party we did! In the crowd more exposed breasts (not mine) , arms flinging, butts wiggling (yes mine)... They must have been cooking under those lights, but you'd never know it. They came on with a vengence, full throttle rock and roll! They tried to kill me. :-) They looked great, maintaining incredible energy throughout the show, never letting up until after the last encore when the exaughsted crowd gratefully let them go. Another 2 hour post-concert drive for Becky and me, floating on a cloud that would illuminate us for days.
Did I try to make contact? Well, since 1996 I had to go back to work full time. My husband says I need to keep busy to keep out of trouble. 1999 was hard on me and I had no time to concentrate. This year I did try a different tack, but then I found out about the charity "meet and greet" auction. The highest bid was $1005, way out of my league, so I knew I couldn't meet them. >sigh<
Links to other sites on the Web
Slang Interpretation with guestbook at end
My Def Leppard Obsession
© 1997 tkseeker@mynewroads.com
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