"Phillen" is the Facebook handle for Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen and his wife, Helen. I met Helen in Denver at Leppard's tour stop earlier this year and we chatted for 5-10 minutes. She works for I Love All Access and handles the band's VIP ticket packages. A few days ago, Phillen commented on Def Leppard's setlist Always a hot button topic to me, I (along with dozens of other fans) weighed in with my two cents. I've been very vocal about my frustration with Def Lep's boring setlists over the last 5-6 tours, so I thought I would share this back and forth exchange. Toward the end, you'll see some comments from Darren, who runs the DefLeppardUK.com website. He is not officially affiliated with Def Lep, but many believe he runs a much more informative site than even the band does.
PHILLEN: Birminghams show was absoluely amazing. DL was hot off the charts and Steel Panther and Motley Crue warmed up the crowd nicely for them. The DL band played hits that spanned their entire careers including Wasted, Let It Go, Gods Of War, Action, and When Love & Hate Collide in their set. Different countries have different hits so the guys make sure to cater to where ever they are for those of you who may ask, "Why didn't they play that at 'our' show?" For that premise the saying, "Different strokes for different folks definitely holds true here. And speaking of Wasted I gotta say I really hope the fans start practicing what they preach. I always see requests for Wasted but EVERYTIME the band has played this song including last night you could hear a fly fart. Come on folks! Take it from me>Not showing the love when a tune comes on is the easiest way to get it removed from a setlist permanently. Sure 27 people request it online but we need it to be at least 5000. If that's not the case say bye bye to Wasted and that's a fact jack! The guys are getting tired of taking a chance on playing it and having no response. This summer and these past tour legs have proved that although folks say they want to hear it the audience does not approve (or don't even know what it is) when it's played. Artists won't risk the integrity of their show on a prolonged basis. Who would? Still the show was a blast and the guys rocked it as usual.
KEN: I've been very frustrated by Leppard's recent string of very similar setlists, especially considering how often they've toured in the last 10 years. Even going back to the Hysteria tour, Lep played nothing from the OTTN album. My dream is for Lep at some point to do a VIP theater tour where they can play all the rare tracks and b-sides. Hard core fans would pay big bucks for the opportunity to hear those songs live. As for a track like Wasted, just because fans aren't jumping up and down doesn't mean they aren't getting off on its inclusion in the set. But that's just my two cents...
@KEN. You gotta view it from the artists' perception>If the crowd is going crazy and you start into one of your 'rarities' and all of a sudden you can hear a pin drop it's not good. There's no theory to prove otherwise. Artists don't have time to evaluate on stage. If they see you move and hear you scream they know you love it. If they see you stare blankly and leave for a beer they know you don't care. And I've seen some BLANK stares on Wasted. Definitely not worth the effort of making believers out of the crowd. No time to have the artist assume. Rock concerts are energy. If DL doesn't get it, they'll shift it til they do. One thing old skool DL'ers have to come to terms with is that the DL crowd is now actually younger than them. The kids and in betweeners aren't getting into the old stuff. They are starting somewhere in the middle or either with the primetime hits. That's premise for a major shift in DL's setlist too. For example> It's like going to a Prince concert. I'm a diehard Prince fan but I know for a fact that the house would fall silent if he played Sister or Irresistible Bitch. They were huge hits for him but most folks started their Prince journey on Purple Rain. It's understandable so I play my favorites at home where they will fully be appreciated. I wouldn't want Prince to risk his setlist falling apart because me and 100 other diehards out of 18,000 want to hear those classics. JMO.
KEN: I totally understand and respect the artists' perspective. I know I'll never hear the band play Ring of Fire or Me And My Wine in concert and I'm OK with that. I've seen Def Lep 19 times since 1987 and I also know most fans don't see a band that many times in concert. Again, my personal frustration comes in how similar each of the last 5-6 tours has been. I'd like to think there is room early in the set for a few rarities - just to balance things out a bit. Like I said, maybe one day we'll get a VIP tour - or maybe next summer the boys can play all of Hysteria to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the CD. I know, I'm a misty dreamer! Many thanks for the reply, Helen...
DEFDAZZDARREN: Wasted isn't a PSSOM type singalong, it also hasn't been played that often. Japanese crowds according to Joe always listen and don't jump around so it's the same elsewhere. They kept Mirror Mirror in the 2007 set at every show and that didn't generate mass singalongs. Some songs are listened to and others have more participation. To be fair most of the Wasted requests are from US fans where they never play it.
@DEFDAZDARREN - On the contrary Darren the band played Wasted in the states about 4 times and were disappointed with the response every time. I'm at every single show in the front of house and I gage the audiences temperment on every song. Wasted was not received well in the states. Sounds good on paper. Falls flat on stage. My point is>there are not thousands of people waiting to hear it. Think "The band's got to fill 18,000 seater venues. It's all or nothing."< The band's setlist doesn't change so drastically because they HAVE to play the hits. If DL really switched up their setlist to include random hits from a career spanning 30 years you'd easily lose Photograph, Hysteria, Sugar, Armageddon It,Love Bites, and other expected classics. THEN I'm sure it'd really be a problem. :)
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