The tour that some thought would never happen finally kicked off after numerous delays. Last night Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, along with Joan Jett and Blackhearts and some opening guests finally kicked off their long awaited stadium tour.
Starting off at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA, each group ripped through some pretty lengthy set lists. Much larger than I anticipated. Poison performs a twelve song set list. Motley Crue does sixteen. And Def Leppard comes in with a full eighteen song set list. That’s a huge sequence of shows. Certainly worth the money that’s being paid for the tickets.
The evening was full of surprises. Including an unannounced guest spot by Machine Gun Kelley during Motley Crue’s performance of ‘The Dirt.’ And unfortunately Tommy Lee had to step away from drumming due to four broken ribs. Which he broke a few weeks ago. Supposedly. He’s sure moving around like he doesn’t have broken ribs. Either way, he made a quick statement and has assured fans he will be back behind the kit soon. In the meantime, Ozzy Osbourne drummer Tommy Clufetos will be doing an admirable job filling in.
Heavy rain showered down during Def Leppard’s set. But that didn’t deter the hard rock legends from delivering an ace set. Knocking it out of the park. No pun intended. Proving time and time again that they are one of the great rock live acts of all time.
Overall the bands seem to be performing on a high level. Vince Neil even sounds passable. So those voice lessons he took over the pandemic seem to be paying off. He’s not great. But certainly way better than when I saw Motley Crue at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015. Also, the visuals look pretty damn impressive. Crue’s lights look really intense and it should be quite a show by the time they roll around to SoFi stadium here in Los Angeles. Hopefully the bands change the set lists a little bit as the tour progresses. But I’m not holding my breath on that. So far, so good.
