The Rock of Ages 2012 Tour came through Darien Lake, in Western New York, last Friday night featuring Def Leppard with Poison and special guest Lita Ford. With a resurgence of the Broadway play “Rock of Ages” now turned into a movie, Def Leppard headlined this appropriately named tour. With ’80s rockers Poison and Lita Ford in tow, Darien Lake seemed to be in good hands this past Friday night.
Lita Ford, who has a new album titled “Living Like a Runaway,” opened the night with a solid six song set. Yes, the set was short but Lita packed a punch with her limited times slot. The bonus track off her latest release is a cover version of Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back” and it was a very appropriate way to start things off. Dressed in all black leather, Lita played her white BC Rich double neck guitar on her two closing songs “Close My Eyes Forever ” and “Kiss Me Deadly.” She engaged the audience and looked like she was having fun again! That “fun” seemed to be lacking the last few times we saw her in concert.
Next up was Poison. What’s summer without a Poison tour and they are familiar with the WNY area. The band took the stage without their famed frontman Bret Michaels. Michaels levitated from beneath the stage to a mass amount of fireworks as “Look What the Cat Dragged In” was played. Watching a Poison show, you know what you’re going to get, a high energy set with lots of balls! This was no exception. Poison still has all of its original members: Bret Michaels, CC Deville, Bobby Dall and Rill Rockett. The drawback of Poison’s set was since they weren’t a headlining, they didn’t cover much material. I think they should have skipped the drum and guitar solos for more material. Michaels didn’t play much guitar, except on “Fallen Angel.” Dall, being a huge football fan, came out towards the end of the set wearing a Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo Bills) jersey.
Def Leppard took the stage at about 9:15pm to a mass of smoke. Both bassist Rick Savage and vocalist Joe Elliot also levitated from the stage joining the other members while they were playing “Undefeated.” The entire band (especially Elliott), worked the thrust that was at the center of the stage the entire night. Much has been made on how Elliott’s voice lacked the quality and punch in recent years/tours but, to me, it held strong for most of the set. In fact, I haven’t seen Def Leppard in a few years and they sounded better than the last time I saw them back in 2008. Hearing “Gods of War” was the highlight of the night for me. From true Leppard fans, they said this song hasn’t been preformed since the Hysteria tour. On “Make Love Like a Man,” guitarist Phil Colin took the lead vocals on one of the verses. The band came out one by one for a acoustic jam at the end of the thrust, playing snippets of some of their ballads and classic songs along with a Rolling Stones cover “You can’t Always get What You Want.” All sitting on a road case, the band played and interacted very heavily with the crowd. The tune “Women” sounded amazing! It may have been the gem of the night. During “Photograph,” old band images were displayed on the video backdrop. All in all, a great night of music for ages young and old alike!
Setlists:
Def Leppard:
Undefeated
Rocket
Let it Go
Foolin’
Make Love Like a Man
Animal
Love Bites
Lets Get Rocked
Gods of War
Acoustic medley: You Can’t Always Get What You Want (The Rolling Stones cover)/Where Does Love Go When it Dies?/Now/When Love and Hate Collide/Have You Ever Needed Someone so Bad?/Two Steps Behind
Women
Bringin’ on the Heartbreak
Switch 625
Hysteria
Armageddon It
Photograph
Pour Some Sugar on Me
Encore:
Rock of Ages
Poison:
Look What the Cat Dragged In
Ride the Wind
Your Mama Don’t Dance (Loggins & Messina cover)
Guitar solo
Fallen Angel
Unskinny Bop
Drum Solo
Every Rose has it’s Thorn
Talk Dirty to Me
Nothin’ but a Good Time
Lita Ford:
The Bitch is Back (Elton John cover)
Hungry
Relentless
Living Like a Runaway
Close My Eyes Forever
Kiss Me Deadly
Photos by Gus Griesinger. We would like to thank Lynn McDonald form Livenation for her assistance in BackstageAxxess covering the show. Stay tuned for an interview with Lita Ford that was conducted before the show.
