British rock group Def Leppard, more than four decades after its single “Photograph” hit radio, has become such an enduring concert draw that they are the first music act set to perform at Atlanta’s Truist Park three times.
“It’s exciting that it’s a baseball stadium. It’s a big deal,” said guitarist Phil Collen in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from his home in Los Angeles.
This time around, Def Leppard is joined by Journey and the Steve Miller Band on Saturday, July 13. (Tickets are largely sold out with resale tickets at Ticketmaster starting at around $80.) Combined, the three groups have more than 40 top 40 hits.
Collen said management and promoters decide who Def Leppard is teamed with, but he is always game pairing up with peers from their 1980s heyday. He said their last tour with Motley Cruë two years ago was a blast.
“When we did South America, we had a giant plane for both bands and the crew,” he said. “It was arrested development. We were like children.”
While Journey has a different feel from Def Leppard, Collen feels the combo at one single concert is potent. “The fans get teary when they sing both Journey and Def Leppard songs,” he said.
He himself enjoys Journey’s big hits like “Open Arms,” “Faithfully” and, of course, “Don’t Stop Believing.”
“Obviously you hear it so much but it doesn’t get old with me,” Collen said. “Steve Perry’s voice was just magnificent.” He is quick to note that Perry’s current replacement Arnel Pineda “does such a great job of honoring those sounds. He has this wonderful energy.”
Def Leppard, unlike Journey, is rooted in metal, but the band’s innate ability in the 1980s to translate their high-energy live act into what was then the new medium of music videos helped them build a broad, mainstream audience.
“We totally embraced the visual of the MTV era,” he said. “Suddenly, we were more in the Duran Duran category than, say, Judas Priest.”
Collen was an integral part of the unique sound Def Leppard captured while recording their breakout album “Pyromania” in 1982. “I had lent them an amplifier as they started the album,” he said. “I thought I was going in there just to do some solos.”
Soon enough, Collen became a permanent fixture. “I think they had an agenda but they didn’t tell me about it until 30 years later,” he said. “That’s crazy!”
It’s been a fruitful journey for Collen and the rest of Def Leppard, which has stayed largely intact, unlike many of their peers. Besides Collen, there’s lead singer Joe Elliott, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen. (Guitarist Steve Clark died of alcohol- and drug-related respiratory failure in 1991.)
And they’ve toured heavily without any significant burnout from fans. Between 2007 and 2017, they headlined Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta a whopping eight times.
“There was always a threat of thunder and lightning there, but then it would clear up,” he recalled. “I’d fall asleep on the couch and then find out we had to go on in 20 minutes!”
Credit: ROSS HALFIN
Credit: ROSS HALFIN
For Collen, at age 66, complacency is the enemy.
“I work out. I’m a vegan,” he said. “There’s an integrity to it. We do our own singing. We don’t use samples. I practice every day. You have to raise the bar or keep it at a certain level. Being physical helps with that. We have to make it exciting. I see other bands stop trying. You want to be like the Stones. Mick Jagger is 80 and still running around. That’s the difference.”
Def Leppard has also avoided the public spats that have bedeviled many bands over the years.
“I can’t believe when I see other bands have members quit for bizarre ego reasons,” Collen said. “It’s insane.”
Age, he said, has brought wisdom and gratitude for what they have achieved. Before the interview, he and the band had a two-hour production meeting to prepare for this tour and he said the level of enthusiasm was infectious. “No one was getting pissed off at each other,” he said. “We were just so excited. You can’t get lost in your precious ego.”
The set list when they return to Truist will certainly include the core hits, he said: “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Hysteria,” “Love Bites,” “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages.”
But they will also be playing a new song, a recent collaboration with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello called “Just Like 73.”
“Tom Morello heard the demo from our publisher and was like, ‘Oh my God! This is amazing!’” Collen said. “Our publisher recommended he join us on the song. I’m a huge Rage fan so that was ultra cool. It worked out.”
The song’s concept came from Collen, who said 1973 was a formative year for him as a teenager. He had just seen Deep Purple in concert and David Bowie on TV. “There’s an absolute connection with Bowie, T-Rex and Slade in the song,” he said. “The New York Dolls, too. We want to celebrate those bands with this song.”
And he said the reaction to the song from 75 fans at a recent intimate SiriusXM concert was positive. “By the second chorus, they were singing along to the words of the song,” he said. “That’s a good sign.”
IF YOU GO
Def Leppard, Journey, Steve Miller Band
6 p.m. Saturday, July 13. $80 and up. Truist Park, 755 Battery Ave. SE, Atlanta, ticketmaster.com.
