Def Leppard, Styx, & Tesla

Last night Spokane rockers had the pleasure of reliving the 80's era if only for a few hours. Def Leppard, Tesla, and Styx brought back the glory days of hair metal and 80's glam and I was loving every minute of it.

Tesla from Sacramento, CA opened the show to a packed house. I had the pleasure of seeing these rockers last year at a smaller venue here in town and met the guys. Tesla played all their hit songs such as, "Hang Tough" and "Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)" Wednesday night, both those songs sounded great, as did "Love Song," "Little Suzi" and the band's acoustic-driven hit cover of "Signs."

Styx hit the stage next, there are some memories there. One of my very first concerts was Styx and REO Speed Wagon in the old Spokane Coliseum I was only 12 or 13 years old. I had a portable cassette player I use to carry around with me and played their Pieces of Eight album over and over again. I was so hoping to meet Tommy Shaw but in such a large venue it is hard even for a photo journalist such as myself to even get close without a stage pass. Styx played their greatest hits such as, "The Grand Illusion," "Too Much Time On My Hands," "Lady" and "Come Sail Away" among others. They finished their set and the crowd was still wanting more and the guys returned to the stage for an encore.

I remember Styx Pieces Of Eight album, I use to carry a portable cassette player and play the album on the school bus all the time, it was my favorite then and still one of my favorites.

The excitement was at it's peak awaiting the headliners Def Leppard to hit the stage. The lights dimmed and the crowd went wild, they opened the show with " Rock Rock Till You Drop" then went into" Animal", " Let it Go", and "Fooling". All the bands sounded amazing as if no time had past at all. The visuals and stage lights were great and I was happy to see the big screen when Def Leppard performed so everyone in the Arena could see the show like they were sitting in the front row. Def Leppard played a song off their Euphoria album, "Paper Sun", that I wasn't familiar with but the visuals on the big screen in the background were like a tribute to our troops. I use to drive around in my IROC Camaro with Def Leppard pounding out the speakers, I played it so much I thought I would wear it out, it was also a great cruising Riverside album for those of you who might remember when cruising was a big thing.

Def Leppard ended their set and left the crowd wondering, they hadn't played Photograph yet? But they came to please and did a 2 song encore of "Rock of Ages" and " Photograph". The show was amazing and if you missed it, you missed a great one but no worries, Joe Elliot was promising to come back next year with some new material from their new album which comes out October 13, 2015.