Amazingly, 2022's long-awaited “Stadium Tour” has gone on without a hitch. The tour, featuring Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts resumes tonight (August 5th) with the first of two shows at Boston's legendary Fenway Park.
Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott spoke candidly to Classic Rock about the massive trek and was asked how it's decided whether Leppard or Crue will close the show in various cities: “It’s all negotiated by management. We gave them Los Angeles, their hometown, they gave us New York. Seattle is the hometown of Nikki (Sixx.) There are 36 stadiums. As long as we headline 18 each what does it f***ing matter? In the age of streaming (a band’s popularity geographically) is not based on guesswork anymore, and if that information is available then why not use it?”
Elliott had nothing but raves for Poison frontman Brett Michaels, saying, “Bret Michaels is a brilliant ringleader, he’s not out there to be Paul Rodgers, and his band are a real bunch of merry men. They haven’t had a record out in decades, so they just play the hits, of which they have plenty, and the crowds love them.”
He was equally excited about Joan Jett's nightly performances, saying, “Listen, Joan is a monster. Her set is an hour long and there isn’t a song you’ve never heard before. She’s got such a great band.”
Joe Elliott remains amazed that bands with multi-decade histories are still able to move sizable numbers of new records and pack arenas and stadiums across the globe: “We were in the front end of a whole new way of doin' this and we're lucky that we've stayed together to be able to exploit that and enjoy it and all that kind of stuff. But even when we got together, we thought (we'd be around) maybe five or 10 years — because that's all there was. There was an eight-year-old Led Zeppelin when we formed. The Beatles had only been split for seven, the Rolling Stones and the Who were essentially, maybe, 13, 14-years-old. So, there was no band that was around for 40 years. So, it's insane when you say it off the top of your head just like that.”
