Tuesday, 08 July 2008
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Currently Listening
High 'N' Dry
By Def Leppard
see relatedThe 'Miracle Show' (Def Leppard - live in Sofia, Bulgaria - 04.07.2008)
'Now, make some noise for yourselves, because you're heroes!'-said Joe Elliott to the people in Akademik stadium in Sofia who survived the long delay of the show, the pouring rain and severe wind ,just to see their idols for the first time ever in Bulgaria.
The show in Sofia was exceptional in every way you could possibly imagine. It was like Murphy was watching all over the place the whole time.
The show was set to start at 8pm with the rock monsters Whitesnake, but a 3 hour delay of the technique on the Macedonian customs gave the start to the long waiting. We listened to the covers of AC/DC, Sabbath, etc, the opening band made, and the millions of songs played from the stage stereo. Then there they were, the most precious words we anticipated to hear 'The equipment has just arrived!' .. Hallelujah! The stage had to be set, but it seemed like the staff didn't bother hurrying at all. At 11pm Whitesnake got on stage and brought our numb limbs back to life. But it wasn't over.Half an hour after their appearance the sky decided that the Bulgarian public deserves more.And it started to rain. Slow at first, and then it was awful. And the wind helped it to spread on the stage, too.The band seemed very frustrated of that fact and it looked like it killed their enthusiasm.
But never mind that, the waiting was worth it .And at around 1am – there they were - Def Leppard.
Joe Elliott, with his typical and great sense of humor got on stage with an umbrella and smashed it with the words 'Ah, who needs that?’'Guitar...Drums...' and that was it! We were someplace else. The rain and cold was forgotten and there was only the warm, beautiful feeling that we are so close to that great band, who really managed to show their class with great sound and performance, even though the delay and the rain, and the lack of sound check and rehearsal!
'Rocket' totally blew us up, and made everybody go into ecstasies; it was followed by 'Animal'. The Lepps made two songs from their new album 'Songs from the Sparkle Lounge' - 'Nine Lives' and 'C'mon C'mon'. 'Make Love like a Man' was next. Then the stage went dark, violet lights ablaze the air above Rick Allen and everybody recognized the beginning of the ballad 'Love Bites'. A song so powerful and moving, that always makes me shed a tear. And this time was no exception. It ended with the emotional guitar solo of Vivian Campbell. The rain finally stopped, as if it wanted to make room for the warm melodies Sav created. And indeed we all melted under the brilliant and powerful sounds of Rick Savage's bass, whose a minute and a half solo made the prelude to 'Rock On'
The sound again was ‘out of Earth'. The hysteria, however, was complete when it ‘sounded' - I'm talking about the songs - 'Hysteria', Armageddon It', Photograph'. As I predicted 'Pour Some Sugar on me' absolutely and definitely gave the powerful vibe it always gives. Then we heard the ‘four magical words' - 'Gunter, glieben, glauchen, globen '. Yes, you are right - 'Rock of Ages', indeed! Again Phil Collen's guitar riffs were magnificent and made us dream, and Rick Allen's drum set proved once more that he is the greatest drummer ever! It was the last song of the regular program, but of course their Bulgarian fans couldn't let them go and shouted for Encore. We would've never let them leave without hearing 'Let's Get Rocked'. And that very song put the end to the show.
As Joe Elliott said 'With that long delay and the horrible weather conditions it is a miracle that this show is actually happening' .He asked us to applaud Whitesnake for their performance, and ourselves for our braveness. He was very impressed that,even though English is not our mother language we knew the words to all the songs they performed, and even apologized for not knowing Bulgarian. The band loved the public, for we welcomed them so warm, and screamed all the time, having the best time of our lives and making them feel at home. They promised to come back, so we crossed our fingers.
The concert in Bulgaria was very hard to do, and out of luck, but it happened and after 30 years on stage, we finally saw Def Leppard on our home ground. The rain, the delay, the waiting and the wind tried to stop and discourage both the fans and the bands, but we all beat it. The high level that Def Leppard showed, in the terrible conditions and with no sound check, proved once again their professionalism and greatness, and just like magicians made us forget the misery and send us high above. I personally will never regret being there, and would live through all of this again just to see that unique band live one more time. Because it is totally worth it!
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