The 80s were a long time ago, but you wouldn’t have known it when, on Thursday night, droves of fans came pouring into the O2 Arena in London, band tees and hairspray in tow. Def Leppard’s ‘Hysteria’ may be nearing its fortieth anniversary, but their live show is just as energetic and exciting as ever. Together with Extreme, the Sheffield-based five-piece put on a rock’n’roll show we won’t soon forget.

Extreme

It’s always a relief to recognise the support act at any show you go to, and a thrill when that act happens to be Extreme, a band of worldwide acclaim. The O2 arena wasn’t quite full when the Boston-based crew took to the stage— ticketing at the venue turned out to be an unmitigated disaster, delaying swathes of fans— but in the room, the anticipation and excitement were absolutely unmistakable. For this crowd, who’d come to hear soaring power ballads and good ol’ rock’n’roll, Extreme fit the bill to a tee: the stomping acoustic riffs of ‘Hole Hearted’ had everyone in this 20,000 seater arena grinning from ear to ear, and that’s not even their biggest hit. It hardly needs to be said that ‘More Than Words,’ which Nuno Bettencourt joked had been performed “at least 1000 times,” earned a sing-along the likes of which you only hear at sporting events, while the energetic romp that is ‘Get The Funk Out’ was simply a blast from start to finish.

On the band’s part, this was an extremely casual showing from the rock legends: Bettencourt’s endearing rambling between songs was clearly off the cuff, lending the show an intimate (if hardly striking) atmosphere. You could tell, in every moment, that Extreme knew how revered and respected they are— that sounds rather obnoxious, and maybe it might have been if the group hadn’t found room for fun throughout their show. Gary Cherone is not quite the singer he once was, but he made up for it time and time again through sheer charisma and force of will: even after all these years, he still duets ‘More Than Words’ quite beautifully. But of course, all eyes and ears were always on Bettencourt, a guitar virtuoso who’s name carries more weight than that of his own band. A medley of Ozzy Osbourne songs was the perfect vehicle to show off the man’s ridiculous talents, with him nailing the neo-classical brilliance of ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Bark At The Moon’ almost a year after his appearance at Back To The Beginning. Extreme’s show was, simply, a good time— what more could you really ask for?

Def Leppard

The thing that struck you most about Def Leppard in London, right from when they kicked things off with new single ‘Rejoice,’ was the sheer scale of their show: that might sound silly after we just saw Metallica in a venue four times the size, but in the room on Thursday night, you would’ve sworn Elliott and company were the biggest band in the world. The five-piece were unveiled beneath a gigantic pyramid of neon lights, immediately announcing their presence as an event— if that didn’t do it, the bellows of adoration that met ‘Animal’ afterwards certainly must have clued you in that Def Leppard had the entire O2 Arena glued to their seats. From then on, the band had us in the palm of their hand, constantly working to engage and uplift their audience. Joe Elliott’s lap of the venue in the middle of the show (complete with a thank you to “whoever grabbed my *ss”) only gave him a chance to see how much fun the standing section was having: at times, you could barely hear the likes of ‘Love Bites’ or ‘Photograph’ but for how loud everyone was singing along!

When you could hear the actual musicians on stage (which was most of the time, as the O2 was sporting a humongous arena-rock sound on Thursday night), it was easy to be struck by just how good these ageing stars sounded. Joe Elliott is 66 years old, and he can still tear through the sentimental balladry of ‘When Love And Hate Collide’ and the anthemic hooks of ‘Rock Of Ages,’ only really having trouble when his weak falsettos came into play— vocally, this was an absolute slam dunk from Def Leppard, so much so that one has to wonder how ‘live’ some of those backing vocals really are. Regardless, it simply cannot be denied that the band continue to perform their hits as well as they ever did, even forty years after they were written: Rick Allen was pulling out drum solos, for goodness sake, and the guy only has one arm! These hair metal classics aren’t the most technically demanding tracks out there, a fact that continues to serve the group: Collen and Campbell’s guitars jumped out at you like predators in London.

Now, Def Leppard are not a band topping the UK charts at this point in their career, and they’re obviously very aware of their status as a legacy act: the vast, vast majority of their setlist was comprised of material from the 80s and 90s, and it was clearly these songs the crowd wanted to hear. Of course, Elliott and company were never the most versatile of songwriters, and there came a point in the middle of the show where every track seemed to have the word ‘rock’ in the title, and the hits weren’t coming overly thick or fast. Even here, though, Def Leppard were not to be outdone by Extreme before them— Nuno Bettencourt’s return to the stage for an extended jam on ‘Slang’ was a welcome shot of energy into the performance, as was an unexpected (but nonetheless excellent) cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus.’ Where we peaked, though, was in that encore: ‘Hysteria’ had the phone torches and the cheers out in full force, while mega-hit ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ was, simply, a monumental moment. Def Leppard are a band who continue to sell their rock’n’roll persona, through and through— it’s 2026, and they haven’t aged a day.