I spent the next day, Saturday, killing time, just looking forward to the centerpiece of this vacation: a full Def Leppard show in a hall of 1,500 seats or so.Īlas it was not to be. We would all soon find out that the Grim Reaper wasn’t done yet. Sailing on the High Seas with our host #DefLeppardCruise (Photo via /VuImmu0lwnĪs Elliott spoke about the recently deceased Bowie, he noted that January 2016 had claimed so many rock legends, including Motorhead’s Lemmy and Glenn Frey. I found them all friendly despite the onslaught of some 40- and 50-something women channeling their inner 1980’s groupies, teased hair and all, clearly wanting to end up in band members’ cabins. I even got to say a quick hello to Elliott (I didn’t quite fall to my knees yelping “I’m not worthy,” but almost), guitarist Viv Campbell and drummer Rick Allen, during a group photo. (Fans couldn’t help noticing that his voice had gotten far more hoarse since the previous evening.) The rest of the band came on to do snippets of three classics, including the inevitable “Pour Some Sugar On Me.” It was a moment of communion between band and fans. Lead singer Joe Elliott feels about David Bowie as I do about Def Leppard, and with bandmates Rick Savage (bassist) and Phil Collen (lead guitarist), he launched into a cover of “Ziggy Stardust” on acoustic guitar. On Day 1, the band held a 90-minute “Storytellers” Q&A session, answering fans’ questions from the old and tired (What does the “gunter glieben glauchen globen” intro to “Rock of Ages” really mean?) to the more interesting (“What vocal exercises does Joe do to warm up for a show?”)Īnd there was some music, too. Soon enough, though, our luck would change. I had trouble suppressing my excitement at being mere feet from my idols. The voyage got off to a promising enough start, when Def Leppard came to the pool deck to wish the faithful happy “sailing away” as we left Port Miami. The ship hosted the Def Leppard cruise in 2016. Instead, we got what many on the MSC Divina by the second day were calling the cruise from hell: a lead singer without a voice, a death in one of the supporting bands, and monsoon-like weather that scuttled land excursions, leading us to float around the Caribbean aimlessly wondering which Rock Gods we had offended. The journey was supposed to feature a full Def Leppard show in a small setting, stops in two ports of call in the Bahamas, and a bunch of concerts by second-tier heavy metal acts. So it was with much anticipation that I flew to Miami last week to set sail on the inaugural “Def Leppard Hysteria on the High Seas” trip, from January 21-25, with 3,600 total strangers. Only this band could ever tempt me to try the kind of vacation I had never been remotely interested in: a cruise. I’ve seen them live 30 times, own 14 Def Leppard t-shirts, and even have a Def Leppard mousepad.
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