Review: Def Leppard - One Night Only: Live At The Leadmill

Review: Def Leppard – One Night Only: Live At The Leadmill

Mercury Studios (October 11^th, 2024)

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

As a long-time fan of Def Leppard, I try not to be too cynical when I hear that they are releasing ANOTHER live album, their fourth official one in thirteen years, their fifth if you count the excellent LA Forum 1983 concert as part of the ‘Pyromania‘ Deluxe Edition release. A quick search of YouTube Music shows two more live albums from 1993 and 2020 that I don’t recall seeing physical releases for, and a slew of EPs from the band which includes live material.

So why another live release? By all accounts, this feels like nothing more than a money grab. The band played their hometown of Sheffield in May 2023 and decided to record the event to mark the occasion. They released the album exclusively on vinyl for Record Store Day in April of this year with only 6000 copies available. If this was the only release, I would say this would be a wonderful collector’s item to have and a prized possession for devoted fans. They then decided to release the album on all formats. In my eyes, this cheapens the specialness of the initial release.

So how do the songs sound? They sound decent, but there are better versions of all of these songs available, with a personal favorite being the mock cover version of their band Ded Flatbird that opened their ‘Hysteria: Live At The Joint, Las Vegas‘ album. Half of that setlist is represented here and if you are a fan of the band, then you already have the better live versions of these tracks.

I believe the songs have been tuned down, perhaps a half step, to accommodate for Joe Elliott’s age. He can no longer hit the highs in the key these songs were initially written in. With him being 63 at the time of this recording, that is understandable. The problem is that there are better versions of these songs live that are in the original key.

The album does contain two live tracks from their 2022 release ‘Diamond Star Halos‘. This was the first Def Leppard album I bought that I subsequently gave away to a friend. The 70s influences did not do much for me. I was interested to hear if the song performed live would have translated better for me, but alas the new songs were as boring as I remembered them being.

This release is truly for die hard fans who need to own everything the band releases. Apart from the new songs, there is nothing here that hasn’t been released before and sounded better. All the songs are on YouTube to check out for yourselves. Save your money and seek out the previous releases.

Tracklist: