Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott has revealed the band are planning to release a live recording from a 1980 tour in support of their debut album, “On Through The Night.”
"We thought about this about a year and a half ago," Elliott tells Eddie Trunk on his SiriusXM show Trunk Nation. "And there's gonna be a celebratory release. I don't know how much of this I can say right now. I might be breaking protocol. But I will say this much: there's a companion piece to 'On Through The Night' – there's a brand-new, just-mixed live performance from the Oxford Theatre from 1980, which has never been heard ever.
"It's warts and all," continues the rocker. "It is what it is. It's us live in 1980. We were discussing off-mic about lip-syncing or overdubbing ... You can't expect a 59-year-old me to go in and clean up a 20-year-old vocal. You know what I mean? So, it is what it is.
“But I tell you this much: the band… As I said in the liner notes, when you peer through the curtain of uncertainty that my voice was back in those days, there is a fantastic band onstage. And the two-armed Rick Allen with Sav [bassist Rick Savage] was some rhythm section to come, considering he was 16 years old and Sav was 17, I think — maybe 18. And Pete [Willis] and Steve [Clark] were 17 and 18 years old. It was some band."
Elliott’s reference to the live album serving as “a companion piece” to “a celebratory release” of “On Through The Night” suggests Def Leppard may deliver the project as an expanded 40th anniversary reissue in 2020.
Produced by Tom Allom, the record originally reached No. 15 in the UK and No. 51 on the US Billboard 200.
Def Leppard recently completed their 2019 Las Vegas residency at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, where they filmed the final two nights for a future DVD release; the band will next be seen playing the grand opening concert for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at the Toyota Amphitheatre in Sacramento, CA on November 2.
.@DefLeppards Joe Elliott gives us the scoop on the band's never-before-heard release of a 1980 live show in London. 😱 Hear the full @siriusxmvolume interview On Demand. pic.twitter.com/dGYMQ4yNel
— SiriusXM (@SIRIUSXM) October 16, 2019
See also:
VIDEO: Def Leppard perform Pour Some Sugar On Me at iHeartRadio Festival
Def Leppard film Las Vegas residency for future DVD release
VIDEO: Def Leppard rock rarities in Las Vegas residency launch
VIDEO: Joe Elliott performs Def Leppard classic with Billy Joel in New York
Search Def Leppard at hennemusic
