Def Leppard, Poison, and Tesla Brought the Hair Back to Grand Rapids

Monday night, Def Leppard set up at the Van Andel to celebrate their 40th anniversary! The band has been at it for 40 years now, and brought Poison and Tesla, who are both celebrating 30 years together!

All three bands sounded great, and still put on really good shows, even after so many years on tour, and all the things they've done. Which is pretty cool.

Tesla kicked off the night at 7, and powered through a short set of some of their more well-known songs, including "Signs", "Love Song", "Edison's Medicine", "The Way It Is", and of course, "Modern Day Cowboy". Probably the coolest intro riff they've ever written.

Poison hit the stage next, for a pretty lengthy set, and had a lot of energy as they went through their show. They enjoy Grand Rapids, and Brett even told the story about his visit last year for Aerosmith's concert, where he showed up in town and partied with the crowd at the show. I've seen Poison a few times, and every time I'm surprised again at how good they are live.

All that hair from the 80s makes me forget.

Then, it was time for Def Leppard to take the stage. They cleared everything off the stage, and the guys had a lot of room for their show. The band sounded pretty good, but their sound person does a weird thing...the guitars get really quiet during the vocals, and then come roaring back for solos and other parts. I mean, REALLY quiet. Lots of bass and drums, with the guitars pretty buried.

But they sounded really good, and I loved hearing the stuff from the first few records, like "Let It Go", "Bringin on the Heartbreak", "Switch 625", and more.

So many people reliving 40 years of Def Leppard, and lots of people brought their kids to get them into the band, too, as the Van Andel was packed for this show.