Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie Review

That great old set of John Cameron Swayze commercials for Timex watches famously proclaimed "takes a licking and keeps on ticking", and metaphorically at least the same might well be said of Def Leppard, which despite having band members well into whatever the English equivalent of AARP territory might be still delivers a high energy performance in this concert from May 2023 done at least partially in support of their Drastic Symphonies project. Kind of interestingly, Drastic Symphonies didn't seem to really cause much of a stir in either the rock or classical communities, and this set of performances is "just" the band without any orchestral accompaniment, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This performance is notable in that it offered the band returning to their hometown of Sheffield to play at a relatively "intimate" venue where a non-arena sized crowd of under one thousand was able to get up close and personal with their heroes. Making the concert even more of a celebration is the fact that it was a "charity" show of sorts done in support of the Music Venue Trust. Joe Elliott's vocals and Phil Collen's guitar are both highlights throughout this concert, but the entire band is (to use a maybe inappropriate "generic" term) jazzed and obviously enthused about being able to perform for hometown fans in a smaller club.

• 1. Action
• 2. Fire It Up
• 3. Let It Go
• 4. Too Late For Love
• 5. Excitable
• 6. Mirror, Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
• 7. Slang
• 8. Kick
• 9. Bringin' On the Heartbreak
• 10. Switch 625
• 11. Hysteria
• 12. Pour Some Sugar on Me
• 13. Wasted

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at Sheffield is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The presentation offers secure detail levels and a nicely robust palette, both of which are elevated from some other concert fare by the better than average lighting on the smallish stage. That lighting tends to ping pong between blue and yellow tones, but commendably fine detail levels on everything from smudges on guitar faces to perspiration on actual faces remains largely intact. The interlaced presentation can lead to occasional combing artifacts on things like rapidly moving drumsticks or even hands strumming guitars. Camera coverage is typically excellent throughout (though it's kind of comical in some of the crowd shots to see people holding up their phones and filming, getting pretty much the same framing as what's actually on screen).

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at Sheffield features great sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options. The stereo track is fluid and offers great fidelity, but the surround track not only noticeably opens up the soundstage, it provides a more satisfying account of the midrange and especially low end. Clarity is exceptional, and my frequent complaint of vocals being mixed too far back in the surround track is commendably not the case here. Both vocals and some of the screaming guitar work are prioritized well throughout the concert. The mix of the nicely layered backups is also very nicely handled.

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements. The DigiPack also includes a CD of the show and an insert leaflet with pictures.

Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at The Leadmill, Sheffield Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The band has a bit of fun throughout this concert yelling out when various tunes were originally released or recorded, something that helps to keep that "keeps on ticking" aspect of the band's long lived success at the forefront. Some may quibble with the set list (where for heaven's sake is "Photograph"?), and the show is not especially long at just a bit over an hour, but what's here is delivered with authority and some really fantastic playing and singing. Technical merits are first rate, and Def Leppard: One Night Only Live at Sheffield comes Recommended.