Def Leppard: A cheat sheet to the concert

If the name Def Leppard does not ring a bell, no shame in that. They were everywhere in the late 1980s and then, like a lot of rock bands, slowly fell off the radar for anyone who was not already a fan.

They are one of the few bands of those years though, who never really stopped — they have been touring and recording for nearly fifty years, and they still draw enormous crowds. They are in India this month for the first time, played Shillong on on March 25th, will play Mumbai on March 27th, and Bengaluru on March 29th at Nice Grounds. BookMyShow Live is promoting the tour.

Each show has an Indian opening act. Mumbai gets Indus Creed, who have been a pillar of Indian rock since the late 1980s. Bengaluru gets Thermal and a Quarter, a Bangalore band with a long and devoted following. The Shillong show opened with Trance Effect, a Nagaland-based band.

The Shillong show has already happened and by all accounts it went well. Thousands turned up and sang along to Hysteria, Photograph, Rock of Ages, Animal and Pour Some Sugar on Me. Anyone who has ever been to a Def Leppard show will tell you the crowd participation is half the experience.

More from Lifestyle

Who are Def Leppard

Five kids from Sheffield formed a band in 1977. Vocalist Joe Elliott, guitarists Phil Collen and the late Steve Clark, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen. They came up as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal alongside Iron Maiden and Saxon, though Def Leppard always had more of a pop sensibility than either of those bands, which is partly why they ended up so much bigger in America.

Their 1983 album Pyromania sold over seven million copies and made them MTV stars. Then came Hysteria in 1987, which is the one that matters most. Twenty-five million copies sold worldwide. Seven hit singles and over two years on the American charts. Pour Some Sugar on Me, Animal, Love Bites, Photograph — if you grew up anywhere near a radio in the late 1980s, these songs are already somewhere in your head whether you know it or not.

The making of Hysteria has a story attached to it that most people do not know. In 1984, drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car accident on New Year's Eve. The band did not replace him. They waited while Allen figured out how to play drums again using a custom electronic kit, one arm and both feet. Hysteria came out in 1987 and the drumming on it is some of the most precise on any rock record from that decade. Allen has played every show since.

Why India, why now

Def Leppard have not played India before — not properly. They came over in 1998 for the MTV Asia Awards and did a couple of songs, and a 2008 tour was announced and then dropped. This month is the first time they are actually here for real shows.

India's live music scene has scaled up quite a bit as of late. Guns N' Roses, Linkin Park and Green Day have all come through. Promoters are more confident, venues have gotten better, and there is clearly an appetite for this kind of show. The rock fanbase here was built the hard way — cassette tapes, MTV, college festivals, a long before any of these bands thought to include India on a tour itinerary.