The Slang World Tour was a worldwide

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often, concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific ...

by English hard rock band

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

in support of their album ''

Slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

'', which was released in May 1996. Although ''Slang'' was the first Def Leppard album to feature new material with guitarist

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio. He has also been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). C ...

, this was his second tour with the band. Campbell joined Def Leppard just prior to their

Adrenalize World Tour The Adrenalize World Tour – also known as the Adrenalize "Seven Day Weekend" Tour – was a concert tour by English hard rock band Def Leppard to support the ''Adrenalize'' album, released in March 1992. It was their first tour without guitaris ...

in 1992. Musically, ''Slang'' was considered a radical departure from the band's signature sound of highly polished 1980s hard rock. Introspective songwriting, minimal studio production and Rick Allen's return to acoustic drums resulted in a more raw and organic sound. In a 2016 interview, Vivian Campbell reflected on the influence that 1990s

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

era bands such as

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

had on the band's songwriting. Concert production was also a radical departure from previous tours. The Slang World Tour introduced a completely revamped concert stage design. This was the first Def Leppard tour since the early 1980s to only employ "end stage" production design. Previous tours (Hysteria World Tour, Adrenalize World Tour) often employed "in the round" stage design. Rather than getting a 360-degree view of the band's performance with "in-the-round" staging, the "end stage" format created an atmosphere where all spectators faced the performance from one side. The new simplified configuration consisted of a rectangular stage with a wall of Marshall amplifiers positioned on each side of Rick Allen's drum kit. Also, in contrast to previous tours, the Slang World Tour featured a minimalist light show without laser effects.Def Leppard Slang "None More Black" Tour Itinerary (13 August–September 21). Tour Books, Ink: San Francisco, CA 1996.

Opening acts

Tripping Daisy Tripping Daisy is a neo-psychedelic pop rock band that was formed in Dallas, Texas, by lead singer/guitarist Tim DeLaughter in 1990 along with Jeff Bouck (drums), Wes Berggren (guitar) and Mark Pirro (bass). The group disbanded in 1999 fo ...

Terrorvision Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 (as The Spoilt Bratz) in Keighley, West Yorkshire, and initially disbanded in 2001. The band used Bradford as a base after the name change to Terrorvision in 1991, by which time ...

Set list

Wings Stadium,

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

(26 June 1996) #"Gift of Flesh" #"Another Hit and Run" #"

Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) ''Pyromania'' is the third studio album by English rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983 through Vertigo Records in UK and Europe and through Mercury Records in the US. The first album to feature guitarist Phil Collen who replaced f ...

" #"

Foolin' "Foolin'" is a 1983 single by English heavy metal band Def Leppard from their diamond album ''Pyromania''. When released as a single later that year, it reached #9 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Cash ...

" #"

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

" #" All I Want Is Everything" #" Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" #"Deliver Me" #"

Hysteria Hysteria is a term used to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the bas ...

" #" Work It Out" #"

" #"

Bringin' On the Heartbreak "Bringin' On the Heartbreak" is a song by English rock band Def Leppard. A power ballad, it was the second single from their 1981 album '' High 'n' Dry''. The song was written by three of the band's members, Steve Clark, Pete Willis and Joe ...

" #"Switch 625" #" Two Steps Behind" (acoustic) #"

Photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

" #"

Rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

" #"

Armageddon It "Armageddon It" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album ''Hysteria''. It was released as a single in 1988 and went to No. 3 in the United States, becoming their 3rd top 10 hit. It also reached the top 10 in Canada ...

" #"

Pour Some Sugar on Me "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is a song by the English rock band Def Leppard from their 1987 album ''Hysteria''. It reached number two on the US US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on 23 July 1988. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is considered the band's signatu ...

" #;Encore #" Love Bites" #"

Let's Get Rocked "Let's Get Rocked" is a song by English hard rock band Def Leppard from their fifth studio album, '' Adrenalize'' (1992). Released in March 1992, the song peaked at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Album Rock Tracks chart, number 15 on the ' ...

" #"

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages is an epithet that is used in some translations of Isaiah 26, Isaiah 26:4 and may refer to: Films * Rock of Ages (1918 film), ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * Rock of Ages (2012 film), ''Roc ...

Tour dates

Personnel

Credits taken from the Slang World Tour itinerary. The band *

Joe Elliott Joseph Thomas Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute band the ...

– lead vocals *

Phil Collen Philip Kenneth Collen (born 8 December 1957) is an English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard. Collen joined the band in 1982 during the recording of the ''Pyromania'' album. Before joining Def Le ...

– lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals *

Rick Savage Richard Savage (born 2 December 1960) is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist and a founder member of the rock band Def Leppard. Savage and lead singer Joe Elliott are the only two remaining original members of the band. With ...

– bass, backing vocals * Rick Allen – drums Management *Malvin Mortimer – tour manager *Jim Pendolino – tour accountant *Mark Spring – production manager *Butch Allen – set/lighting designer *Brad Madix – FOH engineer *Phil Wilkey – monitor engineer Crew *David Sutherland – stage manager/bass technician *Stan Schiller – guitar technician *David Wolff – guitar technician *Tony Moon – drum technician *Rich Locklin – lighting crew chief *Jim Michaelis – lighting technician *Ken Zibrat – lighting technician *Michael Greene – lighting technician *Larry Vodopivek – sound crew chief *Rudy Dearing – sound technician *Brad Judd – sound technician

References

{{Def Leppard 1996 concert tours 1997 concert tours Concert tours of Argentina Concert tours of Austria Concert tours of Belgium Concert tours of Brazil Concert tours of Canada Concert tours of Colombia Concert tours of the Czech Republic Concert tours of Denmark Concert tours of Ecuador Concert tours of El Salvador Concert tours of France Concert tours of Germany Concert tours of Guatemala Concert tours of Hungary Concert tours of Indonesia Concert tours of Ireland Concert tours of Italy Concert tours of Japan Concert tours of Luxembourg Concert tours of Malaysia Concert tours of Mexico Concert tours of the Netherlands Concert tours of Norway Concert tours of Panama Concert tours of the Philippines Concert tours of Portugal Concert tours of Slovakia Concert tours of South Africa Concert tours of South Korea Concert tours of Spain Concert tours of Sweden Concert tours of Switzerland Concert tours of Thailand Concert tours of the United Kingdom Concert tours of the United States Concert tours of Puerto Rico Concert tours of Singapore Def Leppard concert tours