On May 16th 2023, Rick Allen, Vivian Campbell, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott and Rick Savage will be in conversation at the Royal Festival Hall, talking about their incredible life in music, and their new book telling the tale – Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard, published by Genesis Publications.
TICKETS TO ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, MAY 16TH
ORDER BOOK FROM DEFLEPPARDBOOK.COM
Tickets to the event can be purchased via the Southbank Centre website. Especially for the event, copies of Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard that are bought in advance as an optional add-on are available at reduced price of £30 and will come with an exclusive commemorative event poster featuring a new portrait of the band taken by the rock photographer, Ross Halfin.
Released as a hardback, priced £35, on May 18th 2023, Definitely: The Official Story of Def Leppard is the ultimate record of Def Leppard’s legendary career and is available to order from defleppardbook.com and all good bookstores. A signed limited-edition version became the fastest-ever title to sell out in Genesis Publications’ history, after it was fully subscribed within days of its pre-order announcement.
Part memoir, part scrapbook, the wide-ranging narrative from the band chronicles Def Leppard’s incredible story through hundreds of photographs showing the band recording in various studios, at promo shoots, on tour in planes, trains, cars and Holiday Inns, backstage and, of course, doing what they are best known for – performing their explosive live shows in front of global audiences from 1978 to the present day.
From extensive new text contributions to in-depth archival interviews, every member’s voice is present within the book including Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Savage (bass and vocals), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar and vocals), Vivian Campbell (guitar and vocals), Tony Kenning (drums), Pete Willis (guitar) and Steve Clark (guitar). Definitely also features introductions by Queen founder and guitar maestro, Brian May, and renowned journalist and senior editor of Rolling Stone, David Fricke. A long-time friend and champion of the group, Brian May delivered the speech for Def Leppard’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, while David Fricke has written about the band from their earliest successes.
‘Def Leppard are original, inimitable and, well, I’m gonna say immortal.’
– Brian May
With unlimited access to the Def Leppard Vault, Definitely presents over 1,300 items of memorabilia and photography, spanning four decades of the band’s history such as handwritten correspondence, rare vinyl pressings, tour memorabilia, set lists, lyrics, stage clothing, music video storyboards, draft album artwork and press cuttings, including many from the band’s early days presented in a wallpaper sample scrapbook compiled by Joe Elliott’s mother, Cindy Elliott. Photographs from band members’ personal archives and fans across the world are featured alongside those taken by renowned rock photographers such as Ross Halfin, Mick Rock and Anton Corbijn.
Hot off the heels of the biggest North American stadium tour of 2022 with more than 1.3 million tickets sold across 36 dates, the world’s most iconic and celebrated rock legends Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe are currently on tour with their co-headline ‘The World Tour’.
Produced by Live Nation, the world tour played to sold out venues in South and Central America through February and March. The tour heads to Europe in May 2023 – which includes a stop at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Saturday, July 1st, 2023 – then wrapping up in Glasgow, UK at Hampden Park on July 6th, 2023. Late 2023 sees the bands play more USA headline shows. Check defleppard.com for tour dates and tickets.
Def Leppard are also set to release a new album, “Drastic Symphonies”, on the 19th May 2023 through Mercury. Def Leppard have deconstructed and rebuilt not only some of their most well known tracks but also some of their hidden gems as well. By and large, they have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album includes new vocals and guitars which culminates in stunningly beautiful symphonic arrangements. This album represents a bold new approach to Def Leppard’s most loved songs.
About Genesis Publications:
Genesis Publications was founded in 1974 in Britain as an independent publishing house true to the arts of printing and craftsmanship. Today, Genesis creates some of the world’s most sought-after books for readers in 90 countries, with new authors in 2023 including Paul Weller, Chuck D and Lenny Kravitz – see more at genesis-publications.com.
About Def Leppard:
With more than 110 million albums sold worldwide and two prestigious Diamond Awards in the U.S., 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® inductees Def Leppard – Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) — continue to be one of the most important forces in rock music. Over the course of their career the band has produced a series of classic ground-breaking albums that set the bar for generations of music fans and artists alike. The group’s spectacular live shows and arsenal of hits have become synonymous with their name, leading Def Leppard to be heralded as the world’s greatest live rock band. Def Leppard’s influential career includes numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, capturing the group’s legendary tracks, bringing together classic Leppard hits such as “Rock of Ages”, Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Foolin.” For the first time, in January 2018 Def Leppard debuted their full recording catalogue worldwide via streaming and download platforms. As they did with the original release of their records, Def Leppard dominated the worldwide charts again, which found their albums charting in the iTunes Top 10 in more than 30 countries, including Hysteria at #3 in the US, and #5 in the UK (36 years after the album had charted at No 1 in the Billboard charts). Def Leppard also had the #1, #2 and #3 records on the US catalogue albums chart. The band have gone on to amass a staggering 5.5 billion streams since 2018, reaching a younger 18-44 demographic that now represents 58% of their fanbase. Additionally, the band have garnered an impressive 15 million followers across their social media platforms.
In May 2022, Def Leppard released their twelfth studio album Diamond Star Halos. The album debuted at #1 on the Apple and Amazon Music charts. The album also scored a Top 10 debut on North America’s Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, marking the band’s eighth Top 10 album of their career, and garnered a #1 debut on Billboard’s Hard Rock chart. Diamond Star Halos had numerous Top 10 chart entries globally including a Top 5 debut in the UK. Following the close of their historic 2018 co-headline stadium and arena run in North America, Def Leppard sold in excess of 1,000,000 tickets, a massive feat in today’s touring world. Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe topped that number yet again with another sold out North American stadium run in 2022 selling over 1.3 million tickets. As always, the group keep pushing the boundaries with their electrifying live shows.
