DEF LEPPARD To Play Entire 'Hysteria' Album During Las Vegas Residency

According to USA Today, DEF LEPPARD will play its 1987 album "Hysteria" in its entirety as part of a nine-show residency at the 2,950-capacity The Joint at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, starting at the end of March.

"We're very happy to be part of what I call the first wave of rockers to take Vegas back from the lounge singers — Wayne Newton and his type," says DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott.

"Things like 'Run Riot', 'Don't Shoot Shotgun' and 'Love And Affection' got left by the wayside because of the popularity of other songs that, to be frank, if you don't play them live, you don't get out of the building alive," Elliott adds. "The oddest thing is going to be doing 'Pur Some Sugar On Me' fifth. In many respects, it's like the TROGGS opening with 'Wild Thing'."

"In Las Vegas, you have to give people something they can't see anywhere else," says Bobby Reynolds, vice president of booking at AEG Live.

Viva Hysteria! will begin March 22 and follows Hard Rock residencies from MÖTLEY CRÜE and GUNS N' ROSES.

Tickets go on sale Friday and start at $49.50, with floor seats going for $125.

DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock earlier this year about the possibility of a Las Vegas residency. "We've been talking about this for 10 years, me and Joe Elliott, more than anyone else," he said. "We [would] do [whole albums like] 'Hysteria' or we do 'Pyromania' one night and something like that would be great, but we've just talked about it. Obviously we haven't got it into gear, it would be cool. It's getting the time to do it in a venue; I think that's brilliant MÖTLEY CRÜE doing it."

On August 3, 1987, DEF LEPPARD released the album "Hysteria". Already a major force in rock music, "Hysteria" catapulted the band into the stratosphere. The statistics for "Hysteria" are astounding. The album has sold in excess of 17 million copies and counting. Due to the incredible success of previous album "Pyromania" (released in 1983) and "Hysteria", DEF LEPPARD are one of only five rock groups who can claim two separate original 10-million-plus-selling albums in the U.S. The others are THE BEATLES, LED ZEPPELIN, PINK FLOYD and VAN HALEN. The "Hysteria" album also spawned seven hit singles! Enormous hits such as "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Animal", "Love Bites", "Armageddon It" and "Rocket" are rock staples that still enjoy huge popularity today and have helped make DEF LEPPARD Britain's greatest ever arena rock band. The album remains DEF LEPPARD's best loved.