DEF LEPPARD's PHIL COLLEN: 'We Really Sing' Live. 'A Lot Of Bands Don't Really Do That.'

In an interview with Paolo Phoenix of Magenta TV conducted at this past weekend's Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, DEF LEPPARD guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were asked how they manage to keep such an "insane level of craftsmanship" in their live performance after so many years of playing live. Phil said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, we love what we do. We love each other. We rehearse so much. We really sing. A lot of bands don't really do that. We put so much effort into just raising the bar — production, everything. We are our own favorite band, so we have to make sure we keep that kind of expectation really high."

Vivian chimed in: "Everything's important to this band, from writing songs to recording to the live performance to the show and the production. As Phil said, the singing, the playing, all the details matter. It's the sum of the parts that makes it so special. And as Phil also said, we all really genuinely enjoy it, and I think that joy translates in the music. You can tell that we're not just going through the motions and phoning it in. We really feel that it's a great privilege at this time in our life. We're in our 60s now. It's a great privilege to be where we are in our career and to have the opportunity to do this and to play to new audiences like Wacken. And indeed globally, our audience has for many, many years been getting younger. We now genuinely have a multi-generational audience, which is very encouraging, and that further encourages us to make DEF LEPPARD the best band that we can be."

Added Phil: "We played [a residency in Las] Vegas in February, and we'd done 12 shows, and at least four of them were in the top five shows we've ever done. So we keep getting better, and I think that's a great thing. Unfortunately, you see some artists and they kind of give up, and you see that, but we keep pushing it. We just keep raising the bar and just keep making it exciting."

Vivian explained: "We take our energy from the audience. We're playing these songs — most of these songs many, many hundreds or thousands of times. So, for us, the excitement begins with what we feel from the audience, and if it's a very exciting audience, we translate that into our performance and give it back."

DEF LEPPARD is currently working on the follow-up to the "Diamond Star Halos" album, which came out in 2022. DEF LEPPARD's new LP will include the song "Rejoice", which was released in late January ahead of the band's return to Las Vegas for their "Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency".

"Def Leppard: Live at Caesars Palace The Las Vegas Residency" ran through February 28, 2026 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. These new shows followed the band's sold-out residency successes in 2019 and 2013.

In January 2025, DEF LEPPARD released a cover of Ben E. King's 1961 classic "Stand By Me". All proceeds from the song went to FireAid, which raises money for those impacted by the fires that swept through Los Angeles in January 2025.

DEF LEPPARD's version of the song is featured in the Netflix film "Bank Of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger", which was released in January 2025. The band can be seen performing the track before the credits.

DEF LEPPARD's "Just Like 73" single, featuring a guest guitar solo from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello, was made available in June 2024.

DEF LEPPARD's 12th studio album, "Diamond Star Halos", came out in 2022. A year later, the band followed it up with "Drastic Symphonies", a collection of reimagining of some of DEF LEPPARD's greatest hits with London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road. The album spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Classical chart.

DEF LEPPARD was finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2019 — 14 years after the British rockers first became eligible.