Joe's Voice is Not "Shot"

[ymsf]

Joe sounds good in this tour. I can vouch for that.
However, in the previous tours (since X tour) his voice was shot. I don't know what he did this time but he recovered.

[Kenny]

Joe sounds good in this tour. I can vouch for that.
However, in the previous tours (since X tour) his voice was shot. I don't know what he did this time but he recovered.

yeah he sounded alright but he had no volume at all - unless he just had a bad night....but I don't know about that. It was a week ago today so it's pretty fresh in my mind.

[weatherman90]

Joe sounds good in this tour. I can vouch for that.
However, in the previous tours (since X tour) his voice was shot. I don't know what he did this time but he recovered.

I will agree with you - in Winnipeg he sounded fantastic. I was at the end of the thrust so I got to hear him "up close and personal"

[Pacfanweb]

I've heard a lot of bands that have a "shot" lead vocalist, but after tonight I do not consider Def Leppard one of them.

David Lee Roth's voice is shot.

Brian Johnson's voice is shot.

Steve Augeri's voice is shot.

Joe Elliott's voice is obviously strained by age and use, but it is not "shot".

I saw Def Leppard in concert in Moline, Illinois tonight, and it was a FANTASTIC performance. Joe's vocals were at least 90% "on". What his vocals lacked, his entertaining, energetic, charismatic stage performance more than made up for. Sure, maybe tonight was an exceptionally good night. I was actually expecting Joe's vocals to be shot, but I was pleasantly surprised that they weren't. In addition, the backup vocals were very full and tight, and the harmonies were right in key.

I saw Def Leppard a few years ago outdoors at the State Fair in Springfield, Illinois, and I wasn't very impressed (the sound system was horrible). So going into the show tonight I wasn't expecting much. I was actually going to see how JSS sounds in Journey. I cannot tell you how blown away I was by Def Leppard's amazing performance! Every person in the entire floor section remained on their feet dancing and singing through the entire show. When it was over, the guys in the band were taking bows and you could tell they didn't want to leave. There was such a magic in the air, it was incredible! As my wife and I were heading to our vehicle, people were yelling and shouting "Def Leppard kicks ass" and going on about how great the concert was.

Based on what I saw and heard tonight, Def Leppard is far from a "washed up 80's band". Many of their shows are selling out, unlike most of the newer rock bands that have come out in the past 15 years. The crowd at tonight's show was a broad mix of people ages 12 - 60 (mainly female). I can't tell you how many scantilly dressed young women (teens and 20's) were there - you would have thought Nick Lachey and Justin Timberlake were performing. All the guys in Def Leppard looked extremely healthy and fit for their age (except for Joe starting to sport a little middle-aged gut). It was obvious that the hot ladies in the audience came to see Def Leppard as opposed to Journey. If the guys in Def Leppard are getting ready to retire, you could have fooled me. They were in excellent form tonight, and the crowd was loving every moment of it.

I'm sure some of you have heard Joe on bad nights (as every vocalist has), and maybe tonight was a really good night for him. If any of you get a chance to see Def Leppard in the next few weeks, I'd like to hear your opinion on Joe's vocals. I hope you get to hear him on a good night like I did.

In all fairness, if you look at the videos from the 2007 tour, I'd say David Lee Roth's voice is MUCH less "shot" than Joe Elliot. He sounds pretty much like he always did, but his access to his multi-octave screams just aren't as easy. But he still can do them, as the hundreds of videos out there can attest. Much better than he has in his recent solo tours.
And Dave doesn't really have "off nights" with his voice. His style just doesn't cause him to blow his voice out much, as happens to the screamers regularly.

Joe Elliott, he's a great performer, but let's face it: His off nights, he sounds terrible. There's too much audio/video evidence out there to think otherwise. This isn't to say he never has "good" nights anymore, but in all honesty, his voice is nowhere NEAR what it used to be.....all the songs are tuned WAY down from what they were, just so he can sing them. As most acts do...Whitesnake, for example, has all their stuff tuned down for Coverdale's voice now. None of these older guys, except "maybe" Sammy Hagar, can sing the songs in the original keys, at least not night after night live.

Doesn't mean they all don't still put on great shows, though.

[Pacfanweb]

Joe sounds good in this tour. I can vouch for that.
However, in the previous tours (since X tour) his voice was shot. I don't know what he did this time but he recovered.

yeah he sounded alright but he had no volume at all - unless he just had a bad night....but I don't know about that. It was a week ago today so it's pretty fresh in my mind.

This has always been a problem for him. A lot of what we know as Joe's voice is created in the studio. He never has been able to really wail live, anywhere near like on the albums, but I will say that he did use to be able to do it better years ago....as most singers could say. Look at the video from the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert. He does better than he can now, but still nowhere near as good as in the studio.