Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe Take Lytham Festival 2023 for a Trip on the Wild Side [Photos]

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who did a double-take when it was announced that hard rock superstars Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe would be closing the UK leg of their ongoing World Tour in the coastal town of Lytham.

However, not only was the arrival of the hard rock pair the end of their own UK run but also saw the two bands bring to a close the week-long festivities at Lytham a week which kicked off with Jamiroquai and also saw the likes of Sting and Lionel Ritchie grace the stage.

Traffic problems meant missing the early part of Def Leppard’s set and, given the popularity of the Sheffield stars, it did seem a strange choice to have them playing second on the bill. Listening to the band storm through their multi-million selling set only confirmed that opinion.

Powering through hit after hit, including “Armageddon It,” “Animal,” “When Love and Hate Collide,” and “Rocket,” the Sheffield rockers delivered the kind of pristine set you would expect from them. Fans who couldn’t get tickets lined the coastal road and balconies, some with the best view of anybody and, as Joe Elliot and the band wrapped things up with a ridiculous final four of “Hysteria,” “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” “Rock of Ages” and “Photography,” they head off stage leaving the usually peaceful coastal town well and truly rocked!

As chaotic as ever, in the last forty-eight hours, Mötley Crüe have played gigs to 450 people at the Camden Underworld and over 60,000 people at Wembley Stadium, while the last six months have seen them part ways with original member Mick Mars and replace him with Rob Zombie guitarist John 5.

Despite a small exodus of fans after Def Leppard, when Vince Neil and Co hit the stage and into the opening pairing of “Wild Side” and “Shout At The Devil,” you get the feeling Lytham didn’t know what had hit it. From there on in, it was hit after hit as, like Def Leppard, the LA rockers plundered their own multi-million selling back catalogue for a career-spanning set.

“Too Fast For Love,” “Live Wire,” and “Looks That Kill” represented “the old shit,” while more recently, “The Dirt (Est.1981)” nestled alongside a plethora of tracks from their Dr.Feelgood album, including “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away),” “Dr.Feelgood” and “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S).”

The subject of much ridicule amongst the metal community these days, frontman Vince Neil strode about the stage with a massive smile on his face while John 5 has slotted into the line-up going about his job, like his predecessor, with minimal fuss. Elsewhere the pairing of Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee provided a solid backbone to the band and a middle finger in the face of the doubters writing them off.

“Kickstart My Heart” brought the curtain down on the night, the UK tour and Lytham Festival and, while it may not have been the finale the locals were expecting for the weekend, the LA rockers made sure that their performance would be one that Lytham and the longtime Crüe faithfuls would not forget in a hurry.

Mötley Crüe @ Lytham Festival (Lytham, UK) on July 2nd, 2023

36 photos