The Def Leppard vocalist Joe Elliott recalled in an interview with Hot Press which was the first concert that he ever went to in his life. The musician was only a 12 year-old kid and even said the exact date of the show.
Joe Elliott recalls the first concert that he ever saw
“T.Rex was my first gig. October 23rd 1971. I was just twelve. To push the porthole doors open and walk into Sheffield City Hall, which was like a bigger version of the Olympia, and see Bolan in the flesh was the most incredible eye-opening moment.”
“Just standing there going, ‘Wow, this is the guy I saw on Top Of The Pops here in real life playing ‘Jeepster’. That’s what started all this off. Years later when Def Leppard played City Hall for the first time, I took the 52 bus down to soundcheck because that’s how I used to get to gigs there.”
“I walked out and stood on the exact same spot that Bolan had occupied. That was a really special moment,” Joe Elliott said.
Def Leppard covered T. Rex’s classic song “20th Century Boy” on their 2006 covers album “Yeah!”.
The band
Led by the late guitarist and singer Marc Bolan, T. Rex was formed in London, England in 1967 and became one of the most important Glam Rock groups of all time. Over 10 years they had released 12 studio albums and the group came to an end in 1977 after Bolan’s tragic death in a car accident at the age of 29.
Some of their most famous albums are “T. Rex” (1970), “Electric Warrior” (1971), “The Slider” (1972) and “Tanx” (1973). Elliott is a huge fan of Glam Rock groups from the 70s like Mott The Hoople, Slade, Sweet, David Bowie and Suzi Quatro that he already listed as some of his biggest influences.