HOMETOWN heroes Def Leppard have defended their decision to do a co-headline tour amid suggestions they haven't got what it takes to fill major UK venues on their own anymore.
Ahead of Monday's show at Sheffield Arena with Whitesnake, singer Joe Elliott described it as simply a "great value ticket".
"This is not like the Glitter Band, Mud and Suzi Quatro on the bus playing Butlins, this is Def Leppard and Whitesnake, both with new albums, both acts more relevant than ever, playing arenas," said the Sheffield frontman.
"It's not some saddoes tour, it's not nostalgia. Of course there's gonna be old songs in the set, but they get to play some new stuff and look valid, so do we, and people come to hear stuff they know."
Could Def Leppard fill major UK venues on their own? Add your comment below.The tour follows the Lepp's latest album Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, their first in six years, and 50 sold-out arena shows in the US.
"No matter how long you've been around you're gonna go through periods where you're just not cool," admitted Joe, whose band has sold over 65 million albums and played to over 50 million fans in the last 15 years.
"The '90s in England were deemed the tough period for us but people over-hype the negativity because you tend to forget Adrenalize came out in the '90s and was number one in 22 countries – '96 was the big dip.
"We were doing okay live, we just weren't getting played on the radio. And once one journalist goes 'the '90s were tough' another journalist reads that and it all goes in one direction."
- See tomorrow's Star for a full interview with Joe Elliott.READ MOREMain news indexCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport.