Def Leppard kicked off the second leg of its U.S. tour Wednesday night (July 30) at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. In her review of the show, Miriam Ramirez of The Monitor wrote, "[Def Leppard singer Joe] Elliott used his time on stage to fuel the ongoing beef between [him and] Poison drummer Rikki Rockett and Bret Michaels who were forced to defend their rock credentials after a jab from Elliott.

'Just like Rikki Rockett... f-ing idiot. He's just never seen a good band before,' Elliott said after some technical difficulties."

What started this whole thing? At a June 6 press conference in Sweden, Elliott was asked how Def Leppard managed to avoid getting caught up in the whole "glam rock" scene of the 80s even after citing such image-oriented artists as David Bowie and T. Rex as major influences.

Too which Joe Elliott replied: "If you actually look at the way that the 'glam' bands, if you want to call it that, from Los Angeles dressed themselves up, they totally missed the point.

"When English glam bands from the '70s came on 'Top of the Pops' [long-running British music chart television program], it was almost an afterthought to what they were actually doing -- music always came first, and then they'd be like, 'What are we gonna wear?' . . . Bowie was very image-driven, and maybe the music came second, but a lot of the other bands, it was always about the music -- the image thing was just something that they did to just upstage other bands on 'Top of the Pops'; that's what they used to do.

"So we were never driven to do the mascara thing or whatever these bands did. They didn't have any substance musically, I don't think, in comparison to us, so we didn't feel we needed to do it. Bands that do that are doing it to cover up the fact that there is no substance in their music. The only band -- and I'm not saying it because we're here -- the only band that did pull it off was [Finland's] HANOI ROCKS. I thought HANOI ROCKS were a good band, and they looked... Michael Monroe [HANOI frontman] was one of the best... I would have shagged him. [Laughs] I like Michael, I think he's sexy, and I'm not gay. And I think Andy McCoy [HANOI guitarist] does the best kind of Keith Richards... so much better than Motley Crue or Poison or any of those bands. They [HANOI ROCKS] were real -- the rest of the guys, it was all a bit fake for me."

Poison singer Bret Michaels was asked to respond the very next day at a press conference for the very same Sweden Rock Festival:

"Well, I didn't hear the comment, but I can say this: all I do is I sit around and play music and do stuff [related to music]," Bret replied. "I know Def Leppard, for some reason, they get a kick out of wanting to knock every band. My thing in life is not about knocking any music. I mean, obviously, I'm saying this for Ppoison, we have not sold out, and continuously, for 20 years every arena because we care about just our appearance.

"The music comes first. You've gotta like 'Talk Dirty to Me' and 'Nothing but a Good Time'. And if I'm gonna go out on stage and put on a good show and play... First of all, that band [Def Leppard] shouldn't be knocking anyone about their music since they just did a show called 'Dancing with the Stars' in the U.S. and they got crucified because they f***ing lip-synched the entire show, so before they bust anyone's balls, I've never lip-synched an f***ing thing in my life -- ever!

"That's what makes it so funny for me, because why would you wanna bust anyone's balls? It's all of us trying to make music and do it together, and I think if you crucify somebody, it's like the pot calling the kettle black.

"But I have nothing against them -- I like their music, and I'm sorry they feel that way. I don't wanna put Hanoi Rocks down -- I know a couple of their songs, and they're really good music -- but I think Poison, when you see tonight when we play, there's nothing... You walk around our stage -- there's nothing behind. Everyone's out there singing and playing. For better or for worse, it's all real."

Video footage of Elliott's original comment and Bret's response can be viewed below.



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Def Leppard's setlist was as follows:

01. Rocket
02. Animal
03. Let's Get Rocked
04. C'mon C'mon
05. Foolin'
06. Mirror, Mirror
07. Nine Lives
08. Love Bites
09. Rock On (acoustic)
10. Two Steps Behind (acoustic)
11. Bringin' on the Heartache
12. Hysteria
13. Armageddon It
14. Photograph
15. Pour Some Sugar on Me

Encore:

16. Bad Actress
17. Rock of Ages

This tour supports Def Leppard's newest album, "Songs From The Sparkle Lounge", which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200. The band's ninth studio album contains 11 new songs, including "Nine Lives", featuring a collaboration with country music superstar Tim McGraw.

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