Def Leppard, the Sheffield band behind Hysteria and Pyromania, played a double bill with Extreme at The O2 arena on a UK and European tour.
Def Leppard played The O2 arena on Thursday 2 July 2026 in a double bill with Extreme.
The band began in 1976 at Tapton School in Sheffield, where Rick Savage and two classmates formed a group that became Def Leppard, after Joe Elliott proposed the name Deaf Leopard. Rick Allen joined as drummer at 15. High ’n’ Dry, in 1981, produced Bringin’ On the Heartbreak, one of the first rock videos played on MTV. Pyromania, in 1983, produced Photograph and Rock of Ages and was certified diamond in the US. Hysteria, in 1987, topped the charts in Britain and America and sold more than 15 million copies, with six US top-20 singles. On the last day of 1984 Allen lost his left arm in a car accident, and he returned to play on a custom electronic kit.
They have sold more than 110 million albums and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The line-up has been unchanged since Vivian Campbell joined in 1992.
Extreme played first, and Def Leppard opened with Rejoice, their newest single, beneath a pyramid-shaped lighting rig modelled on the Hysteria cover. Animal followed, and Just Like ’73 supplied something new, then a cover of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus, which Elliott introduced as something borrowed. Bringin’ On the Heartbreak showcased the twin guitars of Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell.