When Def Leppard’s members realized they wouldn’t be exploring the world on the Stadium Tour last year, they decided to conquer the backs of their wardrobes instead. A new online museum that they’ve dubbed the Def Leppard Vault (a nod to their 1995 greatest hits comp, Vault) collects images of artifacts from throughout the group’s 40-plus–year history and commentary from the band.
“After months of digging through our personal rock & roll closets (and warehouses, no less!), we present you our history,” frontman Joe Elliott said in a statement. “Our historic vault will continually be updated with installments you may have seen with some gems I promise you’ve never heard or seen! It’s a true backstage pass for any Def Leppard or rock & roll fan! Please … step inside and walk this way!”
The Vault’s current gallery offerings include a collection of photographs (pun intended) from throughout the band’s history, a thorough compendium of Leppard-branded T-shirts, a look into the mysterious “Don’t Ask” shirts the band wore in the runup to the release of Hysteria (“When’s the record coming out?” Elliott points to shirt), the musicians’ favorite battle jackets (and supplementary audio from the group), and song-by-song director’s commentary from the band about the original Vault tracklist.
There’s also a section dedicated to “artifacts,” including reminiscences about playing in the round on the Hysteria tour, the band’s private planes, Phil Collen’s favorite guitars, and commentary about Collen and guitarist Steve Clark’s escapades in Paris, among others. Def Lep fans also get an area to show off their own extensive collections of memorabilia. Def Leppard’s band members promise to update the Vault regularly for years to come.
Meanwhile, the band hopes to get back on the road for the Stadium Tour this summer. Depending on the state of the world, the trek will kick off in Nashville on June 19th and run through September. Collen recently said that he’s looking forward to the tour with a caveat. “I’m really confident [it will go forward] if they get the vaccine rolled out,” he told the Jeremy White Podcast (via Blabbermouth). “It’s the same way anywhere around the world. You go, ‘Hey, are you coming to so and so?’ Well, I don’t know if we’re allowed to travel and whether we would be allowed on the plane or even in that country. So, it’s looking good — or not. We really don’t know. It really comes down to how everyone deals with approaching this pandemic and stuff.”
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