Ray Castoldi, Def Leppard to Perform for NHL Season Openers

Def Leppard, one of the major bands of the 80s "hair" movement, will perform to launch the 2008-9 NHL season on Rocktober 9 in Detroit at the Fox Theatre. Def Leppard have a lot of hits but they are also pumping a relatively recent "arena-inspired" song called "C'mon, C'mon." If you are in the demo, get on board!

I personally never heard Def Leppard after the early MTV years but met them working at Island in the 00s. They are a great bunch of guys and have one of the more distinctive road managers too, Malvin. He's about 5 feet tall but you would not want to tangle w/him, the dude runs a tight ship and has seen a lot. You also get the whole British vibe too. There are so few British bands, and it's such a bummer the accent gives them instant charisma and connection to the classics.

One of the things that impressed me about DL was their connection to Ian Hunter, whose Mott the Hoople music was inspirational to the band. (See below for a great Mott documentary)

Here is Joe Elliot working the crowd by wearing a jersey of a local team:



Says the NHL's SVP of Broadband and New Media Production Andre Mika, "Def Leppard is one of the legendary all-time rock bands. They're a terrific fit for our demographic. We have a demographic that loves this type of music. And we love working with Def Leppard because some of the songs off their new album are very hockey friendly."

They know how to promote! Here they are hitting their demo on the Ellen show a few years back. Beware: this video contains some embarrassing soccer mom fist-pumps.



Hopefully, there will be some Def Leppard played at the party for the Rangers' Czech opener on October 4 at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria NY! Sounds like a fun time and the Rangers are putting in a nice effort: Ranger great Ron Duguay and the legendary Madison Square Garden organist Ray Castoldi is set to perform!

If you would like to know more about Hockey and music, check out the Hockey Music Forum! Vibes as well to my friend Ronnie Ron Poster of the Boston Bruins, who introduced me to Ray as well as the late Eddie Layton.



The bottom line is I'm looking past baseball season.