OTTAWA - Bright lights, big fat loud guitars, Wall of Sound vocals and audience fist-pumping to the max.

This ain't your father's Def Leppard, children, even though the bulk of the British hard-rockers' super-smash repertoire dates back to when some fathers were head-banging adolescents.

And yes, all your favourite sing-along goodies from that mid-'80s era were delivered to the 3,200 hard-rocking faithful at the Civic Centre Theatre last night.

A sea of stacked Marshall amps signalled things were going to be louder than loud, so if you were expecting guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, bassist Rick Savage and the one-armed fighting machine that is drummer Rick Allen to get all soft and sentimental, gruff lead singer Joe Elliott screamed out this piece of advice: "Let's get serious, if that is possible!" (Granted, he says this during a three-song acoustic spurt.)

CLASSIC CUTS

From the get-go, Def Leppard cranked out every ounce of amp juice to get the crowd pumped with its 1990s material -- Demolition Man, Make Love Like A Man or Promises -- all tasty slices of hard rock pie which have as much significance as, say, 1981's Let It Go.

But what the fans came out to hear during the two-hour show were those '80s classics, of which Def Leppard did not disappoint -- Rock of Ages, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Foolin', Animal, Armageddon It, Photograph -- all garnering decibel-breaking cheers.

Surprisingly, time has worked in Def Leppard's favour; the wannabes who've done as much arm-waving, mic-stand twirling and larynx stretching as Elliott did last night seem to have fallen by the wayside. Were Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister or Quiet Riot still in existence, Def Leppard perhaps would be viewed as just another big-riff bunch of grandiose rockers.

As it stands, the Defs' sound is a bit easier to take nowadays, so long as people don't mind their ears ringing for some time afterwards.

Meanwhile, ears definitely perked up for opening act Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who rose to stardom roughly around the same time as Def Leppard.

Probably most renown for her 1981 signature piece I Love Rock and Roll, Jett and her accompanying male troupe seemed to have disappeared out of radio listeners' reach by the '90s, making her kick-ass set a welcome return.

Look past the Sex Pistols getup of the band and you'll find dear tattooed Joan sporting a new coiffure, albeit of the shaved-head nature.

NAUGHTY NUMBERS

With far more guitar crunching fire than she's ever delivered before, Jett smoked the audience with fresh punk reworkings of Crimson and Clover, Do You Wanna Touch Me?, Light of Day, a humourous You're Gonna Make It After All (the theme for the Mary Tyler Moore Show) and a naughty new number, Fetish.

All told, harmonious singalongs like this might make a comeback.

Maybe now we can give her the respect she deserves.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5