OTTAWA -- Def Leppard teased a crowd of 9,200 at the Corel Centre last night, filing on stage amidst flashing red strobe lights and the sounds of Queen singing We Will Rock You.

Once they were there, the lights went white and flooded the house, and it was Action for a raucous, reminiscent 90-minute-plus set by the British quintet.

And if many of the 30-, 40- and 50-somethings in attendance have left their brash and boisterous tendencies to, as lead singer Joe Elliott advised, take the "f---ing roof off this place," behind, they still rocked out pretty good. But this '80s band has somehow managed to find a young following too, with a surprising number of youngsters snapping up seats.

The night unfolded with an astonishing array of the group's many hits, with boisterous hits such as Rock of Ages, Photograph and Rocket sounding the most definitive. If you weren't intimately aware of their catalogue, each song might have had you thinking "that was them, too?" It was the group's second night of their Canadian tour, and they seemed to enjoy their time playing inside for a change.

"So why are we here in Ottawa?" asked Elliott. "I'll tell you why. Twenty-five years, that's why."

The group stuck for the most part to its set list, deviating for a stripped-down version of Two Steps Behind from 1993's Retro Active that provided a little downtime amidst the group's string of thrashers, like Rock On, Armegeddon It and Let's Get Rocked. The crowd lapped up power ballads Hysteria and Love Bites.

It's a treat to see Rick Allen do his one-armed drumming thing, while bass player Rick Savage and guitarists Phil Collen and Viv Campbell created a rich sound that filled the centre to the rafters.

The group managed to take the appreciative crowd back to its good old days while staying right in the present. This was no Ozzy Osbourne shuffling around the stage.

Just five guys who clearly just love to play, who remember well the days when they were as Elliott put it, pointing at the crowd, "on that side, looking this way."