THOSE entering the MEN Arena without ear-plugs on Sunday evening certainly did so at their own peril as three of the loudest bands you could ever wish (?) to hear broke every conceivable noise level.

Steel Panther played a 40-minute set of eight songs which put me in mind of Spinal Tap. Are they for real?

They seemed to tick off every heavy metal cliché going, and to be honest the language was a bit too much even for my worldly ears.

The hour and a half we spent in the company of Motley Crue was spectacular to say the least.

Over a dozen of their finest, including their biggest hits such as: Primal Scream, Home Sweet Home (with drummer Tommy Lee playing the piano), Dr Feelgood, Smokin’ In The Boys Room and Girls Girls Girls were played at full volume, pummelling our senses into submission.

The pyrotechnics were loud and frequent also.

During the set, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard came on to lead the 10000 crowd in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Crue’s Nikki Sixx.

The highlight of their set however was the rollercoaster drum solo where the aforementioned Lee was strapped in his seat and played his solo while going around their bespoke rollercoaster – at one point playing upside-down.

Not content with that, they bolted another seat to the rig and took a member of the audience on the ride of her life!

The main event – Def Leppard – had to follow that – and naturally they did.

To describe Def Leppard as ‘melodic’ is perhaps an unusual choice of words, but compared to what had gone before, they were.

Ninety-five minutes of full-on British Metal from the Sheffield group confirmed the fact that, where rock is concerned, British is best.

Seventeen numbers thundered from the stage as Joe, Phil Collen, Viv Campbell, Rick Savage and Ric Allen showed that things get better with age.

Staring with Undefeated and then the classic Rocket, the band played the other bands off the stage.

Their cover of The Sweet’s Action was a sure-fire show-stopper and so it continued.

There waas even time for a couple of acoustic songs with Two Steps Behind and Bringin’ On The Heartache.

Their best-selling album Hysteria was well represented with seven of the discs’ 11 songs being played to a rabid audience of metalheads.

Make Love Like A Man, When Love And Hate Collide and Animal were particularly well-received, as was the anthemic Armageddon It.

The set finished with three of their very best: Pour Some Sugar On Me, Love Bites and Let’s Get Rocked.

Loud it certainly was, the guitars were soundly thrashed and vocal chords shredded.

But for sheer excellence, it was hard to take your eyes off the powerhouse of Ric Allen.

Maybe in a few days my hearing will return, but what a way to lose it!