Rick Savage’s most memorable Def Leppard moment involves cigarette lighters

Music News Group23 hours ago

80 1 minute read

Rick Savage of Def Leppard performs onstage during Radio 2 In The Park at Hylands Park on September 7, 2025 in Chelmsford, England. (Photo by Katja Ogrin/Getty Images)

Rick Savage is the final member of Def Leppard to share his most memorable moment with the band, and his involves cigarette lighters.

In a new post on Instagram, the bassist says that while their first show at Westfield School in Sheffield, England, and the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in 1993 could qualify as memorable moments, he decided to pick a different one since the others had been “well documented.”

First he joked that one of the more “memorable in a strange way” moments happened with Bryan Adams. He described how he was caught “in a compromising position in the corridor of a tour bus, with Bryan Adams actually laying on top of me, trying to fix a very painful back ailment that I had.”

But then Savage got serious and explained why his most memorable moment was a 1980 concert at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

“It’s the very first time we’ve seen cigarette lighters aloft to such a degree,” he said, noting he was particularly amazed during the performance of their track “Rock Brigade.”

“There was 11,000 people in the [Coliseum],” he said. “It was just such a fantastic sight and I swear to God, at least 90% of them held their cigarette lighters up in the air and it’s the first time I’ve ever really experienced that. It was just incredible.”

Savage’s video is part of a series of posts Def Leppard has been sharing since receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 10. Joe Elliott, Vivian Campbell, Rick Allen and Phil Collen previously shared their most memorable moments.