Def Leppard surprises Ottawa fans with Tom Morello appearance

The group performed their new single “Just Like 73” live

Last night (Wed, July 16th) during their headline performance at Ottawa Bluesfest, one of rock’s most iconic and celebrated bands, Def Leppard, brought out Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello for a special performance of their single “Just Like 73.” When released last year, the song soared to No. 1 on the Mediabase Classic Rock chart.

Def Leppard’s summer 2025 tour, produced by Live Nation, sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees headline select amphitheaters across the country, bringing their electrifying stage show to fans with special guests Bret Michaels, The Struts, and Extreme. The tour continues through August 31st, wrapping in Virginia Beach, VA.

In May 2022, Def Leppard released their critically and commercially acclaimed 12th studio album, Diamond Star Halos. The album debuted at the top of the Apple and Amazon Music charts, scored a Top 10 debut on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, marking the band’s eighth Top 10 album of their career, and garnered a No. 1 debut on Billboard’s Hard Rock chart. Globally, the project notched numerous Top 10 chart entries, including a Top 5 debut in the UK. Following this success, the band released their 13th studio album, Drastic Symphonies, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2023. The album charted at No. 4 in the UK album charts – their highest UK chart entry in over 32 years—and spent an impressive 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Current Classical chart.

In early 2023, the band scored a U.K. No. 1 Netflix film with their cameo in the acclaimed movie Bank Of Dave, and returned for the film’s highly anticipated sequel, Bank of Dave 2, released in January of this year. Following the close of their historic 2018 co-headline stadium and arena run in North America, Def Leppard sold more than one million tickets, a massive feat in today’s touring world. Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe topped that number again with another sold-out stadium run in 2022-2023, selling over 2.1 million tickets across the globe while performing in 27 countries and on five continents.