Def Leppard sets tour with Cheap Trick, Poison

NEW YORK (Billboard) - British rock band Def Leppard will launch a 40-date North American tour in Camden, N.J., on June 23, bringing along Poison and Cheap Trick on the trek.

This isn't the first time that Def Leppard has teamed with established acts. In 2005, the band toured with Bryan Adams, and last year had Styx and REO Speedwagon join them. Singer Joe Elliott seems to thrive on packing a wallop in a shortened amount of time.

"We're going out with three bands, which limits the amount of time we can play to about 90 minutes," he told Billboard.com. "When you do your greatest hits and some new material or extra stuff you might throw in, you have got to push and shove and clamp down. No big long speeches from moi. You have to do the AC/DC thing and just bang through everything."

In a summer that has concert industry guessing about ticket sales, Elliott was confident that they would fill seats. "We've taken the path of least resistance, we've put a bill together that we think is attractive," he said.

"We saw the light in 2005 when we went out with Bryan Adams. Once we co-headlined with him, people were hearing three hours of music and they knew every song."

While the cities and dates have been announced, the venues have not. Key stops include Holmdel, N.J., on July 1; Toronto on July 4; Tinley Park, Ill., on July 17; West Palm Beach, Fla., on August 13; Irvine, Calif., on August 30; and the tour closer in San Bernadino, Calif., on September 7.

(Editing by Dean Goodman at Reuters)