{"id":144038,"date":"2025-09-09T12:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/144038\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T12:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:21:09","slug":"viv-campbell-speaks-of-tension-onstage-during-troubles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/144038\/","title":{"rendered":"Viv Campbell speaks of ‘tension’ onstage during Troubles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell said music was an “escape” from what was going on in politics<\/p>\n

Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell has revealed while performing in certain parts of Northern Ireland during the Troubles he would “shut up” on stage.<\/p>\n

The heavy metal legend was reflecting on his time touring with the group Sweet Savage in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

He told BBC News NI the four band members were from different religious backgrounds.<\/p>\n

The guitarist said while there was the tension in society, for them, music was “the escape” from politics.<\/p>\n

“Belfast has certainly changed since my youth, for the better, I’m very happy to say.<\/p>\n

“I just remember certain parts of the province that we were playing in, there were always two of us that didn’t speak on any show,” he said. <\/p>\n

“It was like, ‘OK, you two shut up tonight, don’t say anything.’<\/p>\n

“So there was that tension but yet when we played together on stage, we never thought about any of that stuff.”<\/p>\n

Campbell said he believed the music also served as an escape for concert goers. <\/p>\n

“It is something that unites people and in this day and age it’s become more important because the world is quite fractured to say the least,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We need more love, we need more music and more pizza.’<\/p>\n

‘Luck of the Irish’<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Vivian Campbell, who is originally from Lisburn, joined Def Leppard in the 1990s<\/p>\n

Looking to the future, Vivian Campbell said he must be the “luckiest man in the world” after being in 100% remission for the first time in 12 years since being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Luck of the Irish and all that,” he added.<\/p>\n

Following a number of treatments, his oncologist said he had reached the end of the road for options, with a donor stem cell transplant the only choice left.<\/p>\n

“It was quite a process to go through but I’m very, very glad I had the opportunity. It couldn’t have worked out better.<\/p>\n

“I’m feeling 100%, I feel very, very strong physically. My energy’s very good, so for an old geezer, I’m in a good spot.”<\/p>\n

Def Leppard to headline Belsonic<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Def Leppard are among the line-up for next year’s Belsonic music festival<\/p>\n

Campbell joined Def Leppard in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

The band, which originated in Sheffield, are best known for hits like Animal, Pour Some Sugar On Me and Let’s Get Rocked. <\/p>\n

Originally from Lisburn, County Antrim, the guitarist said he tries to get home at least once a year. <\/p>\n

Next summer he’ll be on stage at Belsonic – he said the opportunity to come back and play with the band was a “privilege”. <\/p>\n

While back in Northern Ireland he hopes to get some time up in County Donegal to “relax” and “reconnect”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell said music was an “escape” from what was going on in politics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-144038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}