October 23, 1995: Def Leppard Play 3 Concerts on 3 Continents in 30 Hours

Left to right: Rick Savage, Vivian Campbell,

Phil Collen, Rick Allen, Joe Elliott

October 23, 1995: English heavy metal band Def Leppard, having released their greatest hits album Vault, decided to mark the occasion by playing three acoustic shows on three different continents on the same day, as a special "Vaulting The World" publicity event.

"It was the band’s idea to do something weird and wacky," lead singer Joe Elliott said, as the band boarded a plane at London's Gatwick Airport ahead of the 2 hour, 45 minute flight to Tangier, Morocco in Africa for their first gig of the whirlwind tour at Hercules Cave. (The city is officially "Tangier," but "Tangiers" is sometimes also used.)

"We haven't actually had the chance to nail this person's head to a coffee table yet who actually came up with this three gigs in one day lark," Elliott later said. "But, I mean, it is a challenge, and we do like a bit of a challenge."

The quintet’s second gig took place at the Bottom Line club in West London, with Leppard playing "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix, "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie, and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones, along with their own hits "Animal," "Two Steps Behind" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

The same three covers, plus a set-closing run through T. Rex's "Bang A Gong (Get It On)," featured in the band’s final show of the day, at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. With that show starting at 10:45 PM local time, Leppard technically played their 3 shows in 30 hours. But, as the time difference meant it was 6:45 AM in London, the record of 3 concerts on 3 continents in 1 day was allowed to stand.

"The audience was stunning," Elliott said of the Vancouver crowd. "It was like Beatlemania, with people moshing - moshing! - during our acoustic set."

"Would we do it all again?" the singer asked, rhetorically, with the record in the bag. "Yes. Would I do it all again next week? No fucking way."

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October 23, 1995 was a Monday. It was an off-day between Games 2 and 3 of the World Series, which the Atlanta Braves would win in 6 games over the Cleveland Indians. On ABC Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-14 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The NBA season started 11 days later. There were 2 games played in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-3 at the Montreal Forum. And the Colorado Avalanche beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-1 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.