Three hard-rocking, pop-minded favorites from the '80s share the stage when British pop-metallers Def Leppard team up with LA rockers Poison and Lita Ford at Sleep Train Pavilion Friday night. One of the biggest pop-metal bands of the '80s, British quintet Def Leppard survived alcoholism and drug addiction, drummer Rick Allen's loss of an arm in a car wreck and the death of guitarist Steve Clark to remain one of the few groups from the big-hair era that can still fill large venues.

Forming in the industrial town Sheffield in England in 1977, the band was part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement along with Iron Maiden, Saxon and Diamond Head. The band started making its presence felt with its second album High 'n Dry. Produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange (who had previously helped AC/DC achieve global fame and platinum success), it was soon eclipsed by the group's massive follow-up hit Pyromania, an album that remains one of the biggest selling records of the '80s.

The group overcome many obstacles to remain popular with its progressively slicker albums like Hysteria and Adrenalize into the next decade. The group has continued to release album, with Yeah! -- their heartfelt and hard-rocking 2006 tribute to the band's musical heroes of the late 60's and 70's that featured classic songs by the Kinks, T. Rex, Sweet and Thin Lizzy -- and 2008's Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, their first collection of new material in six years. Last year, Def Leppard issued Mirrorball, a two-disc live album that also features three new studio tracks and a bonus DVD.

This year, Def Leppard reteams with hairspray heavy pop-metal favorites Poison for its annual amphitheater tour. The band best known of late for singer Bret Michaels' string of VH-1 reality shows and recent health troubles will be along for the ride (albeit with much less mascara), playing songs from its 2011 two-CD compilation of smashes and album cuts entitled Poison - Double Dose: Ultimate Hits. Opening the show will be pioneering rocker Lita Ford, who first came to fame as a member of proto-punk girl band The Runaways with Joan Jett during the '70s but later had a string of solo hits including her power ballad duet with Ozzy Osborne, "If I Close My Eyes Forever."

Def Leppard with Poison and Lita Ford
Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m. $29-$184
Slep Train Pavilion