The Bowie Cover Def Leppard Played Before Every Show Is Now a Single

For two years, anyone who saw Def Leppard on tour heard the band before they saw it. Before every show of the 2022 stadium run and the 2023 world tour, the PA played a version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” that the band had recorded themselves. On 8 October, a 2026 mix of that cover was released as a single, the second taste of the Volume 4 box set due on 13 November.

It is a neat piece of catalogue housekeeping. A track that thousands of fans heard in arenas but could never buy is now an official release, and it lands inside a six-disc set that gathers everything Def Leppard recorded between 2015 and 2023, plus three discs of rarities chosen by Joe Elliott.

From Pre-Show Tape to Proper Single

According to the fan archive DefLeppardUK, the cover was first heard on 16 June 2022, when it played before the opening night of the stadium tour in Atlanta, Georgia. It went on to run over the PA before every show that year, and again throughout 2023 on the world tour that closed in Melbourne on 14 November 2023.

The version now on streaming services is a fresh 2026 mix. It follows “Revolution”, the first pre-release single, which arrived in September. “Heroes” is also one of two David Bowie covers on the sixth disc, alongside an alternate version of “Drive-In Saturday” from the sessions for the band’s covers album YEAH!, featuring the pianist Mike Garson. DefLeppardUK expects at least one more song to be released before the box set arrives, as happened with Volume 3.

The guest list on the bonus discs points the same way. Ian Hunter, who fronted Mott the Hoople, appears on one track, and Mike Garson, the pianist on many of Bowie’s records, appears on another, so the Bowie thread runs through more than one song.

What Volume 4 Actually Contains

Volume 4 is the fourth of six box sets tracing the band’s complete recorded output, BroadwayWorld reported. It comes as a six-CD set and an 11-LP vinyl set, both in rigid boxes. The first three discs are the last three studio albums: Def Leppard from 2015, Diamond Star Halos from 2022 and Drastic Symphonies from 2023, the record that rebuilt their classic songs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Those albums did well at home. The box set’s own description, quoted by DefLeppardUK, lists Def Leppard at No. 11 in the UK, Diamond Star Halos at No. 5 and Drastic Symphonies at No. 4. BroadwayWorld notes that No. 4 was the band’s highest UK chart entry in more than 32 years, and that Drastic Symphonies spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Current Classical chart.

Each record marks a different stage. The 2015 self-titled album was the band’s first new studio set in seven years. Diamond Star Halos was recorded remotely during the pandemic, with Collen and Elliott sending ideas back and forth, and the box set’s notes describe it as opening a new chapter. Volume 4 also arrives just over five years after Volume 3, which came out in June 2021.

The albums have been mastered by Ronan McHugh at Ro’s Garage. Each edition includes a hardback book with photographs by Ross Halfin, liner notes by Classic Rock’s Paul Elliott, and new interviews with all five members: Joe Elliott, Rick Savage, Rick Allen, Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen. A digital edition, Volume Four: The Rarities, collects 40 tracks from the three bonus discs and is released on the same day.

Three Discs Joe Elliott Curated

The real draw for collectors is discs four to six. Consequence counted 41 rare tracks across them, and the box set description says they were curated by Elliott himself. Many of these recordings previously appeared only as Japanese bonus tracks, on Record Store Day vinyl, as iTunes exclusives or on limited editions.

The spread is wide. There are live iTunes session versions of “Let It Go”, “Foolin'” and “Promises”, three songs recorded live at Abbey Road in 2008, and the three studio tracks from the Mirror Ball live album. The 2012 re-recordings of “Rock of Ages”, “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Hysteria”, which were pulled from digital services in January 2018, return. So does a 2012 acoustic medley.

Then come the working tapes. Demos of “Undefeated”, “Last Dance” and “This Guitar” sit alongside a Las Vegas demo of “Wings of an Angel” and “Joe only” versions of “We Belong”, “This Guitar” and “Lifeless”. The guest list includes Sammy Hagar on “Bad Motor Scooter” and Ian Hunter on a previously unreleased version of “Miss You in a Heartbeat”, labelled a Retro-Active outtake. There is also a full-band version of “Seagull”, a 2026 mix of “Personal Jesus”, “Helen Wheels” from a McCartney tribute album, and “Stand By Me” from the film Bank of Dave 2.

“At last! It’s here! Volume 4 gathers together our remaining studio albums and some very interesting bonus material,” Elliott said when the set was announced. “Some of the bonus bits are quite recent but there is also something that was lost in the vaults for over 33 years until earlier this year.”

The Cover That Started the Rollout

The first single was a surprise of a different kind. “Revolution (Abandoned TV Ad)” is a cover of the 1968 Beatles song, recorded for a television advert that never aired. DefLeppardUK traces it to a backstage video from August 2022, in which Elliott mentioned that the band had covered a rock classic for an advert and that he had tracked his vocal the same day.

Consequence described the result as glam rock at arena size, with the band sinking so comfortably into the song that it barely sounds like a cover. The archive notes that it is the band’s first released Beatles studio cover. Put “Revolution” and “Heroes” side by side and the logic of the rollout is clear: two songs from the era that shaped the band, played back in Def Leppard’s own tone.

Back on the Road for 2027

The release lands in the middle of a busy touring cycle. On 8 October the band announced a 45-date North American arena tour for 2027 with Goo Goo Dolls and The Struts, Ultimate Classic Rock reported. It opens on 2 March at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and runs to 2 July in Indianapolis, with stops including Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Chicago and the Hollywood Bowl on 1 May.

General ticket sales open on Friday 16 October at 10am local time, after a week of presales. uDiscover Music reported that $1 from every ticket sold will go to City of Hope, the US cancer research and treatment centre.

Before that, there is unfinished business this year. The band completed their third Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace in February, toured India, the UK and Europe, and headlined Wacken Open Air. Ultimate Classic Rock lists autumn shows in Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica, plus a warm-up date at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on 15 October.

A New Album Is Already in the Works

Volume 4 closes a chapter rather than the story. The band released a new single, “Rejoice”, earlier in 2026 and have been recording a new album, which Ultimate Classic Rock reports is expected in 2027. Elliott said in July that the band had around 18 songs on their working list, “nearly two albums”, and would pick the 10 or 11 that fit best.

Collen told the site the band wanted to work the way Queen did, with every member putting something into each other’s songs while keeping a single identity. The sessions have even taken place in a basement studio set up in Las Vegas during the residency.

For collectors, the order of events is simple. Stream the “Heroes” mix now, decide between six CDs and eleven slabs of vinyl before 13 November, and watch for one more single in between. Reissue season is busy elsewhere in heavy music too: Judas Priest’s Sad Wings of Destiny is getting the running order the band always wanted.

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Will Lisil

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