DEF LEPPARD guitarist Phil Collen, who came up with “Kick” as an additional track after the first 14 songs were already completed, told Billboard that “‘Kick’ represented where we were at as well. It’s got that glam rock feel, that hand-clap groove, big vocals. It was just a no-brainer. It was not only that it’s got to be on the album, it’s got to be the first single as well.”

“It’s a stadium anthem, and we were about to go into stadiums,” singer Joe Elliott said. “We didn’t write it for that reason, but Phil‘s always trying to write the next ‘Sugar’ or ‘We Will Rock You’ or ‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’. We all are, but he actually came up with one, and it’s, like, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to do that,’ so now it’s a 15-song record.”

“Kick” thrusts into an anthemic stadium-ready frenzy kickstarted with driving guitars and bombastic drums woven into its musical fabric. Meanwhile, the chorus has all the makings of another iconic LEPPARD hit with its skyscraping vocals and melodies the band has become synonymous for.

Over the past two years, DEF LEPPARD recorded “Diamond Star Halos” simultaneously in three different countries with Elliott in Ireland, Rick Savage (bass) in England, and Collen, Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Rick Allen (drums) in the United States. Without the pressure of timelines or a fixed schedule, they poured all of their energy into crafting 15 meaningful tracks with a mixture of classic spirit meets modern fire. Thematically, they nodded to their earliest collective influences such as David Bowie, T.REX and MOTT THE HOOPLE, among others. The title itself notably references T.REX‘s “Bang a Gong (Get It On)”. However, they didn’t embark on this journey alone. The multi-Grammy Award-winning and legendary artist Alison Krauss lent her instantly recognizable and angelic voice to “This Guitar” and “Lifeless”, while David Bowie pianist Mike Garson performs on “Goodbye For Good This Time” and “Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”.

“The Stadium Tour” was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020 but ended up being pushed back to 2021, and then to 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

DEF LEPPARD will team up with MÖTLEY CRÜE for the co-headline “The World Tour” in early 2023. Produced by Live Nation, the trek will kick off on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at Foro Sol in Mexico City. Both bands will bring their electrifying stage shows across the globe with stops throughout Latin America before heading to Europe in May 2023 — which includes a stop at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Saturday, July 1, 2023 — then wrapping up in Glasgow, U.K. at Hampden Park on July 6, 2023.