Def Leppard Rock Mexico Without Vivian Campbell Due To Cancer Treatment

01-19-2025

Def Leppard took the stage without guitarist Vivian Campbell for their first concert of the year on Saturday (January 18th) and they recruited Phil Collen's guitar tech John Zocco to fill in for him.

The band performed at Feria Estatal De Leon in Leon, Mexico and during the show frontman Joe Elliott told fans that Vivian was forced to miss the show due to his cancer treatment, according to reports. Campbell missed a private show in Nashville last October during the Daimler Truck Customer Appreciation Event and was also replaced by Zocco for that show as well.

Vivian revealed that he was battling Hodgkin's lymphoma back in 2013. He was asked about the treatment by the Salt Lake Tribune back in 2015, and he responded, "It's going very, very well, thank you. The bad news is this cancer keeps coming back. The good news is the treatment I'm doing largely continues to work, which is a big, big part of the recovery for me, to be able to continue to do what it is that defines who I am.

"I've had a couple rounds of chemo - actually, three rounds of chemo. And last October I did a stem cell transplant. I kind of naively thought that would be it, and I was done with it. I guess, given the benefit now of my experiences with this, I kinda realize that I'll probably be dealing with it for the rest of my life."

Be added, "I'm trying a process called immunotherapy, which is the latest and greatest thinking in how to treat cancer."