PHILADELPHIA – Fans have been fooled by fake farewell tours so many times that the cynicism is justified.
But this feels like a big farewell to Aerosmith — at least as far as touring is concerned, says the warning — and the band permeates every spiky guitar riff, every mic stand scarf, every piercing laser and light.
The Peace Out tour kicked off Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the first of 40 Aerosmith dates that will run through January, with a flamboyant production that sounded intimate in the arena, but big enough to fill the stadium.
The quartet consisting of frontman the irrepressible Steven Tyler, virtuoso guitarist Joe Perry, steadfast bassist Tom Hamilton and lead weaver guitarist Brad Whitford – soared together on a platform at the back of the open stage, shrouded in a purple haze of open stage. A nearly two-hour show with “Back in the Saddle” appropriately.
Celebrating 50 years of Aerosmith
It took Leonine Tyler, who was wearing a long silver coat and black floppy hat and looking like your older aunt, about three seconds to run sideways down the slope to the edge of the stage, designed in the shape of a flying bird. -V guitar.
Perry, a slouchy rock cowboy in his black hat and white puffer shirt, joins his co-star in Musical Fraternity moments later on “Love in an Elevator,” an early indication that the show will oscillate between album cuts for die-hard fans and familiar anthems for those who discovered Aerosmith during Their domination of MTV.
After all, the tour has been billed as a celebration of 50 years of Aerosmith music, from the dark rock, blues, and drug undertones of the ’70s to the polished sheen of their ’80s mainstream output.
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Throughout their energetic set, the band—joined by Seth Stachowski on saxophone, Susie McNeil on background vocals, Buck Johnson on keyboards and background vocals, and John Douglas, who filled in on drums on this tour for Joey Kramer—sounded taut and aggressive.
Tyler’s holy howl remains remarkably resilient, which he achieves in the gravel choruses of “Cryin'” and “Livin’ on the Edge,” and the band’s music is at its peak in this victory cycle.
Some of the missteps on opening night were rather notable: a missed drum hit on the funky “Rag Doll”, a stray harmonica during “Hangman Jury” and Tyler’s visibly frustrated mention of audio problems between them.
But rock and roll is never supposed to be perfect.
Unspoken feelings between Steven Tyler and Joe Perry
Aerosmith never made a secret of their use of teleprompter devices, and indeed, many of them were placed around the stage floor as well as a large screen mounted above the soundboard.
A lyrical safety net was warranted when the band delved into Adam’s Apple, an album cut of “Toys in the Attic” that has only been played live a few dozen times since the album’s 1975 release.
Although little mention was made of the finale of Aerosmith’s touring career, the range of songs chosen for the setlist presented unspoken sentiments.
Tyler, 75, and Perry, 72 – always and forever Toxic twins – He took two chairs at the foot of the stage for a blues tour that included the slide-guitar and harmonica-filled “Hangman Jury” and the spooky-beautiful “Seasons of Wither.”
Their intuitive communication, not to mention the almost identical white stripes in their crest, was evident by a nudge of the elbow or a mere raise of an eyebrow, signifying understanding between those who had molecules in common.
Joe Perry pays tribute to Jeff Beck
Perry told the sold-out audience that the white Fender Stratocaster he was playing was from Jeff Beck’s collection, a gift from the late guitarist’s wife. He opened the spicy blues on “Movin’ Out,” a deep cut from Aerosmith’s 1973 self-titled debut and the first song Perry and Tyler wrote in their fledgling partnership.
Five decades later, they and the rest of the band are still blasting the gurgling bass note of “Sweet Emotion,” shredding the sonic blitzkrieg of “Toys in the Attic” and musing about aging in the eternally beautiful “Dream On” (yes, Tyler still can). Climb those notes).
The show closed with “Walk This Way”—one of the most iconic guitar pieces in rock history—and rounded off the night with wild cheer. But it might be more appropriate to honor the history of Aerosmith with their own words from “The Dream”: “Sing for laughter, sing for tears.”
The Black Crowes is open to Aerosmith
Opening throughout the Peace Out tour are The Black Crowes, fellow blues rockers with lead singer (Chris Robinson) and enthusiastic guitarist (Rich Robinson). Their six-piece band and two backup singers got fans to their seats early with a powerhouse rendition that includes “Twice As Hard” — with the Robinson brothers on harmonica and slide guitar — and their grinding cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle” and the ballad ” Hard to Handle” by Otis Redding. Blues “Therapy”.
Although the band sounded powerful and perfect, Chris Robinson’s vocals were muddled by a poor mix, leaving the acoustic ballad “She Talks to Angels” the only clearly identifiable vocal on The Crowes’ hour-long set.
But Aerosmith and the Black Cruises are a well-matched bill that’s a rock-solid sequel.
jam sessions: The San Francisco music of the late 1960s, Steve Miller recalls, had a “dark side” but “a lot of beauty”.
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