Star-spangled program overcomes a few flaws
Boston Globe, MA
July 5, 2006
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, two-fifths of Aerosmith, were the headliners of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade last night. But the crowd of 500,000 and the national television audience got three songs and just over eight minutes from them.
The two men put out more energy than some performers deliver in an entire show, and Tyler, fresh from throat surgery, sounded fine in "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," "Dream On," and "Walk This Way." He's got power, and high B-flat holds fewer terrors for him than it does for Luciano Pavarotti these days. Dressed in a leopard print shirt, open in the front to display coast-to-coast chest and an amulet big enough to be a walrus tusk, Tyler wove around Perry, dressed as Oscar Wilde, like the serpent tempting Eve.
The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra provided a sumptuous sonic backdrop; Tyler told the television audience that he wants to make an orchestral album.
But the rest of the context was not inspiring. For viewers at home, commercials meant they missed some of the best stuff, like the brass in "Sing, Sing, Sing," and some of the weirdest, like high-energy conductor Keith Lockhart trying to lead an audience sing-along of "YMCA," complete with Village People moves....
July 5, 2006
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, two-fifths of Aerosmith, were the headliners of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade last night. But the crowd of 500,000 and the national television audience got three songs and just over eight minutes from them.
The two men put out more energy than some performers deliver in an entire show, and Tyler, fresh from throat surgery, sounded fine in "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," "Dream On," and "Walk This Way." He's got power, and high B-flat holds fewer terrors for him than it does for Luciano Pavarotti these days. Dressed in a leopard print shirt, open in the front to display coast-to-coast chest and an amulet big enough to be a walrus tusk, Tyler wove around Perry, dressed as Oscar Wilde, like the serpent tempting Eve.
The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra provided a sumptuous sonic backdrop; Tyler told the television audience that he wants to make an orchestral album.
But the rest of the context was not inspiring. For viewers at home, commercials meant they missed some of the best stuff, like the brass in "Sing, Sing, Sing," and some of the weirdest, like high-energy conductor Keith Lockhart trying to lead an audience sing-along of "YMCA," complete with Village People moves....
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