Review: Aerosmith aging? We couldn't tell
Reno Gazette-Journal, NV
December 18, 2006
There comes a time in many aging rockers’ careers when they try and try, but they just don’t rock anymore. Their voices fail them, they can’t do the big kicks that once wowed, and they become caricatures of themselves. Aerosmith, the Boston rock band with all of its members in their mid-to-late 50s, is not one of those bands.
In its 90-minute sold-out show Friday at the Reno Events Center, the band belted out a sampling of songs spanning four decades and barely missed a note or beat. Despite singer Steven Tyler having throat surgery this year, drummer Joey Kramer having shoulder problems in recent years and guitarist Joe Perry being conked in the head last month with a boom camera, the band sounded at the top of its game, with David Hull filling in on bass for the ailing Tom Hamilton.
On its second to last show on the “Route of All Evil” tour, Aerosmith opened with 1975’s “Toys in the Attic,” which started what would be a night heavy on the band’s early material.
On a simple stage with a backdrop featuring the best live-video shots I think I’ve seen in a concert, Tyler and Perry owned the stage, strutting up and down three catwalks that broke down the barrier between the band and the fans, who were on their feet the entire show.Certainly some of them must have been wondering why the band chose to do nine songs from the 1970s out its 14-song show, given that the band had more hits after 1987 than ever. But it was probably a mix that gave everybody a taste of what they all wanted.
Doing only three of its latter-day hits, the band blazed through “Love in an Elevator,” “Cryin’” and “What it Takes,” where Tyler opened the song solo, emphasizing just how strong his voice is after more than 30 years on the mic.
Tyler is 58, and many singers his age will perform their old songs in a lower key because they can no longer hit those high notes. Not Tyler. Every song in the set was in its original key, and songs like 1973’s “Dream On” have some awfully high wails to hit. Tyler did it with confidence.
Midway into the show, the band pulled out a couple of old blues songs that were covered on the 2004 album “Honkin’ on Bobo.” But the final seven revisited 1970s songs, including such non-hits as “Lord of the Thighs,” “Seasons of Wither,” during which Perry and Tyler played at the end of a catwalk under a confetti snowstorm, and “Draw the Line,” where a still-ripped 56-year-old Perry pulled off his shirt and beat his guitar with it.
The single encore was the tour standard “Walk This Way,” just before the band exited the stage with introductions.
The last few shows of the tour have featured opener Hinder, who connected with about half the audience with its hard rock and hit single “Lips of an Angel.” Most of the songs in its 45-minute set, which included about all of its debut 2005 album, failed to cut through a wall of muddy sound that disappeared for Aerosmith. Motley Crue, which had opened most of the tour before Reno, and reportedly were blown off the stage by Aerosmith, seemed a better choice for Aerosmith’s veteran rock.
December 18, 2006
There comes a time in many aging rockers’ careers when they try and try, but they just don’t rock anymore. Their voices fail them, they can’t do the big kicks that once wowed, and they become caricatures of themselves. Aerosmith, the Boston rock band with all of its members in their mid-to-late 50s, is not one of those bands.
In its 90-minute sold-out show Friday at the Reno Events Center, the band belted out a sampling of songs spanning four decades and barely missed a note or beat. Despite singer Steven Tyler having throat surgery this year, drummer Joey Kramer having shoulder problems in recent years and guitarist Joe Perry being conked in the head last month with a boom camera, the band sounded at the top of its game, with David Hull filling in on bass for the ailing Tom Hamilton.
On its second to last show on the “Route of All Evil” tour, Aerosmith opened with 1975’s “Toys in the Attic,” which started what would be a night heavy on the band’s early material.
On a simple stage with a backdrop featuring the best live-video shots I think I’ve seen in a concert, Tyler and Perry owned the stage, strutting up and down three catwalks that broke down the barrier between the band and the fans, who were on their feet the entire show.Certainly some of them must have been wondering why the band chose to do nine songs from the 1970s out its 14-song show, given that the band had more hits after 1987 than ever. But it was probably a mix that gave everybody a taste of what they all wanted.
Doing only three of its latter-day hits, the band blazed through “Love in an Elevator,” “Cryin’” and “What it Takes,” where Tyler opened the song solo, emphasizing just how strong his voice is after more than 30 years on the mic.
Tyler is 58, and many singers his age will perform their old songs in a lower key because they can no longer hit those high notes. Not Tyler. Every song in the set was in its original key, and songs like 1973’s “Dream On” have some awfully high wails to hit. Tyler did it with confidence.
Midway into the show, the band pulled out a couple of old blues songs that were covered on the 2004 album “Honkin’ on Bobo.” But the final seven revisited 1970s songs, including such non-hits as “Lord of the Thighs,” “Seasons of Wither,” during which Perry and Tyler played at the end of a catwalk under a confetti snowstorm, and “Draw the Line,” where a still-ripped 56-year-old Perry pulled off his shirt and beat his guitar with it.
The single encore was the tour standard “Walk This Way,” just before the band exited the stage with introductions.
The last few shows of the tour have featured opener Hinder, who connected with about half the audience with its hard rock and hit single “Lips of an Angel.” Most of the songs in its 45-minute set, which included about all of its debut 2005 album, failed to cut through a wall of muddy sound that disappeared for Aerosmith. Motley Crue, which had opened most of the tour before Reno, and reportedly were blown off the stage by Aerosmith, seemed a better choice for Aerosmith’s veteran rock.
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