Is it possible for a rock band, like a fine wine, to get better with age? Such are the mysteries of life I found myself pondering at Wednesday night during concert.
Back in the early ’80s, when I first discovered what is now called classic rock, but back then was just rock or hard rock, live albums were my mainline. When I found a band I liked, I looked for their live stuff, both for the energy a good live album could have and the fact that live albums were often like a greatest hits collection. When I heard “Dream On” on the radio, I went out and got Aerosmith’s “Live Bootleg,” which proved a disappointment. The album, from the band’s drug-addled heyday in 1978, was rough, and except for “Toys in the Attic,” the versions of their hits were too “warts and all” for my novice rock and roll ears.
At the Pepsi Center Wednesday, from the opening lick of “Draw the Line” to the closing feedback wail of the “Train Kept A Rollin'” encore, Aerosmith was in the zone, putting on an arena show in all its glory.
Singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry stalked the runway into the crowd and mugged for the cameras relentlessly (there was a video display behind the stage). Neither seems to have aged much in the last 20 years, perhaps a testament to the hard-living of their early days. Tyler’s voice was in good shape throughout the show, whether on the classic “new” Aerosmith tunes of the ’80s and ’90s like “Rag Doll” and “Living on the Edge,” or the classics like “Last Child” and “Same Old Song and Dance.”
Bassist Tom Hamilton and guitarist Brad Whitford also frequently moved onto the side stage audience ramps, and Tyler made a crack about Whitford being “wire man” when he almost tripped over his guitar cable, as Whitford is the only one on stage not using a wireless setup. Drummer Joey Kramer took a five-minute drum solo early in the set after his riser got pushed to the front of the stage by some roadies, and Tyler briefly joined in by banging on Kramer’s toms.
The band has a new album coming out in November, and played a couple of tunes from it, including “Oh Yeah.” They also tore into “Peter Gunn Theme” and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Stop Messin’ Around” during a mid-set lull in the action before returning with a string of their best-known hits, including a drawn out “Sweet Emotion” and the closing “Walk this Way.”
By the time Perry climbed on top of Tyler’s piano during the first encore of “Dream On,” the audience was ready for the show to go on all night.
Cheap Trick opened with the show, and hearing Robin Zander sing “Dream Police” or watching guitarist Rick Nielsen play a five-neck guitar on “Surrender” made me flash briefly on “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” even while I jumped up and raised my hands in the air to bask in classic rock greatness.
Setlists
Cheap Trick (partial)
California Man, Ain’t That a Shame, On Top of the World, She’s Tight, Need Your Love, I Know What I Want, The Flame, I Want You to Want Me, Dream Police, Surrender
Aerosmith
Draw the Line, Love in an Elevator, Same Old Song and Dance, Living on the Edge, Last Child, Drum Solo, Rag Doll, Peter Gunn Theme, Combination, Stop Messin’ Around, What It Takes, Legendary Child, Come Together, Rats in the Cellar, Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, E: Dream On, Train Kept A Rollin’
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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band .
Seth McConnell is a member of YourHub at The Denver Post and a new contributor to Reverb.
