This was another fun-filled month full of activity and growth. James Ryan, one of my oldest friends got married to his long-time girlfriend Meghan as well as celebrating quite a few other old friends birthdays’ this month. The theme seemed to be Classic Rock as you will see as you continue.
Aerosmith w/ Cheap Trick – November 8th – Chesapeake Energy Arena – Oklahoma City, OK
During my first year of college, this kid sat behind me in my RTF class and we would talk music all day. He worked at a grocery store with seemingly everyone he hung out with during High School. From hanging with him I met all these guys and something wonderful ended up happening – not only did I become good friends with them collectively, but formed unique bonds with each of them individually.
The night I met Mike and Tim was ironically at an Aerosmith concert I was trying to convince the friend from school to attend. He agreed and introduced us at the show. I’m proud to say that over 18 years later we are all still good friends, Aerosmith is still rocking and so are we. We don’t get to hang as much as we would all like so when they extended an inviation for a guys’ road trip to Oklahoma for the tour opener with Cheap Trick, I gladly accepted.
These guys’ dedication to Aerosmith is intense – yet this was still a special rarity to take a road trip, catch up and have a good time.
Upon arriving in OKC, we checked into some dirt-bag motel for the night – just a place to sleep a few hours after the concert before returning home.
As I mentioned their dedication to Aerosmith over the years has now yielded a valuable resource of a global network of fellow fans. Their friendship with two fans in particular, Michelle & Linda has really paid off as Linda went on to actually marry drummer Joey Kramer three years ago and those nuptials landed Michelle a job with the touring production crew. So with that connection, these guys can pretty much go see Aerosmith whenever they want and get the full-treatment.
After claiming the tickets at Will Call – we could hear openers Cheap Trick starting so we rushed to our seats to discover that Michelle’s generosity had landed us in the third row –
This band never disspoints and is still going strong this far along in the game – They don’t have that reek of an oldies act and still tour 100 + dates a year.
A very solid show in itself, let alone as an opening act – Brad Whitford (Aerosmith/Guitarist) joined them on their cover of Fat Domino’s Ain’t That a Shame, a long staple of their catalog.
Setlist –
Hello There
Big Eyes
California Man (The Move cover)
On Top of the World
Ain’t That a Shame (Fats Domino cover w/ Brad Whitford)
I Know What I Want
Need Your Love
She’s Tight
Sick Man of Europe
The Flame
I Want You to Want Me
Dream Police
Surrender
After a brief set change we realized just how good our seats were, as I didn’t see the long ramp down the middle during Cheap Trick’s set, and when the show started Joe Perry and Steven Tyler rose from a hidden door on a catwalk thrust out into the crowd, it took a second to realize this was actually happening behind me.
Perry’s gritty guitar work hasn’t lost any of its edge and if anything the rasp that Tyler’s voice has gathered over the years has just added more character to his vocal delivery.
The third new song, What Could Have Been Love is a straight power ballad, essentially I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing for 2012. It’s not quite as sickly saccharine as the aforementioned Armageddon/9th grade dance staple, but it is largely forgettable.
They have a lot of hits, and therefore didn’t have time to run through everything – but most of the big ones were present. Starting with Mama Kin sounded absolutely perfect, and seeing Joe Perry bust out a steel guitar for Rag Doll was a nice touch.
Given Tyler’s recent stint on the last two seasons of American Idol – their were a strong percentage of young kids and their horny housewife moms who the show introduced them to Tyler & Aerosmith – so when he brought out his former Idol co-judge Randy Jackson for their cover of The Beatles’ Come Together the place went crazy. He strapped on a bass to play the track’s iconic rolling riff, doubling up with Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, while Tyler went and pulled out another guest out on stage, Ryan Seacrest to sing backup.
The show could have ended there but instead the band pulled out Dude Looks Like a Lady which changed the mood considerably but got people up and dancing for a few final minutes. The track hasn’t aged as well as some in Aerosmith’s repertoire but was still great to hear – particularly a fiery guitar solo Perry popped off at the song’s midway point.
Love in an Elevator
Cryin’
Oh Yeah
Livin’ on the Edge
What Could Have Been Love (Live debut)
Last Child
Rag Doll
Boogie Man
The Peter Gunn Theme (Henry Mancini cover)
Combination
Lover Alot
What It Takes
No More No More
Come Together (The Beatles cover w/ Randy Jackson & Ryan Seacrest)
Sweet Emotion
Walk This WayEncore:Dream On
Dude Looks Like a LadyOk – so at some point right before the encore started, Michelle, who I had met a few times with them before, comes to check on us and we thank her for the great seats but not before she hands us after-show passes to meet the band. This night just keeps getting cooler.Our seats were only a few feet from the backstage entrance and while waiting to get the signal to head back there, their were a few others with passes also waiting – more importantly these two blond girls that were two of the hottest girls I’ve ever seen.
When Michelle comes to get us, lo and behold the two blonds are guests of hers as well and she introduces us and we all head back as group.
The girls were as nice as they were hot and we made small talk while standing in the backstage hallway waiting for more instructions.Not surprisingly, given how unbearably hot they were, the girls wer given priority and Michelle whisked them away first at we learned in a few was at Tyler’s special request – I can’t pulll girls like this now in my 30s and this dude is doing it in his 60s!
Brad Whitford comes out to talk to Trunk but doesn’t invite him into his room – as petty as it sounds I took great pleasure in flashing Trunk a shit-eating grin to his face when we were escorted right past him and into Kramer’s personal enclave.
We saw Tyler standing outside his door awaiting the girls and flashing a grin of his own when they arrived.
Inside we see Linda who I had also met once before with these guys and she introduces us to Joey Kramer.
I’m not the fan that they are but this is nuts – this is not an in-store with an autograph table between us – this isn’t that lame after show thing where you wait in some window-less room for an hour thinking your “backstage” until they send in the faceless bass player to sign shit for 10 mins or not send anyone at all.
This is the real deal – something outside of the bands I work with, I’ve rarely experienced and for a band this high-profile, never.
Kramer was incredibly cool – I heard he and Linda now live in Austin so I diverted the conversation to that and away from music and spoke just as people.
Ironically it was he that brought it back to music and genuinely wanted to know what we thought of the show, given it was opening night.
We didnt’ overstay our welcome and had a nice time talking with him and Linda and showed ourselves out after.
After 18 years of friendship and witnessing their devotion to this band, kicking it with them in Joey Kramer’s private backstage lounge was a trip and felt like we had come full circle. Good times –
