Recent rough spots aside, all appeared well with Aerosmith Thursday night in Omaha.
The band — which stopped in town for its Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock tour — played a tight, 18-song set two nights after there appeared to be trouble for the bad boys from Boston.
Singer Steven Tyler fell offstage at the band's most recent concert, but he showed no signs of injury Thursday. Earlier in the week, at Tuesday's concert in Toronto, guitarist Joe Perry bumped into Tyler, which caused the singer to fall off the stage.
Animosity between Tyler and Perry, which the Toronto Sun said could have caused Perry to nudge Tyler, seemed to be nonexistent.
The longtime bandmates seemed to get along swimmingly in Omaha. They sang into the same microphone throughout the show, danced around onstage together and also bowed arm-in-arm at the end of the concert.
The band's been through some trouble in the last year or so. In 2009, a fall off a South Dakota stage caused Tyler to break his shoulder and miss out on several tour dates. Earlier this year, Perry said the band might audition new singers since Tyler seemed on the verge of doing a solo project.
But the band worked everything out and, as previously mentioned, everything went off without a hitch on Thursday. More than 10,000 fans cheered on the band at Qwest Center Omaha.
Tyler's voice was perfection, hitting all the high notes that most singers his age wouldn't dream of anymore. He's certainly no Pavarotti, but Tyler has a distinct rock ‘n' roll voice that is full of range and depth. It's like his own instrument, and he plays it as well as Perry plays guitar, which is saying something.
That makes me wonder what Aerosmith would sound like without Tyler. I'm guessing probably not great. I can't dream of another singer that could not only sing like Tyler, but have his macho attitude and presence.
The band played for just less than two hours, fitting in a lot of their old hits, among them “Cryin',” “I Don't Want to Miss A Thing,” “Love In An Elevator” and “Livin' On The Edge.”
Perry showed off his guitar skills in frequent solos, including one where he matched his Guitar Hero video game avatar — shown on a huge video monitor — note for note in a guitar battle. He also rocked the slide guitar on “Rag Doll” and a talkbox and theremin during other songs.
Drummer Joey Kramer also showed his skills with a long drum solo, which included him beating the skins with his fists. Bassist Tom Hamilton and guitarist Brad Whitford each had their own moments to shine.
The band was a delight to me. I've heard Aerosmith's songs countless times, and they were fun to relive in a live show, especially with Tyler dancing and singing in a flurry of scarves and guitar solos. The band is pure rock ‘n' roll madness, replete with leather pants and swagger.
During the set, Aerosmith made the crowd go wild for “Pink” and “Sweet Emotion,” and also showed its chops on “Deuces Are Wild” and “Draw the Line,” which wouldn't be considered big hits.
Even so, the crowd went wildest for the encore, which included “Dream On” and “Walk This Way.”
At the end of the night, Perry and Tyler showed their friendship by introducing each other to the crowd and hugging.
“Thank you for coming out to see us,” Perry said. “We will be back soon, I promise.”
Contact the writer:
444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com
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