Midway through the Aerosmith concert at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, guitarist Joe Perry said this was the first show the band had done in a couple of weeks. The down time must have been restful, because the Sept. 23 show was a constant blast.

The stage was fairly simple, with drums in the middle and the four other band members in front. A walkway allowed the band to walk above and behind the drum riser. A couple of snakes were etched into the railings and rose in the middle part of the walkway. The Aerosmith show was all about the music, not how elaborate a stage could be.

Aerosmith varied its songs, playing just enough from the latest album, “Nine Lives,” but not forgetting older songs such as “Janie’s Got a Gun” or “Sweet Emotion.”

In fact, “Sweet Emotion” was probably the crowd’s favorite. The band stood there for a few minutes, just playing the catchy groove bass and guitar line as three cobras ascended at the back of the stage, rattling and moving with the riffs of the song.

I was actually a little worried that “Cryin’” would be a letdown from the album version, as I remembered seeing it a few years back on the MTV Music Awards and I remembered how terrible it had sounded live. Not here, though. The riffs were right on, and the tempo was correct, unlike the previous live version I had seen.

I was also a little worried about how singer Steven Tyler’s voice would hold up during the performance. As the band recently noted
in its autobiography, alcohol, sex and drugs were all a part of the package in the 1970s and ’80s; today, Tyler and Perry are approaching 50. But after hearing them, it’s clear that it’s definitely not time for Aerosmith to retire just yet.

Although Tyler did do less screaming than back in the days, he still showed a great dynamic range and sang old and new like he was still in his teenage years. A couple of times, he picked up his harmonica too. Again, a great performance.

Perry’s guitar work was especially cool when he picked up and played his songs using the slide. I noticed that, on several songs, Perry had the slide on his pinky; I play guitar but have honestly never used a slide. I had always thought you would use the slide at the other end of your hand (like the index finger). Regardless, the bluesy sound of Perry’s slide was awesome, and he used the right combination of slide and regular distortion during the show to keep the performance fresh and lively.

The only complaint I really have is that Aerosmith has enough songs with horns that the group really should have a trumpet player and trombone player on tour with them (a la No Doubt). Instead, the horn parts were piped through the speakers, prerecorded. That irked me a little, because when I see a live show, I really like to see a live show.

But overall, the performance was exciting and varied enough to keep me involved. Even though the group’s catalog spans several decades, I really cannot think of any song it didn’t play that I expected or wanted to hear. The encore ended with “Walk This Way,” which the crow really got into.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 1997 at 10:12 am and is filed under Music, Music Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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