Aerosmith
Staples Center
12/3/12
As electrifying of a performance Aerosmith threw down at the Hollywood Bowl four short months ago, it's not surprising they'd be back for another one so soon. After all, arena-sized venues are their natural habitat. Staples Center was buzzing as a huge LCD screen showed members of Aerosmith getting ready backstage moments before blowing up the stage with a sizzling take on “Toys In The Attic.”
While it would have been easy for Aerosmith to give a similar performance, the show had a different feel from the start as Steven Tyler and Joe Perry utilized the extremely long catwalk that took them almost to the center of the arena making the show seem a little more intimate by being up close to the fans.
See Also:
*Aerosmith – Hollywood Bowl – 8/6/12
*Rush – Honda Center – 11/17/12
*Richie Sambora – Fonda Theatre – 11/13/12
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Aerosmith had previously made headlines with supposed acrimony between Tyler and the rest of his bandmates, “Love In An Elevator” had Perry and Tyler sharing the same microphone with Tyler's arm around Perry as he ripped through the guitar parts. Everything seems to be going well in the Aerosmith camp these days.
It seemed to be the MTV hit night for the band, as “Jaded” and “Livin' On The Edge” have eternally been etched into my brain from the thousands of times they were featured on MTV. It was a wonder that Alicia Silverstone or Liv Tyler didn't make a guest appearance.
Aerosmith really turned back the clock to their debut album for the bluesy swagger of “Movin' Out” and “Walkin' The Dog.”
“Last Child” was phenomenal as the wind fans placed on the stage blew the hair of Tyler and Perry making for some epic iphone photo opportunities for those audience members in the front. The energy in the arena proceeded to double when Johnny Depp emerged from shadows to add some guitar fretwork to “Stop Messin' Around” and “Come Together.” Johnny Depp has been all over the place recently guesting with Alice Cooper and showing up for two nights at the El Rey Theatre during Pettyfest. Why form your own band when you can pop in for a few songs of any huge band that plays Los Angeles?
“Lover A lot” from their latest album Music From Another Dimension!, blended in seamlessly along with their older hits as it has that patented Aerosmith fire and swagger.
“Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” rocked the whole arena as everyone was on their feet while Perry played a beautiful black custom Gibson Les Paul twelve string electric guitar.
Another classic arena rock moment occurred for “Dream On” as Tyler played the piano and Perry stepped onto the piano for a ripping solo while white smoke billowed up from underneath. The guest stars still kept coming as Izzy Stradlin from Guns 'N Roses added some slashing guitars to “Mama Kin.” “Sweet Emotion” closed out the evening on a high note as Aerosmith proved they can destroy any venue anytime.
Critical Bias: I wasn't always a big Aerosmith fan, but seeing them at the Hollywood Bowl converted me.
Crowd: Not as high as they would like as the Staples Center security nailed a bunch of people around me for smoking.
Overheard: “Tyler can still wail”. I agree.
Random Notebook Dump: Parking was insane between the LA Auto Convention and the KIIS Jingle Ball concert at the Nokia Theatre.
Setlist:
“Toys In The Attic”
“Love In An Elevator”
“Jaded”
“Oh Yeah”
“Livin' On The Edge”
“Movin' Out”
“Walkin' The Dog”
“Last Child”
“Rag Doll”
“Boogie man”
“Combination”
“Stop Messin' Around”
“Come Together”
“Lover A lot”
“What It Takes”
“No More No More”
“Dude (Looks Like A Lady)”
“Walk This Way”
“Dream On”
“Mama Kin”
“Sweet Emotion”
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