The immediate reports following the first night of the Aerosmith & Friends shows at the Hollywood Bowl were intriguing. The word was that Axl Rose wasn’t sounding great, but Steven Tyler was holding up. Dave Grohl filling in on drums for Aerosmith was a pleasant surprise, but Night One offered no Run-DMC.
Anyone attending on Night Two could feel reassured by the fact that, while they missed out on the opportunity to witness the first of these shows, they also dodged a bullet by missing appearances by both Eric Church and Godsmack’s Sully Erna. Phew! That said, here are ten things that did catch our attention.
Bill Burr is the perfect MC
Like Aerosmith, comedian Bill Burr is a Bostonian, a fact that gifts him extra material while barking lines at the crowd in his own inimitable style. Whether he was fucking up an introduction (as called out by Grace Potter) or recalling his wild days in the ‘80s, Burr could relate to a largely, umm, vintage Aerosmith crowd by offering himself up as one of the band’s hometown boys.
Burr’s a pro; he carries the “every man” vibe expertly, and at the Hollywood Bowl that meant he was channelling all of us from the stage. He reportedly did, at the first gig, state that these two shows would be Aerosmith’s last, something that was disputed by Steven Tyler on Sunday. But hey, if you’re going to hire Bill Burr to MC, you can’t be surprised if he says something controversial.
God bless the house band
As if drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Fogerty, Sting, etc.) wasn’t enough, the house band also featured Was (Not Was) man Don Was on bass, plus guitarists Phil X (Bon Jovi, Triumph) and Audley Freed (Black Crowes, Cry of Love). That’s some serious talent right there, showcased right from the off by the first song, Same Old Song and Dance, with boogie-blues man Marcus King taking the mic. The tone for the evening was set.
Alice draws the line
Alice in Chains men Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez provided one of the evening’s high points thanks to an energetic, balls-out run through Draw the Line and Nobody’s Fault (the latter a deep cut from Rocks). The choice of vocalist raised some eyebrows, though, with the grunge icons joined by Richie Kotzen (Winery Dogs, former guitarist with Poison and Mr Big). Kotzen did ok, but why not just bring out William DuVall and his silky-sweet larynx?
Rage With the Halestorm
Rage Against The Machine man Tom Morello fared better with his choice of vocalist. Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale was note-perfect for a run-through of one of Aerosmith’s best songs, Kings and Queens (from Draw the Line). Morello’s distinctive fretboard stylings could be heard on occasion, but it was hard to look past Hale and, indeed, she probably put in the best vocal performance of the evening.
Hollywood digs '80s Aerosmith
It was a general theme of the night that the big ‘80s and ‘90s anthems such as Livin’ On the Edge (performed by Billy Idol and Steve Stevens), What It Takes (Grace Potter), Angel (Train’s Pat Monahan) and Cryin’ (Potter and Monahan) went down better with the L.A. crowd than the likes of Nobody’s Fault (Cantrell, Kotzen), Round And Round (Morello, Hale), or You See Me Crying (Monahan). Everyone likes to pretend that they like the old-school deep cuts, but when push comes to shove, the radio hits get the biggest cheers.
Heart do Heart
As was the case for night one, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart performed two songs. The difference for night two was that they chose to play (or were allowed to play?) one of their own – the classic Barracuda. Truth be told, it was a relatively sedate mini-set from Heart; Janie’s Got A Gun was a bit of a strange choice of ‘smith song for them. Cool to witness, far from disastrous, but not the barnstorming performance we were hoping for.
Stone the Crowes!
Conversely, the Black Crowes were well up for this. Chris Robinson, dressed head-to-toe like a TV pimp, couldn’t shift the grin from his nut, as he, brother Rich and the boys belted out five hyper-cool Aerosmith tunes for the longtime fans, including No More No More and Chip Away The Stone. The only change to the set from night one saw Get The Lead Out replace Write Me A Letter, and that was fine with us. Some in the crowd might have preferred Love In An Elevator or Rag Doll, but that’s not what the Black Crowes are gonna do.
GN'R do Mama Kin
One of the talking points after night one was that Guns N’ Roses didn’t perform Mama Kin, which was considered a bit odd, seeing as they recorded that song for their Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide EP back in the day. On night two, we did get treated to that song.
In fact, Guns completely switched their set. Different Aerosmith songs each night – seven in total – and they switched the two tunes of their own too. So SOS (Too Bad), Rats in the Cellar and Sick as a Dog were followed by Sweet Child of Mine and Night Train. If you’re keeping count, that’s six songs from GN’R, as opposed to five on night one. Bonus! Musically, they sounded great. Axl’s voice, however, did not. Without the trademark screech, Axl doesn’t sound like Axl.
Aerosmith takes flight
Nobody was going to overshadow Aerosmith on their special night. Unlike Axl, Steven Tyler sounded exactly like himself. Dream On was epic, while Toys In The Attic, Back In The Saddle and Sweet Emotion got the Hollywood crowd up and dancing.
The only change from the first night’s set saw them switch their covers; out went Train Kept A-Rollin and in came Come Together. No Dave Grohl on drums this time – John Douglas took the stool until the end when, again, Joey Kramer returned to the fold. Joe Perry, meanwhile, looked and sounded like the guitar hero that he is. This was Aerosmith’s party, and they relished it.
And that’s a rap
The show concluded with Walk This Way again. This time, though, we got to witness Aerosmith perform the song with hip-hop pioneers Run-DMC. They truly saved the best till last. Seeing the two groups on stage together, performing the song that they recorded back in ’86 when they smashed a few ceilings and broke a few barriers, was a proper treat. They all looked like they were feeling the occasion too. Sometimes in life, you get to witness something special, and this was one of those times.
