Are the boys showing signs of age?

 

The 2009 US Tour by rock giants Aerosmith which has now been officially cancelled could well be remembered as the ‘Cursed Tour’

 

The signs didn’t look good from the start. Back in 2008 when the tour was first announced it had been planned for the Spring with Steven Tyler dropping some heavy hints prior to an official announcement on aeroforceone.com: “The tour is booked for March or April, I believe it starts, and then we eat the States" He went on to tell the official website: "I think there are some outside gigs, but not as much as last year when we did Dubai and India and wound up in Russia.”

This was back in September 2008 when Aerosmith were also expected to enter the studio to start recording the follow up to the low selling "Honkin' on Bobo." covers album. At this point the band had been off the road throughout 2008 sidelined since Steven Tyler’s throat operation. This was the longest absence from the circuit since the ‘Nine Lives Tour’ finally ground to a halt in 1997.  When the New Year came round a warm-up date was booked in Caracas Venezuela for February 1^st. and all looked well.

First Joe’s Knee

On January 15^th however Aerosmith put out a press release citing Joe Perry having to “undergo emergency surgery on his knee caused by unforeseen complications from a previous surgery on the same knee.” as the reason the date had to be cancelled. Indeed Joe had undergone total knee replacement surgery in March 2008, an operation he kept putting off for two years so that he could continue to tour. 

On 6^th February Perry was back talking up a June Tour of the States to support the new album they were about to record. Later in March things were still ‘very much on track”.

 

However when Perry spoke to billboard.com in early April he told them that: “Health issues and touring commitments have combined to postpone Aerosmith's next album”. He did however talk up the June tour with ZZ Top. At that stage it was 40 dates booked for the States and Europe and Japan under consideration. The tour was ‘likely to last until the fall’.

 

The big news and the great press came later in the month when it was announced that the band would likely play an album in its entirety that tour. Later it was confirmed that the album would be “Toys in the Attic”. Ticket sales spiked and the forums began to glow.

 

On 8^th April initial tour dates were announced with full details following a few days later with the US dates stretching into September.

 

However in May Tom Hamilton interviewed again by aeroforceone.com seemed a little hesitant at the idea: “I think we have always been stymied by the fact that we have this audience that spans so much time. You have less people wanting the old stuff, but they are very intense about it. You have another group that wants to hear the more recent hits. We are trying to figure out how to do that and how to make the audience go home happy.”

 

Then Brad’s Head

 

Just before the tour kicked off in June it was announced that Brad Whitford would be sitting out part of the band’s upcoming tour whilst he ‘recuperates from recent surgery’.  There was little other information on the official site. It was later confirmed that he had hit his head whilst getting out of his car and had suffered some internal bleeding. Bobby Schneck was announced as his temporary replacement.

 

They should have taken note of the signs that first night as a storm of what was described as ‘biblical proportions’ hit in St. Louis. As the winds reached 70 mph and the lightning came crashing down forcing those on the lawn to run for cover.

 

Two days into the tour it was officially official – “each summertime stop” on the tour would include a performance of their 1975 album “Toys in the Attic” in its entirety.

 

Tempting fate & Steven’s leg

 

Tom Hamilton, interviewed by the Tribune Revue talked about Brad’s injury a few days later and Rege Behe the interviewer tempted fate severely by commenting that ‘nothing kills Aerosmith’.

 

By Mid June shows were postponed when Steven Tyler suffered a leg injury at the Mohegan Sun concert. 

 

Then Tom’s lay-off

 

On 1^st July the official Aerosmith website aeroforceone.com listed the following: “The Aerosmith with ZZ Top concert in Cincinnati (July 1, 2009 at Riverbend Music Center) has been postponed. When more details are available they will be posted here.” That was the day I flew out to the States to catch the tour. It was a troubling 16 hours on the plane.

 

The next day there was a further update on the site: Aerosmith had postponed their July 3rd show in Hershey, PA and their July 5th show in Virginia Beach, VA due to an artist injury. Again no further details were revealed.

 

Raleigh and Charlotte dates were cancelled on the 6^th and things were in the balance. The lack of details saw me headed to Rocklahoma not knowing if I would see the band for the first time in over a decade in Dallas and Vegas. On July 10^th Tampa and Sunrise dates were postponed and things were looking serious. 

 

Finally by the 14^th there was some news: Tom Hamilton would be sitting out some dates “as he recuperates from non-invasive surgery”.  David Hull, who played in the Joe Perry Project and who sat in for Tom during some of the 2006 would step in.

 

Seven dates played and seven dates cancelled so far. Only 4/5 of the band on stage at a time-  it seemed that the string of bad luck the band had endured was continuing. Even before Perry’s knee surgery over the last three years both Tom Hamilton and Steven Tyler had been under the knife for throat and foot surgery respectively.

 

At least as Tom went out one door, Brad crept back in the other. 

 

 

Steven’s last dance

I caught the Tour in Dallas and later in Las Vegas. The band was still Tom-less but the show was great; however it wasn’t to last. A handful of dates later Steven Tyler had fallen off the stage at the Sturgis show whilst dancing to “Love in an Elevator”. He broke his shoulder.  More dates were postponed before a week later the tour that was to have stretched into September was cancelled.

Joe Perry made the following comment on the band’s website:

"Words can't express the sadness I feel for having to cancel this tour. I would like to thank our loyal fans for sticking by us through thick and thin and all the good energy they are sending our way. We hope we can get the Aerosmith machine up and running again as soon as possible. I sure am going to miss playing with ZZ Top just as I'm sure the fans are going to miss seeing them playing with us as well. Hope to see you sooner than later."

 

Rumours already abound that Tyler has fallen off the wagon and that may have led to his fall from the stage. The band deny that officially but it wouldn’t be Aerosmith without the rumours…

 

 

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