Aerosmith Talk 45 Years of ‘Kicking Ass’ Onstage
“We’re a strange band,” admits Steven Tyler as Aerosmith approach the 45th anniversary of their first show, which took place in November 1970. “We’re still the same members. No tapes, no synthesized drums onstage. I don’t have six dancers with hot-ass booties and titties sticking out. We’re true to our Aerosmith-ness.”
The proof, Tyler says, is in Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014, a roughly 90-minute concert movie filmed last June at the Download Festival at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. With the help of camera-loaded drones that flew around the band, the movie — which shows them plowing through “Walk This Way,” “Love in an Elevator,” “Dream On” and the rest of their standard repertoire — will be presented at 7 p.m. tonight in over 300 movie theaters across the country. (It’s the first presentation in the new “Fathom Events Classic Music Series”; Rolling Stone has learned that the next event, scheduled for this Monday, March 30th, will be a night of all-Led Zeppelin concert footage, from London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1970 up through their Knebworth Festival show in 1979.)
Tyler says part of the inspiration for making Rocks Donington was the time he’s spent watching the high-def, all-music cable channel Palladia. “They show a lot of festivals, so whenever you turn it on you see the Stones or Tom Petty or Foo Fighters and they’re fucking kicking ass,” he says. “And you’re watching it in your hotel room and you realize, ‘That’s a great format.'” Also, guitarist Joe Perry considers this show a highlight of last year’s European tour. “We were really picking up speed,” he says. “As you get near the end of a tour, the band gets better and the shows get better. The audience was on the money. The weather was decent. It felt like a special show.” (The band opted not to release the film in sometimes-fashionable 3D, though: “I think I’ve watched one 3D movie since that trend started,” he says. “Those funky glasses — it’s fun for a Disney ride but not for movies or rock & roll.”)
As seen in the movie, Perry is the first to admit that Aerosmith rarely deviates from the recorded versions of their hits. “People from 14 years old to their 60s come to the shows,” he says. “They’re looking forward to seeing ‘Walk This Way’ the way they know it. They’re not there to see if we can revamp something they’ve gotten used to. There would be a lot of disappointed people if we played ‘Dream On’ reggae-style. I can’t remember the last time we switched something around. That’s the kind of band we are, and I don’t see us changing anytime soon.” Last-minute changes largely come down to wardrobe — like the South American headdress Tyler wore that night in Donington. “You know, it was backstage and I said ‘Fuck it, I’m wearing it,'” Tyler recalls.
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