Suntimes.com
By Cheryl V. Jackson
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Steven Tyler (left) and Joe Perry led Aerosmith in concert Sunday night in Tinley Park.
(Oscar Lopez/For the Sun-Times) |
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...On Sunday, there didn't seem to be any hard feelings on the singer's part. On the way into "Rag Doll," he motioned to Perry and told the audience, "I fell in love with this man the first time I met him, and I'm still falling for him."
Perry responded by offering up a good show: "Sorry I missed you last time. But let's make it up!"
Last summer, the band cut short its tour after Tyler fell from the stage in South Dakota. Perry wasn't implicated in that incident.
For the most part, the players remained at their stations onstage Sunday -- Perry at the left; Brad Whitford on guitar on the far right with bassist Tom Hamilton to this left and drummer Joey Kramer in back, as Tyler roamed, performing at times ("Livin' on the Edge") to an audience offstage.
After almost 40 years, the group could phone it in. Tyler would have you think otherwise.
"Do you still feel it?" he screamed, leading up to "What it Takes." "You don't think I can hit those high notes?"
Do not doubt the man.
He and colleagues were in decent form as the group sliced through blues ("Stop Messin' Around," fronted by Perry), bluesy rock ("What it Takes") and Top 40 ("I Don't Want to Miss a Thing").
It was refreshing to see an old-school act not ready to hand off vocal work to the fans -- although the audience was eager to screech out "Cryin'" if Tyler needed a break. But he pushed the mike into the crowd only a few times, allowing fans to chime in a couple of "over me's" on the outstanding "Come Together," and some chanting, which he directed, during "Sweet Emotion."
Typical rock-star elements we love were on display: flamboyant dress (the singer in sparkly duster and lace pants, later adding a pink feathered boa); Tyler molesting a pillar, and monitors showing the band's music videos.
The more atypical also proved fun: Perry battling his "Guitar Hero" self and jamming with a Theremin in the lengthy conclusion of "Sweet Emotion," and Tyler, with his own set of sticks, briefly turning Kramer's drum solo into a duet.
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