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Aerosmith & ZZ Top
BOK Center
Tulsa, OK
July 30, 2009
By Jeb Wright
Set List: ZZ Top
Got Me Under Pressure | Waiting For The Bus | Jesus Just Left
Chicago |
Cheap Sunglasses | I Need You Tonight | Just Got Paid | Foxy
Lady | Gimmie
All Your Loving | Sharp Dressed Man | Legs | La Grange | Tush
Set List: Aerosmith
Eat The Rich | Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees) | Rag Doll
| Dream On
| Walkin' The Dog | Last Child | Combination | Stop Messin'
Around | Love In
An Elevator | Cryin' | Livin' On The Edge | Lord of the Thighs |
Sweet
Emotion | Walk This Way
Encore:
Joe Perry Guitar Battle with Guitar Hero | Train Kept A Rollin'
Aerosmith and ZZ Top playing together on the same stage is a
classic rock fans wet dream. While Aerosmith's bass player, Tom
Hamilton, would miss the show due to shoulder surgery, his
replacement would do a fine job in his absence, despite being
one of only two musicians to take the stage that night not to be
inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame (A-Smith's
keyboard player being the other.)
I showed up for a backstage interview with Joe Perry that was to
take place at 6:30. Like most things rock n' roll, it didn't
happen until almost 8:00, meaning that instead of seeing most of
ZZ Top, I spent their set in the catering area. Sure, it is
nice to drink free soda and the damn food looked great.
Unfortunately, my buddy, Jon Fultz, and I had decided to try
some downtown Tulsa food. We found a place called Coney Island
and decided to try a dog after seeing the window of the joint
which stated in bold lettering, "Hot Wieners." We should have
known better as it was on the bottom of burned out hotel. The
food was disgusting but we ate most of it, as we didn't want to
pay five hundred dollars for a couple of nachos and a coke at
the venue.
Through the cement walls, ZZ sounded great. The only tune I got
to hear from front of house was "Tush" and my view was obscured
by a seating fiasco. We were to have seats four and five in Row
J. Well, they were taken. The problem was not the people in
our seats, however. The issue was a loud-mouthed hippie who was
in their seats and refused to move. It took
three floor workers to convince him to leave the area. The
belligerent peace generation beatnik could be heard yelling at
the security guard, "Am I a baby? Are you going to walk me all
the way to my seat?" While this would usually amuse me, missing
"Tush," as well as the entire ZZ concert irritated me. As we
sat down, the band left the stage. Our reason for missing ZZ
Top, however, was to sit down face-to-face with a rock legend.
I have seen
Top in concert a dozen times too so Aerosmith is forgiven for
running behind.
After waiting in catering for hours, the lovely Jessica, who
works in production for Aerosmith, came to escort us to Joe
Perry's dressing room. As we walked in, Joe had a red,
semi-hollow body Hammer guitar strapped on and was warming up
for the gig. I must admit watching Joe jam and spending a half
an hour in his presence was a thrill. We discussed how this
tour has
been cursed with injuries and Joe's upcoming CD release with The
Joe Perry Project. Joe even played us a track from the album,
and I must admit, it rocks. It was refreshing to see Joe play
along with the track, all the while actually curious to see if I
would have a positive response to the song. The tune ended up
rocking, mixing old school guitar riffs and solos with a more
modern sounding rhythm.
Back on the floor, I took the time to talk to some of the
Aerosmith faithful who were anxiously awaiting their favorite
band. The most popular topic of discussion was Steven Tyler.
It seems abundantly clear that women of all ages think he is
sexy. I don't get it, personally. While I am not homophobic,
I also think I have generally good taste in who is attractive,
no matter what the gender. I am 100% heterosexual but we all
know a good-looking human when we see one. I don't see it in
Steven. Never have. He is small, super thin and pretty rough
looking. I guess having a great voice and fronting Aerosmith
just makes one appear hot damn sexy.
I quickly tired of hearing how hot Steven was and began people
watching. Compared to other bands, Aerosmith seems to get a
higher class of rock slut than many of their contemporaries.
There were to be no boobies exposed during the show as the ones
seeking backstage had either done what they needed to get there
before the show or were confident that they could get what they
wanted without flashing the masses. Without boobies to look at,
I turned my attention to the stage. After ZZ Top finished, the
stage was covered by a huge black curtain that contained the
word 'Aerosmith' in white lettering. When the lights went down,
the curtain dropped and the band went immediately into "Eat the
Rich." This was an odd choice as an opener but it worked. The
song rocked and the band played like they had something to
prove.
Overall, the set list was missing several what one would call
must-play songs; most notably "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and
"Dude Looks Like a Lady." The band left some
classics out in order to rock the blues on "Walkin' the Dog" and to share a
song that had never been played live before this tour titled "Combination"
from the classic Rocks album. Later in the evening, the band
trotted out the classic guitar anthem "Lord of the Thighs" to
the utter enjoyment of old school fans. Most of the girls in
the audience, who had been singing along to poppier songs ala
"Love in an Elevator" and "Cryin'," looked dumbfounded as they
had never heard this album classic from 1974's Get Your Wings.
Perry and Whitford jammed their
asses off on this one. It was easily the highlight of the
evening, musically.
Aerosmith's stage set was impressive. Massive lights surrounded
four giant video screens that were movable. During "Love in an
Elevator" all four turned flat and began bouncing up and down,
as if they had transformed into elevators. Other times, the
screens showed live action on stage or video footage from the
band's MTV heyday. The stage show was perfectly executed and
raised the energy in the arena.
Tyler, whose voice has been in question since contracting
pneumonia early in the tour, sounded like his old self. "Dream
On" saw him reaching the edge of his abilities but he pulled it
off. "Livin' on the Edge" was another highlight of the show.
The band rocked it up, threw in some instrumental magic and had
the crowd on their feet singing every word.
The main set ended with "Sweet Emotion" and "Walk This Way" from
the classic album Toys in the Attic. When the tour
started, it was announced that Aerosmith would perform this
classic album in its entirety but the health issues that had
plagued the band keep them from getting in the groove. For now,
we had to live with only the obvious tracks from the crowning
jewel of
the band's back catalog.
The encore began with Joe Perry jamming on his guitar. On the
four screens above his head, a cartoon Joe was jamming out licks
in response. This continued for several minutes with each lick
more complicated than the last. Finally, cartoon Joe blew up
from the fretboard frenzy taking place, leaving Perry to
exclaim, "I guess that means I win." The rest of the band took
the stage as Steven Tyler requested, "everyone get to the
station and get their tickets." With that, the band went into
"Train Kept a Rollin'." The crowd sang "ALL NIGHT LONG" at the
top of their lungs when Tyler prompted them to do so.
As an old school Aerosmith fan, it was nice to see that five
songs from the classic era made the set list ("Walk This Way,"
"Dream On," "Last Child," "Sweet Emotion" and '"Train").
Instead of "Walking the Dog" and "Stop Messin' Around" it would
have been better to throw in "Chip Away at the Stone" and "Mama
Kin" but the Tulsa crowd, which had not hosted an Aerosmith
concert for twenty-one years, was thrilled with anything and
everything the band played.
Both bands are consummate professionals who have survived the
long, strange, rock n' roll road trip and come out the other
side older, wiser and better musicians. This is a wonderful
pairing of two career long headliners. ZZ Top sacrifice some
glory being the openers but they do so for the betterment of the
show. Aerosmith prove they are still the hard rock band of
choice in the United States. Suffice it to say that if this
tour rolls around to your part of the country then you better
go. Ticket prices may be high but you will be as well when you
leave the concert. After all, this is one show that truly lets
the music do the talkin'.
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