Aerosmith - Rags N' Riches

Joe Perry is at the tip of the stage with a red shirt wide open revealing his still muscular chest with his six-string slung around his neck looking like the most bad ass outlaw on the planet. As he raises his right hand above his head only to acutely descend it downward against the six strings for a seismic and walloping distorted chord that ignites the incendiary opening of "Draw The Line". As drummer Joey Kramer bashes his cymbal, the rest of the band rocket like a star voyaging galaxies and I can literally feel the hair on my arms stand straighter than a Chicago skyscraper. When I forked over money to see Aerosmith last summer I had my reservations. Then when they cancelled the original September 10th show and delayed it for two weeks for lord knows what reason, I figured I would be attending a funeral on the rescheduled date of September 24th. However, while I watched the band tear through "Draw The Line", I came to the realization that this was a band that isn't just damn good, but on this particular night was at the top of their game. Why then is this the smallest crowd the band has played to in Chicago in nearly three-decades? Why were the press blacklisted from this portion of the tour and most importantly, why were fans, who have seen Aerosmith twenty-plus times in the last decade, sitting at home on the night of the show? Let's find out.

I must confess; I had no desire to see Aerosmith and I was secretly hoping to see them self implode on the concert stage so I could sit down and take out the anger I feel towards them, their management, their ticket prices, their dozen "Greatest Hits" collections and lack of new material by saying they're over the hill, mere shadows of their former selves and in short�that they have evolved into a joke of a band that no one takes seriously anymore. However, they didn't implode; in fact they were scalding hot! Hell, even the war horses like "Love In A Elevator", "Same Old Song & Dance", "Pink", "What It Takes" and "Walk This Way" were enlivening and considering how many times I've seen those songs and would pay big money to see them retired, that's speaking boatloads.

The show, while short on paper with only eighteen-songs, was over two-hours in performance. I think the last time I saw them cross the two-hour barrier was in December of 1994. This was clearly a show where one could not judge it merely by the set list. However, I do have a small complaint; with such an immense catalog, why play the same exact show night-after-night, song for song, for months on end is beyond me. Aerosmith is better than this and they know it. This is a band who has fourteen studio albums (and almost as many live and compilation discs) and there's no reason to not switch up four or five songs nightly. This is one of the many reasons the band's attendance is on the downswing but I'll get back to that later. Even with a static set, the shows breakneck pace never allowed one to question what was being played or for how long, a true testament to the band's grip on their audience. As much as I hate to admit it, the conviction they performed the material with was nothing short of a miracle. God, if half of the club acts and one-hit wonders delivered a show half as good as this one the old record company model would be alive and well. But then again, how many acts have thirty-five years worth of hits in their back pocket? This is from a band that even refuses to play songs like "Jailbait", "Lightning Strikes", "Let The Music Do The Talking", "My Fist Your Face", "Make It" and "No Surprise"- all minor classics in my mind.

I knew I was witnessing more than a band collecting a paycheck as sinewy "SOS (Too Bad)" raged in every way imaginable. I'm a huge Aerosmith fan and yet I've never felt this was one of their more preeminent songs, yet after seeing this performance, it's been in constant rotation on my iPod. Drummer Joey Kramer ferociously attacked his drum kit like Godzilla prancing over Tokyo delivering a seismic earthquake felt throughout the entire arena. You want to know a sign of a truly great band? When they take a hidden gem you've overlooked or are unfamiliar with and after seeing it live it becomes a fierce prevailing watershed moment. That is what "S.O.S." was on this night. Even better was the incandescent riff that opened "Last Child". While most people's eyes were on the Toxic Twins (looking like they belonged to the Village People with their over-the-top outfits) at the tip of the catwalk a good twenty-five rows into the crowd, mine were closely fixated on drummer Joey Kramer, bassist Tom Hamilton and rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford. These three are the engine that drives Aerosmith. I'd even dare say that Tyler and Perry are more expendable than this thunderous trio. While Tyler and Perry are up front and center, basking in the rays of light, these three hold the steady back beat down and keep the song from being derailed. Perry and Tyler may be the stars, but these three are the foundation and the backbone of the band. Without this triumphant trio, Tyler and Perry wouldn't stand as tall and their stars wouldn't shine as brightly. Whitford spends too much time in the background but on this number he ventured out of the shadows and peered through the looking glass of the band and played out of his skin. I've seen Aerosmith a good dozen times and Whitford, Hamilton and Kramer were all on another plane this evening.

"Baby Please Don't Go" featured a wildly animated Steven Tyler who proved he is always on, almost as if each night's performance is being filmed for posterity. The band absolutely nailed this one and while it brought me to a euphoric state, it saddened me as well as the entire Honkin' On Bobo album was wasted on a lack of tour and poor promotion. If there had been a proper theater tour of major markets where they did a week of gigs, the album would have tripled its sales. Instead the band played largely secondary markets and cancelled the tour early. Hell, they didn't even play Chicago, the home of the blues. As the song climaxed, Steven Tyler was at the tip of the extended cat walk on his knees providing the crowd with a psychedelic bluesy blast from the past. If only more people saw this when the album was out- it would have sold four times as many copies as it did.

Tyler and Perry were seated on the catwalk as they swaggered through the stonesy deep cut "Hangman Jury" from Permanent Vacation once again proving that a band does not need to unload every hit in its cannon to evoke the crowds awareness. "Seasons of Wither", replete with the crunching rhythm section of Kramer and Hamilton is always a welcomed highlight. "Walking the Dog", "Sweet Emotion", "Rats In The Cellar" and "Draw The Line" were all magnificent; no easy feat considering the youngest of the bunch is still three-decades old. Even the cynic in me, who has tired of "Dream On", recognized the collective awesomeness of 11,000 arms swaying with vigor and purpose during the descending chorus. "Livin' On The Edge", another torn and tattered number who I figured had seen better days, which proved to not be true. When the lights engulfed the arena after the first chorus it was a momentous sight to see every single individual in the arena be connected to this song with the mouths agape and their eyes glistening. This song wasn't the huge hit everyone was expecting back in 1993, but the band stuck to their guns and performed it like they meant it and if an act does this, it will attain legendary status on its own without radio airplay of a fancy MTV video. "Stop Messin' Around" featured Perry on vocals but the true star was Whitford whose guitar playing continued to astound me proving one again how indispensable he truly is. Perry even played a bit of the piano while Tyler sat in the shadows providing his harmonious harmonica solo allowing others to bask in the glory of the roars of the crowd proving that in deed Aerosmith truly is a band of brothers.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry euphorically played off one another the entire show like two Wimbledon champions elevating each other's games and pushing the crowd along with them. The band was so extraordinarily physical and expressive it suggested a tinge of prevailing yearning from a band thirty-five years into their career. The only other band whom I have witnessed this vigorous at this point in their career is the Rolling Stones. They are such a powerful entity live and exude their inner joy of the music. Why then can only those with thick wallets experience this?

Now when the dollar totals were printed in Billboard, it showed the band scoring a $930,000 payday, not bad for two-hours work, albeit significantly less than it should have been. When these artists were banging away at their instruments in a garage I'm sure they dreamed of making untold millions of dollars, but I also imagine they hoped to play to the widest and largest audience possible. Sadly, like many acts these days, Aerosmith has let the almighty dollar dictate not just their business but their art as well. One thing the Billboard Boxscore didn't highlight was that this was the third smallest audience Aerosmith has ever performed to in Chicago and the smallest since 1979. How could this be? A ridiculous ticket price, that's how. Now, I will admit, Aerosmith's tickets were priced between $45 and $125 (down from $165 two-years earlier) and I paid $89 for my ticket which isn't unreasonable, however, it hinders the attendance and the quality of the crowd. One of the things the industry is too foolish to realize is that a higher gross is not always a means to an end. A far sexier statistic is total attendance. You rarely see the Dave Matthews Band in the Top-Five or even the Top-Ten highest grossing tours of the year, but they're consistently one of the top three in regards to attendance. Plus, they tour every summer so the argument of over-saturation doesn't necessarily apply to Matthews. The key to his continued success and improving of his brand relies on him leaving money on the table every single time be plays a show. He could be charging $150 for the best seats and they would easily sell, but he doesn't. He also could auction off prime seats, but he doesn't because he wants a guaranteed audience every time he performs. He has taken the high road and chosen his art over the almighty dollar. Then again, he's probably making just as much money as Aerosmith for half the ticket price and three-times the amount of fans. Plus, he has the younger generation in a choke hold because his ticket prices stay continually fair allowing the younger generation to experience his concerts.

I will give Aerosmith props, the T-Shirts at the show (with a few exceptions) all appeared to be $25 and lower but doesn't the band realize how much more money could have been made is there were another 7,000 people at the show. Heck, let's say they spent an average of $5 on merchandise per person, which is another $35,000. Multiply that by 100 shows and you have another $3.5 million, of which is mostly pure profit. Then there's the issue of the 7,000 empty seats. The stage had a large screen at its center and it continues to amaze me that more and more acts use this screen as a way to disguise unsold seats. The capacity of the Allstate Arena is around 13,000 with no seats behind the stage sold and if every seat were for sale, it would hold close to 18,000. Aerosmith had a little over 11,000 attend the show. Could you imagine what another 7,000 seats sold would do for the bottom line? Hell, forget the bottom line; do you want to know what another 7,000 sold seats would have done for inspiration and long term devotion from a fan perspective? Even a $45 ticket these days means you wind up spending over $60 just to get in the door and that is before parking, concessions or the purchase of any kind of merchandise. That is enough of a price difference that it stops the average fan from going, not to mention these are not always the best seats. It goes from a fairly good deal under $50 to a ticket that is now north of $60. Hell even a dinner tab with a tip of 20% and a tip for the valet is cheaper. Why not put a bunch of seats on sale that would otherwise be empty (behind the stage), raise the video screen to the rafters and charge $20? Those 7,000 empty seats are now grossing the band an extra $140,000 and add on merchandise sales onto that and you have another $35,000. Multiply that by 100 shows and you have 17.5 million extra to add to your coffers. Heck, once again screw the money, a young college kid could go to hear two or three classic songs and witness the breathtaking abandonment of "S.O.S." and become transformed and go back to their dorm and tell everyone to burn their Dave Matthews discs and delete their MP3 files and to get the Aerosmith catalog. "Really" they would all say? Then the kid goes, "You have to see them live, that is where the magic is!" For $20 even with Ticketbastard fee's a college kid would take the dip for a euphoric experience like this but not for $60 nosebleeds. It adds to long term longevity for the artist and continued renewal of their music to a new audience. Let's not forget the feeling of being baptized by the power of rock n' roll which I am assuming was the real reason they began all of this in the first place.

Aerosmith is more than just a nostalgia act churning out classic rock favorites, but a band with a rich and varied history whose concert performances are bracing, impressive, dreamy, surreal, exotic, feverish, inviting, edgy, raw and real. Aerosmith proved to be remarkably adept at creating a stirring and surreal evening. It's a shame that more people couldn't afford to see the band deliver one of the best shows of their career.

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

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