There’s only one reason I would spend my afternoon stand on a grassy hill on a gloomy Melbourne day with a forecast for rain. That reason my friend, is that it’s Aerosmith’s first Australian tour in over 20 years. Despite the temperature of 16 degrees and ominous grey clouds that were looming over head, there was a sense of anticipation in the air, and a stellar line up that made the Sunday afternoon worth the threatening weather.
When I first walked up the hill at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, there was a small gathering of people scattered across the grass as Diva Demolition rocked the stage. It was clear why this band were on the bill as they have recently toured with the likes KISS, Motley Crue, and Thin Lizzy. Despite the crowd’s sparse beginnings, the four piece delivered a set worthy of any Riot grrrl.
Mark Maher (aka Kram) introduces Spiderbait to the crowd with a warm “Welcome to the fucking music bowl”. This initiates a set that is pure 90’s, containing a majority of songs that have been played on JJJ over the last decade. Despite playing well, it took a while to warm the crowd up. Mid set Mark Maher hit the nail on the head when he commented “ It feels like were are playing Battle of the Bands, in Werribee”. I had to agree. Fortunately, “Fucking Awesome” turned the corner, and after “Buy me a Pony” and “Old Man Sam” it was starting to feel like a rock concert. They concluded with their 1930s Lead Belly cover of “Black Betty”. Props to the girls at the front of the stage who decided to improvise the Macarena to the drum solo.
The Dead Daisies are next on stage, and are also the support for the rest of Aerosmith’s “Global Warming Tour”. They are a relatively young group, having joined forces in 2012. Despite their recent union, as individual musicians they have been a large part of the Australian music scene for many years. Most notable is front man Jon Stevens, previously from Noiseworks and INXS. The Dead Daisies sounds like they were born to make music for the late ‘70s and early ‘80s within the rock and soul genres. While they had some rather impressive rock posturing during their set, I did wonder if they were perhaps a few decades too late to make their mark.
From the second that front man Phil Jamieson stuck a ballet style pose on stage with a rather mischievous grin, I knew that Grinspoon were going to play like a boss. The lads lay out a thrashing set including “DCX3”, “Champion”, “Black Friday”, “Lost Control” to the mellower “Better off Alone” and “Chemical Heart”. Jamieson was oddly charismatic for a man wearing red braces, awkwardly frolicking about the stage. There were some rather interesting interpretative dance moves that, peculiarly enough, did not seem out of place. His unpredictable nature only made him more engaging as a performer and between him and the rest of the band, Grinners played a hard rocking set.
Conversely, Wolfmother were a lot less awkward, but unfortunately, not as charismatic. While they have some of the tightest pants I have ever seen, and some very impressive hair, they were not as exciting to see play. Andrew Stockdale was certainly engaging and played with zeal, however I enjoyed their set just as much from the other side of the hill while eating a gluten free pizza. That last comment probably makes me a hipster of some kind, but fear not, because I am about to embrace my inner bogan.
After Wolfmother’s set concluded, you could feel the excitement in the bowl rising. From the middle aged woman wearing country road yelling ‘I love you Steven!’ to the leather clad, bandana wearing guy screaming ‘I love your daughter Liv, Steven!’ there was quite a diverse range of fans at the venue who were ready for the biggest band of the night..
When Steven Tyler finally sashayed out on stage, he was everything I expected him to be and more. He wore a full length black and white print coat with matching bell bottoms, a black glittering shirt, purple rimmed sunglasses and an oversized black hat. Couture aside, his persona is louder than his outfit as he strutted down the cat walk shaped stage dragging his microphone stand, complete with animal pint scarves, behind him.
“Love in an elevator” was the first song of the night, and absolutely sent the crowd wild. Tyler and Joe Perry pranced about the stage like gods posturing, before keeping the high going with “Toys in the Attic” and “Jaded”.
Tyler had the crowd hanging on his every word and he played up to it, occasional throwing one of his accessories into the outstretched hands that surround him. When he’s not crooning to the ladies, or the occasional security guard, he’s flinging his microphone stand around like it’s an Olympic event, or dancing
in his usually flamboyant manner.
While the majority of the gig involved your typical crowd pleasers such as, “Livin' on the Edge”, “Janie's Got a Gun” and “Cryin” there are more sentimental moments such as “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”. At the beginning of the latter, fans started waving their lighters, gently from side to side. It was a somewhat nostalgic gesture, and fitted the moment perfectly.
There were a few covers such as The Beatles “Come Together” and a bluesy cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Stop Messin Around” with Perry on lead vocals. It’s about this time that I noticed he has a picture of his wife painted on his guitar. I am not sure if it’s sweet or just plan cheesy, but either way it’s totally Aerosmith, and seemed somehow normal within the context of the show.
There were further elements of cheese, like when Perry played into an amp until it ‘spontaneously’ combusted into smoke, or the use of smoke and wind machines that was strewn throughout the set. Between the band members, there is more attitude than even The Rolling Stones could ever muster and enough bling to satisfy even Liz Taylor.
Throughout the night Tyler flaunted his vocal prowess. In particular, the scat and acapella introduction to “What it Takes”, was remarkable. The peak of the gig, however, was the encore where Tyler played “Dream On” on the piano while Perry playing a killer solo while standing on top.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the break dancing 12 year olds that came out during “Walk This Way”. Apparently Tyler found them dancing out the front of his hotel and then decided to include them in the show. And why not?
Aerosmith have far too many hits to play a set and be satisfied. There was a lot of older classics played, but not so much from their more recent years. I actually really wanted to hear more material form “Music From Another Dimension!” but only “Oh Yeah’” was played. Not to say I was disappointed, I think Aerosmith could play for 5 hours and I would still want more.
My only hope is that I don’t have to wait another 20 something years before they come back again. But even if they do, I can bet you they would still be just as rocking. Even now, you can tell that Tyler, a man in his mid 60’s, is living it up as he’s going down.