I’ve always wished I could have been around to see some of the arena rock shows of the ’70s. And I don’t mean the huge, historic, larger-than-life ones; I mean the slightly understated ones, where US bands like KISS or Aerosmith were just beginning their world domination and playing mid-size hockey arenas in mid-sized towns. The feeling of excitement and enthusiasm at those shows must have just been unreal.
Somehow, Aerosmith brought me to that place tonight at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre here in Victoria. I figured the band would be good, like all the old-dog rock bands are; figured vocalist Steven Tyler would be a bit rough around the edges; assumed they’d look like they were three hundred years old and had squeezed four hundred years of life in there. I was right on the last count (good lord, those have been lives well lived), but wrong about Tyler (he sounds shockingly good), and also wrong that the band would be good: they were great.
Working their way through a set list that hit all the biggies but stopped for a couple old gems, the band had tons of energy (although placing “Cryin'” as the third song in was a very good way to threaten to kill that energy) (however, I will admit to loving that song, and it sounded great tonight) and looked like they were having a blast; their love for rock and roll was so apparent and their particular brand of rock so ’70s American that I was brought back to what it must have been like in some of those smaller arenas back when Aerosmith were just starting to become huge. The fact that they’ve kept that fire after all these years (and all those ballads) is impressive.
And isn’t guitarist Joe Perry still just the coolest cat there is? Yes, he is. I could watch that guy slink around and listen to his incredible guitar work for hours. We’ve all sat through so many of those excruciating Aero-ballads on the radio that we forget sometimes exactly what the man is capable of: pure rock glory.
Openers Living Colour seemed primed to steal the show, before Aerosmith stole it right back. They started off the night with a wickedly tight set of their unique rock: touches of jazz, funk, thrash metal, soul, and noise seeped through their set, which included some of the band’s best tunes. Vocalist Corey Glover spent most of the show in the audience, walking around the crowd throughout the entire arena before the band ended off with an explosive “Cult of Personality.” A shame they couldn’t have played for longer; Living Colour were on fire tonight, a suitably exciting way to get this adrenaline-pumping rock show started.