Aerosmith Rocks.

I have seen the band Aerosmith probably five or six times in my life. Up until this past weekend, all of those concerts had taken place in the late 1970's or early 80's, back when the band was in their prime. The first time I saw them was when they were touring in support of their classic "Toys in the Attic" album, when "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion" were radio hits. Then it seems like I saw them just about every year after that for awhile, up until just before their "Night in the Ruts" album was released and the band went into a serious decline that didn't really end until they revived their fortunes in the early 1990's. At that time, it seemed almost surprising that Aerosmith had found a way to survive, but they've since gone on to become a rock institution, and can lay a pretty legitimate claim to being the most successful American hard rock band ever, in terms of endurance and high-profile output, commercial sales, etc. Probably not the most influential or inspirational, but major players in the industry and a durable, reliable road show all the same.

So it was with great anticipation and curiousity that I entered the Van Andel Arena this past Saturday to work my concession stand gig and oh, by the way, listen to and steal an occasional peek at the show. Most of us were pretty pumped up and happy to be there, and I would say in retrospect that this was one of the more memorable nights of many I've spent at the arena, mostly because of my own personal interest and memory associations with the band. With such a long career and an extensive catalog of hits bridging chunks of four decades now, I was fascinated to know just what songs the band would haul out for a show in Grand Rapids.

The big surprise for me was just how weighted their program was with cuts from their first four albums ("Aerosmith," "Get Your Wings," "Toys in the Attic" and "Rocks.") These four albums are the foundation upon which all their later success rests, and they are really good ones in the overall history of rock music. After that, their albums became much more hit or miss, though I am speaking from personal bias here of course. There are probably a lot of younger people who would have not enjoyed this show if they just came to hear songs like "Janie's Got a Gun," "Love in an Elevator" or "Pink," all hits within the last 10-12 years, none of which were performed that night. Instead, they relied a lot on the old classics, including some album cuts that I thought would have been relegated to after hours jam sesssions. If I mention tunes like "Seasons of Whither" or "Last Child," would you remember them? I know them quite well, of course, but I grew up on that stuff. I don't think they really got the airplay that their later, neglected hits got, but that's what the band chose to play. I don't even think they played "Angel," but I might have missed that one. They did play "Crying" and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," the theme from the bombastic "Armageddon" movie that starred Bruce Willis and singer Steven Tyler's daughter Liv. But they were early-in-the-set numbers and didn't really soar to the extent that even I expected them to.

Their performance was what I would described as "polished raunch," something different than the truly sloppy and sometimes pathetic raunch that they brought on stage with them in the late 70's, when the band's drug and alcohol habits mirrored those of most of their audience. In those days, we (band and audience alike) were all so toasted at the time that it didn't make much difference how out of tune or off-tempo the band was. Though we didn't like having to wait for over an hour before the band finally got on stage to play, which was a more common occurrence it seemed, back in the day, than it is nowadays with a much more efficient, professional and sanitized showbiz operation that manages the details and gets everything rolling like clockwork.

Last Saturday was ample proof that Aerosmith has cleaned up their act just enough to get their graying, high paying fanbase home on time before they have to pay the babysitter overtime, but not so much that we don't get that invigorating thrill of waltzing in the gutter with some pleasingly sleazy fellas who know how to blast out a thunderous, rumbling mash-up of powerchords and full-throated yowls. They opened with a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" (It seems like Beatle covers are safe bets for big time rockers nowadays... U2 covered four of their songs, plus a John Lennon number at their recent concert in Cleveland! All part of Bono's "Man of the Year" award campaign, seems to me...) I got to see and hear them perform a great variety of hard rockin' tracks that made me smile and nod and occasionally stomp in appreciation of what their music meant to me in days gone by. Joe Perry even did a Jimmy Page imitation with a feedback-screeching freakout session on the theramin!

Still, I never really got the sense that they were careening into no-holds-barred, go for the gusto, seat of their pants risk-taking on stage. Now it all seems like just a big ol' business, but I still appreciate the band for hanging in there and keeping that train a-rollin' all night long for well over thirty years now.