Aerosmith With: ZZ Top When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Admission: $29-$189 Where: P-G Pavilion, Burgettstown Details: 724-947-7400 or www.livenation.com
It seems nothing can kill Aerosmith.
Foot and throat surgery for singer Steven Tyler? Minor setbacks.
Knee surgery for guitarist Joe Perry? Nothing to sweat.
Tom Hamilton's throat cancer? Not a problem for the bass player.
And guitarist Brad Whitford's recent head injury that prevented him from starting the band's current tour? Like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator," he'll be back sometime next month, according to Perry. Whitford is recovering from surgery for internal bleeding after he apparently banged his head while getting out of his Ferrari about a week before the tour began
Only drummer Joey Kramer seems immune.
"Sometimes, I think it's Mother Nature tapping us on the shoulder," Hamilton says in advance of Aerosmith's concert Wednesday at the Post-Gazette Pavilion, Burgettstown. "But we're rebellious, so even if it is Mother Nature tapping us, we're going on with this. I guess it's just something to be expected. The band has been going on for so long, you get used to the fact that certain things are going to change in that period of time."
Even a storm of biblical proportions the first night of the tour in St. Louis didn't stop the Boston quintet. Winds reaching 70 mph and lightning forced fans to run to their cars for cover. Hamilton was in the dressing room warming up when the storms hit, unaware of the storm's severity until just before Aerosmith took the stage.
When the band finally came out, Hamilton admits it was stunning to see most of the crowd had stayed.
"It's very moving. It feels awesome," Hamilton says. "I hate to be all sentimental and ridden with cliche, but it was amazing."
It also was a fairly astounding evening for diehard Aerosmith fans. After five songs, the band played "Toys in the Attic" from the 1975 album of the same name. Then came "Uncle Salty" and "Adam's Apple," also from "Toys." And on and on through "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion" until every song from the record, save "You See Me Crying," had been performed.
For years, the band had discussed doing one of its seminal albums from start to finish.
"It's challenging," Hamilton says. "We were always curious to see, after all these years after hopefully growing as musicians, how well we were going to portray all these songs that were brought into being by these snotty kids."
Performing "Toys in the Attic" brought back some fond memories for the group. Hamilton recalls how the success of the album "Get Your Wings" gave the band room to experiment when it came time to record again.
While Hamilton seems to have a fondness for that time, Aerosmith isn't stuck on being a classic-rock band. "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" has proven to be one of the more popular titles in the video game's catalog. On the current tour, a few fans are being selected to perform a Guitar Hero version of an Aerosmith song onstage, and Hamilton finds this interaction familiar.
"When I was a kid and I would listen to a new record, I was in a hypnotic state," he says. "I would sit there and listen to the whole thing by myself and go into a zone, mentally. Now, music is so much more casual. People are walking around with iPods.
"But when you play the game, you're back into that hypnotic state. It's kind of a new version of what I used to feel when I heard a new album that blew my mind. I love the fact that there are people who are so mentally focused into our songs."
Not to mention the fans for whom "neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night" is not merely a postal oath.
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