News From The Road

Well the first 2 shows of this tour went great. Tons of time traveling though. It can wear you down. I don’t think anybody has been to bed before 4:00am

The rehearsals were a lot of fun especially since Tom was back. The guys put together a set list of songs that the kids in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico wanted to hear. Since it has been 13 years since Aerosmith has been to these places they haven’t heard anything from Nine Lives, Just Push and Honkin’. "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" and "Crazy" made it into the set as well as "Dude", which has only been played a handful of times since 1999. It turned out to be a great move by the guys because a lot of the fans still think Permanent Vacation was the band’s first album and "Dream On"," Walk this Way" and "Sweet Emotion" appeared from thin air.


Slash, Scott Weiland and Joe Photo: John Bionelli


Joey with Matt Sorum Photo: John Bionelli


Tom talks bass with Duff McKagen Photo: John Bionelli

We got to have a great support band for the 2 shows. Velvet Revolver! They were staying at the same Hotels as us so it was great to see them. At one point in Sao Paulo, Duff, Slash, Matt, Joe and Steven were all in the Hotel gym at the same time and it was cool seeing these guys talk about touring together during the years in between water breaks and sets. Matt as you may remember played with the Cult, who did a bunch of shows with the guys.


Joe Perry- Nuff said Photo: John Bionelli

The Sao Paulo show was awesome 50,000 screaming people singing every word to Elevator. All you could see were a sea of people jumping up and down. It was Brazilians by the millions.


Photo: John Bionelli

Next up was Buenos Aires, Argentina:

The hotel we all were staying at was Amazing. It was called Faena Hotel and Universe. It was owned by this guy named Alan who invited the guys out to dinner at the Hotel’s steakhouse. The food was amazing and it was great to see the band out enjoying themselves. The next day I went with some of the guys from VR to see the Psychedelic Furs at a club called the Roxy. After the show we went back to the Hotel bar where we found Brad Whitford jamming with the house band to the wee hours of the night. It was great to just sit back and hear Brad wail for about 2 hours. The place was packed.


Fill 'er Up Photo: John Bionelli



















Video: John Bionelli

The show in Buenos Aires may have been the best show I have seen in quite sometime. The stage was huge! The place held 65,000 people and was sold out. The guys put Crazy in the set without even rehearsing it and it came out awesome.

The next day Brad, Tom and Joey decided to go leather shopping. I guess leather is pretty cheap there and the guys stocked up on jackets for their wives. Band Associate Donny Wightman picked up a pair of black leather chaps at the request of Ross Halfin.

Velvet Revolver were playing at a small Theatre in Buenos Aires that night and Joe and his wife Billie decided to check them out. We got to the place about 3 minutes before they went on and watched from the side of the stage. The venue was like a sauna. It was 1 1/2 hours of sweaty grimy rock and roll. The new songs were awesome. Go out and get their new record when it comes out.

Steven and Joey check out Lima Photo: John Bionelli

What do you do on your day off? You fly 11 hours to Monterrey Mexico of course. On the way we had to stop in Lima, Peru for gas and the guys started to get a little antsy on the plane. So after Mr. Perry assisted the local airport worker fill the plane with petrol the guys had an impromptu photo session with Billie Perry behind the lens. It was one of those moments besides the stage and the fuselage of a airplane where the guys just hung out for 45 minutes and enjoyed the sunset in Lima, Peru.

See you on the Road!

John B.


Check Out John B's other reports HERE