Steven Tyler: The Biography (30 page)

For Steven, stepping off tour meant disappearing back into the recording studio to pick up where Aerosmith had left off on work for their next album - but not for long. By late January it was all change again when it was announced that the band planned to embark on a 2007 world tour that would embrace new challenges by pushing into new territories. It sometimes seemed physically impossible for Aerosmith to stand still.

This itch to keep on the move did not prevent Steven from once again taking stock of his personal life. A year on from his second divorce, he was prepared to cite the hectic touring side of his career as having played a significant part in the disintegration of his marriage to Teresa. While it cannot be considered a great life following a husband around from concert to concert saying wow every night and living on the road, in and out of hotel rooms, travelling across America and the world, Steven’s stance was that that was what he was - a rock star who loves to be out on stage, entertaining. He has made no secret that he adores what he does - giving live performances particularly - and that it is not a shallow existence to him. Sharing that demanding life, right then, was a new long-legged blonde girlfriend, tour promoter Erin Brady. She and Steven had met and become an item during his recovery from throat surgery the previous year.

Steven considered himself very fortunate that his elderly parents were still alive, and was patently excited that his daughter Chelsea, now eighteen years old, was showing signs of being drawn to his craft. He was thrilled when one day he walked in and found her trying to compose a song. He enjoyed keeping tabs on the development of all four of his offspring and his grandson, Milo.

As a father and grandfather, Steven found himself focusing even more on issues outside music. America’s military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tension with Iran exercised the minds of most Americans, and an organisation called the Peace Alliance supported a campaign in the United States to have a department of peace set up within the government. Over the weekend of 3-5 February 2007, the Peace Alliance held a conference in Washington DC that was attended by nearly one thousand people, including a number of prominent individuals from several walks of life - Steven was one of them. The conference climaxed with a rally held at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, at which Steven gave a crowd-stirring performance that punctuated proceedings and left the peace activists optimistic that they had made a mark on America’s seat of power, Capitol Hill.

Tyler was on a more familiar platform soon after when Aerosmith flew to London to play a ‘secret gig’ at the capital’s Hard Rock Café on 19 February. It had been eight years since they had last played in London, at Wembley Stadium. This somewhat more intimate 150-strong invite-only crowd was served up a set that blended blues, rock and ballads. Band and audience enjoyed indulging in this celebration of Aerosmith’s past glories, but queries regarding the band’s future persisted; these were only strengthened when it transpired that their already long-awaited fifteenth studio album would not see the light of day until 2008.

All their energies had to be channelled into preparing for the world tour, which commenced with a sold-out gig on 12 April at the Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moving on to an appearance at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, Aerosmith headed from Argentina to Mexico where, three gigs later, they concluded the Latin American leg at the Foro Sol in Mexico City. A single north American concert in late April at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas then signalled a month’s rest before the band took off again.

Steven was more keyed up than usual. Over the span of the six-week second leg, in addition to playing on familiar turf, Aerosmith would be performing live to fans in five countries for the first time; the first of these was the United Arab Emirates. Arriving in the Gulf in late May, however, Tyler had a special appointment to keep. Along with Tom, Brad and Joey, he visited American sailors and marines aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Nimitz
which, commanded by Captain Mike Manazir, was on its first Middle East port visit. For most of the US servicemen and women, this came as a complete surprise and their excitement was palpable. Storekeeper First Class Jacob Rico, an ardent Aerosmith fan anyway, could not believe his eyes when he spotted the frontman in the flesh. Rico later enthused: ‘It was cool! Steven Tyler just looked up at me and said: “This is a big ship!” I said: “Yeah! Come on up!”’ The four rock stars were cheered and applauded as they were given a guided tour of the ship. Over the vessel’s address system, Steven yelled: ‘Hi everybody. This is Aerosmith. Hope you guys are playing safe.’ Then he spent time on the ceremonial quarterdeck, talking with fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures.

The next evening, 31 May 2007, Steven led Aerosmith out on stage before sixteen thousand fans corralled into the Dubai Autodrome, to be greeted with a rapturous reception. During the two-hour show, Tyler’s voice got a rest when in particular songs, after the opening line, the fans took over and sang the hit back to the band. The audience especially appreciated it when for the encore Steven - famous for his dance moves in performance - took time to learn how to throw new shapes from the traditional Arab dancer who accompanied the band on stage.

From the Gulf, Aerosmith travelled to India, touching down just as monsoon conditions were forecast to sweep in. Their single gig in this country took place in early June in Bangalore’s impressive Palace Grounds, situated in the heart of the bustling city. Bangalore was no stranger to rock shows, having played host to British hard rock acts including the Rolling Stones, but this again was virgin territory for the American stars. With another nod to an unfamiliar culture, Steven had learned some Hindi words, which he tried out on their massive audience, who managed to stay dry as the predicted downpour never materialised. It did not matter whether the star’s attempt at this language was entirely accurate - the fans who had come in their droves from around the subcontinent appreciated the courtesy.

At fifty-nine years old, Steven defied the odds in so many ways; to the excitable crowds he was akin to a disreputable Peter Pan. From the back of packed arenas he appeared to have remained unchanged for the past three decades. Time could almost stand still in this respect for the duration of an Aerosmith gig. Tyler admitted that he had no idea what the secret of the band’s longevity was. In the past thirty-seven years he had seen other acts blow themselves out, crash and burn or never get off the starting blocks, and while all the turmoil he and the band had endured would have finished many others off, in a weird way these travails formed part of the glue that essentially bound the band together. Although there was still an element of volatility in the band, each man had become more adept at keeping things in perspective.

One aspect of his busy life Steven would never get used to was missing milestones in his family’s lives. While Aerosmith was in the Middle East, Chelsea had graduated from high school. Steven would have preferred to be there and felt bad at having to explain to her that in order to be present at her graduation it would have meant unravelling a multi-million-dollar-earning world tour. When asked about his home life, Steven declared emotionally: ‘I am one proud papa and grandpa. It’s strange how life works out. One day, you’re in a haze, the next you are a family man.’

Steven’s ambitions for where his band could yet go remained undiminished. On this tour he maintained: ‘Every day brings us something new and we do it, we try it.’ But Joe Perry used a broader brush stroke. ‘Steven lives and breathes Aerosmith,’ he told the UK’s
Daily Telegraph
. ‘For me, sometimes, it’s just a way to make a living. I’m not part of that celebrity thing. I don’t need that.’

Tyler had long ago shrugged off comparisons to Mick Jagger, but at times he happily aligned certain aspects of their respective public personas. Citing Jagger, Iggy Pop and himself as singers with not the greatest voices in the world, he pointed out that the vital factor common to all three of them was that they each had attitude!

After India, Aerosmith targeted Scandinavia, commencing in Randers, Denmark, where Tyler’s manic on-stage energy gingered up proceedings before the massed crowd in Essex Park. A few rock festival appearances had been sewn into this leg, including appearances in Solvesborg, Sweden, and at the Hessentag Fair in Frankfurt. Quitting Germany in mid-June, after a single gig at the Bercy Arena in Paris, France, the band joined other acts performing at Belgium’s Graspop Festival in Dessel. Aerosmith’s strong appeal to European fans had been brought home to Steven and, already exhilarated by the tour’s runaway success, he was wildly anticipating the next pit stop, for when he and the band boarded the plane from Belgium, the destination was London where they were to headline at the two-day Hyde Park Calling Festival.

On the weekend of 23-24 June 2007, Britain was battered by torrential rain, but nothing could dampen Steven’s enthusiasm. Even the normally laconic and laid-back Joe Perry was visibly wired. He declared: ‘It is really exciting to think that Hyde Park is going to be filled with eighty thousand maniacs and we get to play for them!’

The two-day Hyde Park Calling festival had been launched the year before, when headliners included Primal Scream and the Who. For this year’s event it was expanded to include three stages. On 23 June, Peter Gabriel and Crowded House held court on stage number one. The next night, Aerosmith were to cap the festival. Revved up during the day, Tyler told journalists that he could not wait to get up behind the microphone and ‘kick some ass’. He stressed: ‘At the end of the day, it’s really about having a good time and letting loose. My dad used to tell me: “Musicians and cooks - they are the ones, because everyone has to eat and at the end of the day they want to get up and dance.”’

On Sunday evening, as the heavens again opened and drenched the 45,000-strong horde jostling in front of stage number one, acts Jet, the Answer and Chris Cornell played their sets before Aerosmith erupted on stage to power their way through a scintillating one-hour show, belting out one blistering hit after another. One reviewer recalled: ‘Strutting around the stage like only he can, Tyler had the audience in the palm of his hand from the opener, “Love in an Elevator”.’ The climax of the show saw Aerosmith joined on stage during the encore by rapper Darryl McDaniels of Run D.M.C. for a riotous rap-rock rendition of ‘Walk This Way’, which sent the already delirious audience into orbit. Darryl McDaniels spoke soon after to the media about the experience: ‘The thirty years I have been in this business just ran past my eyes. It was awesome because you feed off the crowd.’ With immaculate timing, the show ended on the dot of the 10.30 p.m. curfew imposed on the event by London authorities. Tyler told the crowd: ‘The cops are turning off the power.’

In the nine months since Steven revealed that he had undergone chemotherapy to conquer hepatitis C, he had received even keener attention, but the star was just as frenetically untamed on stage as ever, still displaying his trademark long flowing locks, and just as hairpin-thin due to constant dieting and working out. He confessed: ‘I do two hundred and fifty press-ups religiously every night before I get into bed.’

Tyler put his natural youthfulness down to his lineage. ‘My Italian grandfather on my mother’s side had a full head of hair in his old age and my paternal grandfather was a wiry Portuguese sailor,’ he said. He did not shrink from questions about his former wild child days, but preferred to move on. He did want, however, to continue to stress that for addicts sunk in the mire the only way to sobriety was to go through the rigours of rehab, and he maintained that it was being clean of drugs that enabled him once more to hit the high notes in songs.

Aerosmith made their mark at Marley Park in Dublin, Ireland, before returning to eastern Europe. They wove gigs in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland around the remainder of their groundbreaking appearances in this corner of the world, which saw them entertain audiences at the Skonto Stadium in Riga, Latvia, the A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn, Estonia, and during performances in Russia at the SKK Arena in St Petersburg and the Moscow Olimpijsky Arena.

Jetting across the Atlantic, they were committed to participating in two Canadian events - the Sarnia Bayfest in Ontario and the Blast at the Beach in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island - before heading to sunny California, where an appearance at the Mid State Fair in Paso Robles preceded wrapping up this leg on 27 July with a gig at the Konocti Harbour Resort in Kelseyville.

Taking August off to catch their breath, Aerosmith was one of the acts to perform at the star-studded yearly extravaganza, Fashion Rocks. Recorded at Radio City Music Hall in New York on 6 September, it aired nationally as a two-hour special the following night on CBS television.

On 8 September, Aerosmith embarked on the fourth leg of their 2007 world tour, opening at Clarkston in Michigan. With Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as support act, only nine gigs were scheduled; concentrated in an eighteen-day period, the pace was brisk. Six days into this leg, they turned up in Mansfield, Massachusetts, to play the Tweeter Center. The last time they had been there, Steven had just dropped the bombshell news of his secret battle with hepatitis C, which had stunned and worried his fans. Of this night the
Boston Globe
’s Joan Anderman was moved to write next day: ‘The stage was sleek and uncluttered, a clean palette for Steven Tyler’s star power. Tyler strutted the catwalk, a model rock god, scarves flowing from his hat, his neck and his mike stand, gripping fans by the wrists, dipping his fingers into a woman’s drink and rubbing it behind his ear.’

Because Aerosmith had been so much on the road since getting their second wind, they inevitably revisited venues fairly frequently and were concerned that they could become stale to the fans. It seemed unlikely, if for no other reason than the basic psyche in the band. As Joe Perry put it: ‘This band has always felt like the underdog. We come from a time when you earned your bones by playing better than the other guy and there is always a “competing with ourselves” kind of thing. We are forever saying: “What did we do last time we were here? We gotta kick some ass this time.”’ The tour ground to a halt in late September in Illinois.