Dean Goodman of www.reuters.com reports that back in their youthful heyday, the members of Aerosmith indulged in every sort of hedonistic pursuit backstage after their concerts. These days, they head straight to the tour bus and surf the Web to see what their fans thought about the show, says lead guitarist Joe Perry.
The feedback is important in the early stages of a tour, such as the one that began last Wednesday in St. Louis, as the band struggles to regain match form after a 20-month absence from the stage.
“They don’t hold anything back,” Perry said of the comments on sites such as the official Web site, aeroforceone.com. “It’s a lot of fun to read it. Some of it isn’t so much fun, but it still gives you good feedback… We can take care of the technical stuff and what we expect out of ourselves, but the most important thing is how it affects the fans.”
The band has been playing one album from top to bottom on this tour. For the first two weeks it will be 1976′s “Toys In The Attic“. So far the only song not played from that album is “You See Me Crying” (my favorite song on the record). Joe Perry says that this one is too difficult for Steven Tyler to sing so soon on the tour, at least until his throat gets into shape. There are rumors that they will be playing “Rocks” in its entirety soon on the tour.
But what Perry really wants to do is exhume is the unloved 1979 album “Night in the Ruts,” recorded during the band’s lengthy, drug-fueled nadir. Perry plays on only some of the tracks because he left the band before the album was released.
