Location: Munich, Germany
Concert date: 14.06.2007
Attendance: 11000
Ticket price: 65 euros
Every time the road pulls me to the capital of the most picturesque of all German regions, Bavaria, I get flooded with nostalgia all over again. Smack in the middle of the capital of this old land, famous for lederhosen, beer halls, sausages and all the other mandatory gear of every self-respecting Speer comrade, lies one of the most beautiful Olympic venues in the world – Munich’s Olympic Park. A place of huge historical significance, where in 1974 Gerd Muller, with his famous sprawling goal, shattered every dream of Cruyff’s high-flying Dutch total-football ballers of becoming world champions. Of course, besides the obligatory football circus, there’s plenty of other stuff going on. The Germans, besides using the grounds for sports, don’t bore anyone with a dry offering either, with a colorful program of music events. Over the past thirty years, a whole herd of music giants has quenched its thirst in this green oasis. No wonder world-class stars keep coming back, since their needs, like those of all their followers, are well taken care of at every step.
The same goes for our old acquaintances Aerosmith. It’s been quite a while since the flying blacksmiths from Boston last laid waste to the old continent. Eight whole years, to be exact. A lot has changed in the meantime. Besides the radical climate changes you see everywhere, I’m thinking mainly of Tyler and company, who, it must be said, are holding up pretty well in their own way against their not exactly dewy years. Those years finally started to show their toll on the indestructible aero faces too, a long time ago. Let’s not forget that the gentlemen put out their last album a “long-ago” six years back (next to Just Push Play, Honkin’ On Bobo is mostly a colorful palette of fun old blues covers). Since then, we “aeroplane enthusiasts” have had to make do with just one more in a long line of rather unnecessary compilations of their greatest hits, which, while we kept waiting on any concrete sign of aero life, was of course anything but a fix.
If you let all these facts stew too long under the roof of your egghead noggin, in the end you honestly aren’t sure what you’re getting into. Well, with Aerosmith that fear is unfounded. The gentlemen may really be old; still, on Thursday night these “old-timers” “pummeled” us with a unique and energetic demonstration of good old American rock n roll that most of today’s lineups could only envy. A routinely executed show, adorned throughout by Tyler’s charismatic acrobatics, served up quite a few surprises from the aero treasure trove of the seventies. Steven himself still comes across like some unruly adolescent after all these years (which is of course how we love him best, so any debate here is completely pointless). He probably is one, an unruly brat of course.. anyway, the years of uncontrolled screaming show on the gentleman mostly in his voice, which sadly no longer sounds as confident as it used to. Still enough for a perfectly satisfying take on an exciting mix of young and slightly less fresh Aerosmith cooking, for whose very pleasant opening taste the phenomenally performed Love In An Elevator and Falling In Love (Is So Hard On Knees) provided. Of course, such lively, honest-to-goodness bluesy interpretations take their toll in energy and heartfelt approach, without which songs like these come off completely cold and forsaken. Luckily, Aerosmith, years notwithstanding, still have both of those elements in abundance. The force of their drive and determination couldn’t be dampened even by Cryin’, long forgotten on my end, which the nearly full Olympic hall welcomed with roaring approval. Aerosmith definitely don’t leave the brightest pearls, however whiny, out of their repertoire, which in the end turned out to be the right move. If Cryin’ seems perfectly normal, I have to admit I definitely didn’t expect Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing, which, together with another “singalong” chorus, Jaded, wrapped up this softer but still very welcome part of the evening.
For my humble self, the evening of true Aerosmith mischief – apart from the opening two songs, of course – began with Perry’s slide improvisations, which playfully announced the arrival of the ragged Rag Doll. The old boys apparently still haven’t tired of her perversions twenty whole years after first letting her off the leash, at least judging by Baby, Please Don’t Go. The splendid rendition of J.L. Williams’s old classic, paired with the equally unexpected Green’s Stop Messin’ Around, set the night on fire to the extreme! And the list of brilliantly delivered classics doesn’t end there. There’s also SOS (Too Bad), with a brilliant Brad Whitford solo that will surely keep nagging at my brain for a long time, good old Janie’s Got A Gun, a superbly played Sweet Emotion jam session, and above all the powerfully moody Seasons Of Wither, whose moving acoustic version was one of the night’s peaks. The night was then cut off, for all of us surely too early, after an hour and thirty-five minutes by two more unforgettable Aerosmith gems, Draw The Line and Walk This Way, after which we slowly, content and with smiles on our faces, strolled back into the embrace of a warm summer Munich evening. No two ways about it, Aerosmith have always been the embodiment of rock n roll in the truest sense of the word, and on Thursday night they proved it once again. After such a confidently pulled-off show there’s really nothing left to add but: all hail, gentlemen, and I hope we see each other at least once more..
Text: Daniel Pavlica
Photography: Jani “Brežnjev” Lah
Setlist
1.Love In An Elevator 2.Fallin’ In Love ( Is So Hard On Knees) 3.Cryin’ 4.Eat The Rich 5.Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing 6.Jaded 7.Rag Dol 8.Janie’s Got A Gun 9.Baby, Please Don’t Go 10.Hangman Jury 11.Seasons Of Wither 12.Dream on 13.Sos (Too Bad) 14.Livin’ On The Edge 15.Stop Messin’ Around 16.Sweet Emotion 17.Draw The Line 18.Walk This Way
