Aerosmith announces farewell tour starting in September, coming to Boston on New Year's Eve
LOS ANGELES - Aerosmith will be touring a city near you for the last time to celebrate the rock band's 50-plus years together.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced Monday the dates for their farewell tour called "Peace Out" starting Sept. 2 in Philadelphia. The 40-date run of shows, which includes a stop in the band's hometown of Boston on New Year's Eve, will end Jan. 26 in Montreal.
"I think it's about time," guitarist Joe Perry said.
Perry said the group, with frontman Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Brad Whitford, learned from the staging and production from their recent Las Vegas residency shows.
Perry believes the time to say goodbye is now, especially with every founding band member over the age of 70. Tyler, 75, is the oldest in the group.
"It's kind of a chance to celebrate the 50 years we've been out here," Perry said. "You never know how much longer everybody's going to be healthy to do this. ... It's been a while since we've actually done a real tour. We did that run in Vegas, which was great. It was fun, but (we're) kind of anxious to get back on the road."
Tyler and Perry said the band is looking forward to digging into their lengthy catalog of the group's rock classics including "Crazy," "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Livin' on the Edge."
"It's kind of the end of an era for Boston. It's like Ted Williams taking his last at bat at Fenway Park. Larry Bird pulling his #33 up into the rafters," said Chuck Nowlin, of WZLX in Boston. "These guys are Boston rock royalty. Let's face it. They are the Boston band."
The fifty years all started in Boston. The five original members of the band lived in an apartment on Comm. Ave in the early 70s. "Movin' Out" from their debut album is about packing up and taking off from that apartment.
"They have done so many New Year's Eve shows around here. At The Orpheum, the Garden, the old Garden, the Centrum out in Worcester, it was always kind of like saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one with Aerosmith," Nowlin said. "It's the ultimate way to say goodbye to Aerosmith."
Over the years, Aerosmith, which formed in 1970, has collected four Grammys. The band broke boundaries intersecting rock and hip-hop with their epic collaboration with Run-DMC for "Walk This Way."
Aerosmith performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2001 and even had their own theme park attraction in 1999 at Disney World in Florida and later in Paris with the launch of the "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith" ride.
"We're opening up Pandora's Box one last time to present our fans with the Peace Out tour," Tyler said in a statement to The Associated Press. His "Pandora's Box" reference calls out Aerosmith's 1991 three-disc compilation album that covered the band's output from the 1970s to the early 1980s.
"Be there or beware as we bring all the toys out of the attic. Get ready," Tyler added.
The band said Kramer decided to not take part in the current dates on the upcoming tour. He's still a part of the group, but the drummer has been on leave to "focus his attention on his family and health" since their Vegas residency last year. Drummer John Douglas will continue to play in his place.
Perry called Kramer their brother. The band said his "legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed."
Before the 40-date tour wraps, Perry said other cities domestically and internationally could be added.
"It's the final farewell tour, but I have a feeling it will go on for a while," he said. "But I don't know how many times we'll be coming back to the same cities. It could very possibly be the last time."
