Aerosmith stormed back from a three-year live performance hiatus in style on Thursday night (Oct. 29) with the first of two all-star California Dream On: Aerosmith and Friends shows at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. In addition to a 45-minute set from the “Walk This Way” band — their first full performance since singer Steven Tyler’s 2023 vocal injury scuttled their planned Peace Out … Farewell Tour — they were joined by Foo Fighters drummer Dave Grohl, Guns N’ Roses, the Black Crowes and guitarist Joe Perry’s Hollywood Vampires bandmate actor Johnny Depp.
For most of Aerosmith’s six-song, show-ending set, Foo Fighters frontman Grohl sat in with Tyler, Perry, guitarist Brad Whitford and bassist Tom Hamilton in place of drummer and band co-founder Joey Kramer, who has been on hiatus from the group since first taking a break due to health issues in 2020. The group played some of their most beloved hits with Grohl, including “Toys in the Attic,” “Back in the Saddle,” “Sweet Emotion” and “Dream On,” with Depp dipping in on guitar on “Train Kept a Rollin’.”
Then, according to Variety, Tyler addressed the elephant in the room and said, “Before we say good night, I just want to say what a ride it’s been with my brothers — Joe, Tom, Brad and Joey. Fifty-five f–king years, and we’re the same f–king band that started fifty-five and a half years ago.” Kramer then walked out and hugged Tyler and sat behind his drum kit, alongside Aerosmith’s drum tech, John Douglas, who’d filled in for Kramer in his absence, and the band brought it all back home with their 1976 Billboard Hot 100 No. 10 hit “Walk This Way.”
The night also included a five-song set from Guns N’ Roses, who covered the early Aerosmith songs “Nobody’s Fault,” “Last Child” and “Season of Wither,” in addition to their own indelible hits “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City.” The Black Crowes also dipped deep into the Boston-bred band’s catalog, with covers of the Joe Perry Project’s “Let the Music Do the Talking,” as well as “Write Me a Letter,” “Combination,” “No More No More” and the 1978 rarity “Chip Away the Stone.”
Heart took on two classics, Aerosmith’s take on Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)” (retitled “Never Loved a Girl” on 2004’s blues covers album Honkin’ on Bobo) and “Janie’s Got a Gun” and country star Eric Church also picked a pair of favorites, “Rag Doll” and the Hot 100 No. 1 power ballad “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing.” Elsewhere, Sammy Hagar hit “Draw the Line” and the Beatles-by-way-of-Aerosmith cover of “Helter Skelter” and Billy Idol and his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens covered the 1993 Hot 100 No. 18 hit “Livin’ on the Edge.”
The show opened with a pair of songs from and Warren Haynes, who performed “Lord of the Thighs” and “Walkin’ the Dog” and a two-fer from Godsmack singer Sully Erna, who tackled “Make It” and 1982’s “Lightning Strike” from the band’s Rock in a Hard Place LP.
Tyler, 78, was diagnosed with a fractured larynx in September 2023, just three dates into what was billed as the band’s last tour. They initially postponed, then canceled the outing, announcing their official retirement from touring after more than five decades of road work. While the veteran band has not revealed whether these gigs are their true swan song, Variety noted that host comedian and fellow Boston native Bill Burr opened the night by called them “the final two shows in Aerosmith’s history.”
Aerosmith will be back at it on Sunday (Nov. 1) for a second show, which, based on the event poster, could feature drop-ins from “Walk This Way” collaborators Run-DMC, as well as appearances from Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Train’s Pat Monahan, Marcus King, Tom Morello and others who were not on Thursday’s bill.
