Aerosmith Concerts Setlist

Aerosmith is an American rock band. They were formed in 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts. The founding members were lead vocalist Steven Tyler (born in 1948 in New York City, New York), lead and rhythm guitarist Joe Perry (1950, Lawrence, Massachusetts), bassist Tom Hamilton (1951, Colorado Springs, Colorado), second guitarist Ray Tabano (1946, New York City, New York), and drummer Joey Kramer (1950, New York City, New York).

Aerosmith was formed with the fusion of two bands. Tyler was playing for the band “Chain Reaction”, while Hamilton, Perry, and Kramer were in “Jam Band”. One night in 1970, the two groups happened to play the same gig in Boston, Massachusetts. Taking a liking to each other’s sounds, they decided right on the spot to merge. Tyler, originally a drummer, insisted on becoming the lead singer - the rest of the band agreed, Tabano joined too, so the original line-up was complete. After some pushback, they also agreed to Kramer’s suggestion, and called the band “Aerosmith”, which was a nonsense word he came up with in high school, inspired by the cover art of Harry Nilsson’s 1968 album “Aerial Ballet”.

They started doing early Aerosmith concert shows. The president of Columbia Records was invited to one of them in New York, which resulted in the band signing with the label in 1972. Their self-titled debut album, “Aerosmith”, came out in January 1973. It became a moderate hit upon its release, peaking at the #21 spot on the Billboard 200 chart in the US, and reaching the #58 spot on the charts in Canada. The earliest Aerosmith hit was “Dream On” off of this record. By that time, co-founder and guitarist Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford.

The blues rock band put out 5 more studio albums with considerable success until 1979. However, that year, they hit a huge bump in their career. The relationship between lead singer Tyler and lead guitarist Perry turned sour. Both of them had to deal with substance addictions: Tyler was an alcoholic, while Perry was a heroin addict. Perry ended up forming his own band, “The Joe Perry Project”, and guitarist Whitford also quit. Most fans believed this is the end to the band’s story, with Aerosmith’s next endeavors falling flat with the scrappy line-up. However, in 1984, Perry returned, and they announced a grande reunion Aerosmith concert tour, the “Back in the Saddle Tour”.

Since then, the rock stars have put out 9 more studio albums, thus they have 15 in total. The best selling one among them is “Get a Grip” from April 1993, which sold a whopping 20 million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, the latest new Aerosmith album came out in November 2012, with the title “Music from Another Dimension!”.

Aerosmith’s biggest hits to date are “Angel” (1987), “Crazy” (1993), “Cryin’” (also 1993), and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (1998). After over 50 years of rocking and a few changes to their line-up, the band currently consists of 4 of the 5 co-founders, lead singer Tyler, lead guitarist Perry, bassist Hamilton, and drummer Kramer; as well as guitarist Whitford. With over 150 million records sold, Aerosmith is one of the best selling rock bands of all time.