With a long list of accomplishments on his resume, one could say there is not much left for Steven Tyler to tackle. However, the legendary frontman of Aerosmith is now turning his attention to the world of country music. He has already released 2 singles on country music radio and a full length studio effort of all original music is the works, and set to be released in the next few months. In the meantime, how does Tyler satisfy the itch to perform the new tunes and some chosen Aerosmith classics live you might ask? Well, he gathered up some fine musicians in The Loving Mary Band and decided to perform two intimate shows in Niagara Falls at the Fallsview Casino on March 29 and 31st. BackstageAxxess was lucky enough to attend the first night of the two sold out shows and here is our review of what we witnessed.
Promptly at 8pm The Loving Mary band took the stage. They include Marty Frederiksen on guitar, Rebecca Lynn Howard on bass, Suzie McTaggart on guitar, piano, harmonica, etc., Elisha Hoffman on guitar, Andrew McTaggart on guitar and Sarah Tomek on drums. With his signature rock and roll swagger, Tyler made his way to the stage and noticed mostly everyone sitting. He immediately said “Get the f*ck up!” and the laid back atmosphere immediately turned into a rock and roll party that Tyler and The Loving Mary were about to throw. Kicking off with the Aerosmith classic “Sweet Emotion,” Tyler encouraged the crowd to do as the song lyrics suggest, “Stand in the front Shakin’ Your Ass!” Shake they did, and didn’t stop until about 2 hours later. Tyler works the crowd like few others in rock ever have, or ever will. The intimacy of the Avalon Ballroom (capacity is listed at 1,154) allowed Tyler to get close and personal with the audience. He borrowed multiple hats to wear, kept slapping hands with fans, grabbed a few audience members and leaned into them to have them sing with him, he even stopped the show to sign a fans book at one point. He then quipped, “Only I would do something like that.”
Like me, many fans who showed up all wondered what type of setlist would be pushed on us since a country album would be coming down the pike. After the few first chords of “Sweet Emotion, ran through, what followed was a selection of songs that encompassed the entire Aerosmith career, including some classic covers along with the 2 new singles “ Red, White and You” and “Love Is Your Name” which were received just as well as the classics in my opinion.
Steven Tyler’s celebrated his 68th birthday on March 26th and not once but twice he got a Happy Birthday serenade by the crowd. The second time a cake was wheeled out for him. He seemed to want to get it over with and get back to the music, but it was also apparent he appreciated the sentiments.
One of the highlights was Tyler talking about his admiration for the late, great singer Janis Joplin. He called her “the soul of humanity” with a little bit of Southern Comfort mixed in. He then remarked “Music is the strongest drug we got. I may be clean but I’m f*cked up!” His rendition of “Piece of my Heart” was simply astonishing. The Loving Mary Band did a terrific job and Tyler’s vocals were strong during the song.
He changed the tone and direction of “Janie’s Got a Gun” and talked about how there a fund is set up called Janie’s fund for abused woman and that everyone should help that wonderful organization.
Suzie MacTaggart was very impressive playing everything but the kitchen sink during the show. She was the glow reflecting beside Tyler. It was additionally cool to see the connection between Tyler and producer/guitarist of The Loving Band, Marti Frederiksen. Frederiksen co-produced Aeromsith’s latest record “Another Dimension” and a handful of songs in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
When the band left and came back for the encore, there were 3 tom drums set up where Tyler and a few of his bandmates played before going into “Walk This Way.” Tyler took his rightful place behind the piano and gave us snippets of The Beatles “Golden Slumbers” and an old Aerosmith gem “Home Tonight” before surrendering to the all-time classic, “Dream On.”
What a show and what a night. The band lived up to expectations and then some. Tyler was exceptional, even without his Aerosmith bandmates. If this is what we can expect from a Steven Tyler solo show going forward, then it’s apparent the iconic frontman is nowhere near retirement!
Setlist:
Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith song)
Cryin’ (Aerosmith song)
Jaded (Aerosmith song)
Love is Your Name
Livin’ on the Edge (Aerosmith song)
I’m Down (The Beatles cover)/Rock and Roll snippet – Led Zeppelin cover)
Pink (Aerosmith song)
What it Takes (Aerosmith song)
Piece of my Heart (Janis Joplin cover)
Red, White & You
Janie’s Got a Gun (Aerosmith song)
I Don’t want Miss a Thing (Aerosmith song)
Come Together (The Beatles cover)
Train Kept a Rollin’ (Tiny Bradshaw cover)
Encore:
Walk This Way (Aerosmith song)
Dream On (Aerosmith song) / (snippet -The Beatles cover)/Home Tonight (snippet –Aerosmith song)
We would like to thank Jennifer Murphy from the Fallsview Casino for the credentials to review the show.
