I first heard of Aerosmith when I was 30, and that was over 30 years ago. A colleague said to me that if I liked Van Halen, I’d like Aerosmith – to my eternal shame, I said, ‘Who are they?’ Aerosmith – Shame
I saw the video of Love in an Elevator and thought, I’ve seen them somewhere and I like them! So I started buying the albums, and watching them on all the TV rock shows. In 1989 the band came to London, and my sister and I saw our first Aerosmith concert, and met them in Tower Records when they were signing. How young we all look.
I joined Aerosmith’s official fan club at the age of 33 (I know!) and went on the trip of a lifetime to the West Coast of the USA – 5 Aerosmith shows in 8 days, all seats in the front 5 rows, meet and greet with the band, who are the nicest guys ever. That was it, my life was incomplete without their music. I’m still in touch with a lot of my American friends, nearly 25 years later. A few years after that I ended up running the band’s official European fan club, which meant I got free tickets and backstage passes – yes, sometimes life really does begin at 40!
In 1993 I met two people who would become lifelong friends. I was waiting with my sister outside Tower Records to meet the band (bit of a pattern here!), and got talking to Jenny and Paul in the 4 hours that we waited in the cold. This is what we used to look like in 1994.
In August 2018 we all met up in London to see Steven Tyler at the Forum, Kentish Town. He is now aged 70, and is fit, energetic, charismatic and in great voice. So now, for all the great friends, for the best music that can cheer me up no matter what, for the good times that are still coming, and for being the greatest rock god ever, I say again, ‘Thank you, Steven Tyler!’
Oh, and since I wrote this, Jenny and I have arranged to go to Las Vegas this summer to see Aerosmith at the MGM, for their 50th anniversary, at which we look forward to meeting up with some of our American friends from 25 years ago. We’re going to two gigs, for one of which we’ve got tickets actually sitting on the stage – after which I’m sure I’ll feel a new blog post coming on, so watch this space, fans of the Demon of Screamin’, Joe F**kin’ Perry, Joey, Brad and Tom!
UPDATE
Jenny and I went to Las Vegas to see the band in July 2019. It was AMAZING, here is my blog post:
FURTHER UPDATE
In December 2023, I met my friends Paul and Jenny again to celebrate our chance meeting 30 years earlier:
https://juliaproofreader.wordpress.com/2023/12/13/sliding-doors-3-friends-who-hadnt-met-yet/
Aerosmith cancelled their already postponed European tour in 2022, and will not tour Europe again. It’s possible/likely that I will never see them in the flesh again. But Aerosmith have been such an important part of my life for decades, and I say with real heartfelt gratitude – ‘Thank you, Steven Tyler – and Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer, Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton.’ I love you all.
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