Aerosmith at the Hollywood Bowl
with Special Guest Jonny Lang
5.7.99 @ 7:30 pm
length: 2 hours



Setlist: (incomplete, not in order)

Back in the Saddle
Same Old Song and Dance
Livin' on the Edge
Draw the Line
Dream On
Rag Doll
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing
Walking the Dog (with sax)
Joe Perry - I won't Quit you (blues)
Walk this Way
Love in an Elevator
Full Circle
Pink (with nice harmonica)
Janie's Got a Gun
Dude Looks like a Lady

Encore:

Cryin'
What it Takes
Ten Inch Record
Sweet Emotion -> Heartbreaker -> Sweet Emotion -> Whole Lotta Love intro ->
ending jam (with Led Zeppelin style call and response vocals and guitar)




Jonny Lang opened for Aerosmith this time, and he said he was happy to come and be invited 
to play, since this was for one show only I think.  He did a good set, about 45 minutes and
I liked his singing a lot, its even better than the album.  His rhythm guitarist was also 
good, and he got a couple of solos.  He puts a lot of heart into his show, so if you get a 
chance, you should check him out sometime.  He played songs from his album including Lie to 
Me, Still Rainin', and Wander this World.  The acoustic guitar on Wander this World was 
really great and clear.

After a relatively short break for setup of the main stage, the lights went down and they 
started playing some Indian music as the band was coming up on stage.  Everyone was screaming
and whistling, and they hit the stage with a burst of light and a huge wave of sound!  They
started with Back in the Saddle, with Joe Perry on 6-string bass! It was awesome, they were
really hard hitting and Steven's vocals were surprisingly good, he has a really wide range
and he still can scream and hit all the high notes.  Steven had a motley outfit, multicolored
pants and shirt with a black tanktop, sunglasses and a funky tophat.  At one point he threw
his tophat into the crowd and someone grabbed it.  He also had his microphone
stand complete with scarves attached and two big fans in the front to blow his hair back.
Joe Perry wore a large brown overcoat, red pants and a red coat.  Later on he changed into a
pink shirt.  Tom and Brad both wore jackets and pants, which seemed a bit too formal for a 
show, but they looked cool.  Joey Kramer was solid on the drums, lots of energy.  I really 
didn't realize how good he was until I saw the show.  He had an all white drum kit with 
chrome, and it looked like he had a picture of Gillian or some other funny character on the
head of the bass drum.  The drum set was elevated so that the other guys would have room to 
run around.  They had a good rotation of guitars, and Brad played a turquoise telecaster a
couple times, and also Gibson Les Pauls.  Joe had a lot of guitars, a 50's Gibson hollow body,
a Black Gibson LP custom with a white pickguard, a couple of LP standards, one faded sunburst 
and one cherry sunburst.  He also played a telecaster on a couple of songs, a Gibson Flying V,
and the stand up slide guitar too!

The lighting and stage effects were quite good.  They were all synchronized to the music.
There was even a projector which projected on the entire stage and dome above it with different
lighting and designs, much like the light shows on stage in the 60's when they didnt have too
many fancy effects.  They also had some great fireworks and flame effects!!  Before the encore 
they had these huge flames in the back which were sheets blowing in the air with red lighting
like the ones in the Pirates of the Carribean Ride at Disneyland, very cool!  The sound was
really loud too, very good for an outdoor show.  I could hear the guitar and other instruments
really well, and the drums were solid and had a lot of bass.  I could even feel it from the 
3rd level!!  Steven's vocals were pretty clear most of the time too, and his high screams
were really piercing! 

I think that if you only have heard the albums, you don't know how good this band is live on stage!
Steven was running around like a maniac, and got close to the crowd and gave a lot of high
fives, and also ran around the back of the stage on the ramps and sang from up there for a little
while.  At the end of Back in the Saddle, he swung around the mic stand like a whip, it was pretty
cool!  He also did percussion during Joe's song, he shook the maracas. Joe was really lively,
he ran around and was really into the show as well, and Brad also had some great solos! He's better 
than most people realize, and they are a really tight band, as you could expect after years 
of touring! Near the end of the show, Tom even came out to do a funky bass solo.  Joe ripped on the solos and stood up on the monitors from time to time, and his
playing was better than almost every recording of Aerosmith I've ever heard!  I don't think
that he gets enough recognition.  His singing was also very good, better than on the live album
that came out recently.  Steven introduced the band near the end, and he made sure to introduce
everyone, including the sax player and keyboardist.  Joe got the most applause and then he 
introduced Steven in an announcer's voice:
"and in this corner, we have a man who is loved, weighing in at one hundred forty seven pounds..
Mr. Steven Tyler!!"

My favorite songs were Back in the Saddle, Joe's Song,
Walkin' the Dog, Ten Inch Record, Draw the Line, Dream On, and Sweet Emotion.  Pink, had a 
nice acoustic guitar part which I liked very much, since I think it shows more class and 
talent for a band when they play acoustic as well as electric. In the middle
of Draw the Line, Joe was playing guitar lying down on the stage, and all the lights went
off, and it seemed like that they ended the song and were ready for the encore, but then
they started up again, very cool!!  My favorite by far was Sweet Emotion, because they played
Heartbreaker in the middle.  When Joe started the riff, i was going insane, and they pulled
it off really well.  Aerosmith did a great job, and did justice to the Led Zeppelin Classic.
Vocals were really great, and Joe Fuckin' Perry did a great solo.  In the middle of Sweet Emotion
Joe started with the feedback of the speakers and I was wondering what was going on.. and WOW!!
It was a real treat!! Everyone was excited at that point.. and it continued until they played
about half the song and then went back into Sweet Emotion.  After that, the jam included the 
Whole Lotta Love riff and Joe started playing his guitar backwards!!
It was a great end to an awesome show!  This is one band who really knows how to ROCK and 
puts all their energy and soul into it!! Since they didn't play a few songs that I wanted to 
hear, it gives me a good excuse to go see them again!


Ravi

http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi