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1986-91

December 17, 1982

Details:

Coliseum
Greensboro, NC
Promoter: Beach Club Concerts
Other act(s): Pat Travers, Rose Tattoo
Reported audience: (13,500 capacity)

Set list(s):

Unknown.

Notes:

- From a local review: "Aerosmith's performance Friday night at the Greensboro Coliseum proved how blah a rock concert can be and still draw enthusiastic applause. The show was undisguisable from any other hard rock concert, and Aerosmith was no better or worse than the two groups that preceded it, Rose Tattoo and Pat Travers. If you closed your eyes, you'd have only even odds of guessing which was performing. Aerosmith, around since 1970, is making a much-heralded comeback to the stage after a three-year absence prompted when lead singer Steven Tyler was injured in a motorcycle accident. They are riding the crest of their ninth consecutive gold album, 'Rock in A Hard Place.' But gold albums or not, they did little to earn the standing ovations they received from an easy-to-please audience. From the opening song, 'Back in the Saddle Again' it was clear that this would be another electronic facsimile of quality rock 'n' roll, a band that uses the same old mass audience appeal — plug it in and let it whine.

Tyler wore black tails and tatters, and twittered back and forth across the stage, tossing the stand-up microphone around like a broom dance partner. If that was supposed to be an energetic star performance, it had little starch. Those who can't do it like Mick Jagger shouldn't try. It may or may not be to the group's credit that they had no fancy light shows or gimmicks such as smoke, snakes or rocket ships. And with practically no talking by Tyler, the show had to stand on its music. It turned out to be misplaced confidence. Melodies, which Tyler has described as 'very sexual to me' were drowned in runaway decibels. There was little imagination in the music, which translated into a lot of seemingly interminable guitar jamming that went nowhere. Almost every song was filled to the brim with screeching guitars. Even the ever-standing, whistling, match-lighting audience got bored with a couple of them, though it is unlikely anyone would admit it.

It's not as if Aerosmith members — Tyler; Tom Hamilton, bass guitarist; Jim Crespo, lead guitarist; Joey Kramer, drummer, and Rick Dufay, guitarist — are poor musicians. They've produced some solid rock 'n' roll hits such as 'Sweet Emotion,' and 'Walk This Way,' both part of their show. And Tyler is no slouch on a harmonica. But, instead of stopping the ceaseless beat and treating the audience, he only teased with a few bars before a couple of songs. It may be simply their adherence to what appears to be a rock-concert-code, i.e., crank it up until their eardrums are on the floor. Quite often, such groups' albums sound considerably better without such distortion. Each song melted electronically into the other. 'Bitch's Brew,' 'Lightning Strikes' from their new album, 'Toys in the Attic,' the title song from a 1975 album produced little variation in performance. Aerosmith promoters say the group is America's number one, home-grown hard-rock group, and that they draw large crowds. The first claim is debatable, and the second was unsupported, at least in Greensboro, by lots of empty Coliseum seats" (Greensboro Daily News, 12/18/82).

Of Interest: