Aerosmith by Classic Albums Live

I had a front row seat for Grand Funk Railroad for Friday night this week in Niagara Falls. So I was not planning on going to this Aerosmith show. With plans to go north for 4 days… Two shows in a row before you back up the family is a tough juggle so I gave my front row to a friend who lives close by the venue and decided to get my guitar injection before going to cottage country with Classic Albums Live’s presentation of “Toys In The Attic” and “Rocks“.

I bolted downtown and skipped by the guy selling fake $10 tickets out front. The light crowd tonight only means I stand closer than usual. Aerosmith was never heavy on roatation in my teen years and to be honest I probably know very little about this era of Aerosmith. Other then Walk This Way, Last Child and Sweet Emotion I don’t know every little riff and lyric like many of the other shows I see from CAL representing Classic Rock. In the end it didn’t really mater because I got what I get on every visit to a Classic Albums Live Show… I got Rocked! You get to stand in front of Journeymen for the price of double martini. It’s a steal every month and the hardcore fans know it.

Side 1 was when I realized.. “hey I don’t know all of this”… but holy-raw-garage-rock…man… we’re not talking about Love In An Elevator kinda rock either. So I was being schooled in early Aerosmith and most of all got to see, feel and hear what surrounded “Walk This Way” and Sweet Emotion”.

Sweet Emotion hit… and it hit HARD! Ya I know it’s a radio staple and all but Dom had that talk-box guitar action bang on along with the rest of the band showing off their teeth to each other! This was that one number by Aerosmith that when it came on while in the car…back in the day… we turned it up and shut up. (and drove a little faster) -- This was beautiful.

Sure the Aerosmith I know was off later albums which seem to make me watch even closer and got me wondering how close the songs I didn’t know were to the album. This was raw stuff and I liked it. The players were having fun. The stage was full. We got to see the mini orchestra in the back compliment the rock show up front with inspiring vocals from a front man who was built to last.

Learning about Classic Albums…

There is a backdoor reason to why I enjoy these shows. I learn from them. There are albums and songs I thought I knew well and didn’t. Sometimes I revisit the material before a show or even do some research behind the album’s theme, lyrics etc. Other times it makes me pick an album or group up for listening again.

Back In The Saddle and Last Child were a great back to back combo. Last Child for me was always a favourite from back in high school. Not sure why… just loved that funky beat and Tylers vocal delivery is stellar… Here is the CAL (cowbell heavy) version……

On side 2 of ROCKS…Phil Naro mentioned that Nobody’s Fault was his favourite. So I figured he would hit this one out of the park. So I grabbed the video for this one even though I really didn’t know it. Loud. Yes…. This was one of those one’s that blows your hair back like in that old Maxell tv commercial. So when I got home I searched for this song on youtube so I could hear it and listen to Aerosmith do it.. I found it and watched it along side the video I took of this song. WOW. Deadly song. Yes I played both videos at the same time.… and came up with some interesting moments.

If you want to get into the experiment that I did for a few minutes I have put the original Aerosmith video below the Nobody’s Fault version by Classic Albums Live musicians also so you can try and sync them up.

The outcome is not perfect all the way thru… but here are the times you can try and sync up to check out what I was playing with.

Set Video 1 at the .25 second mark and keep on pause.

Set Video 2 at the .23 second mark and keep on pause.

Then hit the play button on video 1 first and quickly go right to video 2 and click play right away. You can pause one or the other to try and get things right but if you hit this the way I describe above from .25sec to 1:30 or so the versions are very close! There they float away from each other abit until exactly 3:20.

If you can get both videos running from 3:20 and on... the final screams from Tyler and Naro are deadly followed by some crazy guitar syncros until the end.

While doing this experiment I just realized after 10-15 listens that I could hear where a Motley Crue may have got some influence … along with a handful of other bands including Slash who has mentioned it was his favourite tune from the Toxic Twins.

From the guitarist on the left to the cowbell on the right and then straight back thru smiling JB-Bass-man and Sascha on drums…this line-up stepped up and brought layers of hard edged rock to the Phoenix.

I enjoyed the show as well as learning more about Aerosmith’s early years.

Jeff

To see more of our photos from the show visit our Flickr Page here

Upcoming shows for the Classic Albums Live Series here

Discovering … My Morning Jacket. It started with frequent reading of Live Music Blog who seem to really dig this band. Only months ago after reading articles and reviews I decided to head over to youtube and watch a few videos. Goosebumps from a youtube video of a band I had never heard before was a good sign. So I grabbed a couple of their CD’s and found out they had just been in my home town here playing at a Berkeley Church. Damm I missed. No fear… they are coming back so I grabbed this ticket below.

Having had a few friends tell me they knew about this band got my mind racing with thoughts like “why didn’t you tell me about them before”… I had read about the festivals, the setlist from Bonnaroo and the future Madison Square Garden show this coming New Years Eve…. then why am I standing in front of one of the lower end concert venues in our city? Kool Haus is not known for great acoustics… but much like my last visit here a couple years ago to see The Black Crowes I planned on being CLOSE so it wouldn’t matter too much.

I strolled in past the vendor selling merchandise who I knew and took my concert stance 2 people from the front rail just on the right side. Opening the show was a band from Montreal, Quebec called The Besnard Lakes. A very decent set from these rockers who had some really cool keyboard sounds layered into their songs. In one of their extended tunes I felt some “Oasis” and the crowd seemed to offer up a nice response.

The lights go down and at the tail end of the change over the PA seems to get louder with some jazzy sounding music and MMJ walk on stage… the set up… Jim bounces in place… right in front of me and this is what we saw/heard for a solid 90secs before the lights came on with Evil Urges…

My camera audio does the stage sound no justice. It was loud. Real loud. Clear too and the separation of instruments was excellent. Wow. I felt like I knew these guys already and I didn’t. Jim’s Screams, the strobe lights hit, the guitar army starts…. and the Drummer... yes!

Standing right in front of Jim James allowed me to focus in on his energy packed stage presence… although early on the bass player caught my eyes, ears and full attention. After seeing years of guitar solos and drum solos it is rare for me to talk about the bass player… but this guy is a bass-wizard. By the time the anthem “Gideon” hit me… the songs I knew sounded much like the album versions which I don’t mind when they’re piercing loud. I love this song and I’m a smiling new fan who feels like he found out about a secret he had been looking into for years.

Highly Suspicious sounded better live for me than on the album and up next although it’s a laid back track I enjoyed “Thank You Too” and grabbed this one on camera also. Enjoy [ Thank You Too Video ]

After “Lowdown” we get Super Jim with cape and all telling us how some of their equipment got wet at Bonnaroo… leading right into the atmospheric Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt.1

Each song seemed to change the mood. The lights. The influences… For one entire song I was hearing something and couldn’t put my finger on it.. finally it came to me… Supertramp. Then I heard some Neil Young guitar sounds and even a Sabbath riff from one of Jim’s guitars. I was having concert flashbacks dating back to my first show in 1984. The Energy, drive and musicianship I was witnessing was identical to what the forums said it would be. Wicked. The keyboard sounds blended so well with the guitars and when the time came …the pedal steel for a few songs seemed perfect. I still was drawn to Tommy on Bass. Finger-work aside his style and guitar selection was just so fun to watch when Jim wasn’t knee-sliding in front of him as Pete Townsend use to years ago.

On the way down to the concert I was listening to the new CD and after hearing “Smokin from Shootin” I actually hit replay and listen to it a second time. I just really got into that tune at that moment. So when it was played live tonight it took on a nice feel for a new song that I was just getting to know.

To finish off the smoke filled set we get Jim James alternating with guitar on his back and some electronic frisbee shaped device that he played with for 8 minutes or so to present “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt.2” This was a real treat and quite mesmerizing for those of us who haven’t seen or before. Truthfully I could’ve continued watching this song for another 8 minutes.

Although I recognized a couple of the songs in the encore from the few listens I’ve had in my short 2 month MMJ Fandom I cannot give you the detail a veteran fan could here. I will tell you this. When they kicked into one of these songs… the volume and crowd reaction Led me to believe I was seeing Zeppelin do Kashmir. It was interesting to feel that the band was playing a song everyone wanted to hear, yet I didn’t really know it as well as I plan to one day. It didn’t matter. The monitors were starting to shake, melt and scream like Lynyrd Skynyrd on 78 record speed. My ears hurt. Jim was running around faster and faster and Tommy seemed to be playing bass with 17 fingers while the keys burned into the powerful drumming-master that anchored the entire rock-stage. I remember much of this happening during “On Big Holiday” and finally as we launch into the closer “Anytime” I found my head bobbing back and forth like a tennis match between musicians as they jumped, spun and played like athletes. Here I noticed the montior that was strapped beside Patrick on the drum riser was actually rocking-back-and-forth… yes it was moving -- check it out in this video clip along with a few of the final moves during Anytime.

The song finished out loud & strong with Jim setting his guitar against the amp moaning with feedback. He came over to hand a few high-5’s out while the rest of the guys waved away to exit stage left.

The setlists got handed out and I managed to get a snapshot of one before walking out to see my friend running the Merchandise booth. There was one song on the list not played. “At Dawn” 1st on the encore.

Over to the Merch Booth and the lead singer of the opening band was there counting his bands sales for the night. I chatted with him briefly and mentioned that I enjoyed his set… especially the girl on keyboards and her sound.

The MMJ Tour Manager dropped in to get a rough number of how sales went. My buddy is good. He doubled what they normally would do for the head count that night. I grabbed a couple stickers for the kids of course and chatted for awhile as the Load-Out went by us in the beer canned hallway.

About 1:15am I said good buy to my friend and ended up followed Carl Broemel down the hallway. He was pulling a suitcase with one hand, drinking a beer with the other and kicking a gig-box on wheels towards the door. Outside he handed off the gig-box, dumped off his suitcase at the side of the bus and then sauntered thru 11 or 12 fans at the front of the bus and turned to sign a few autographs.

See all the My Morning Jacket Photos

See all the My Morning Jacket Videos

Leave us a comment about the show or where I can get some DVD Bootlegs since it appears it will be awhile before these guys are back here in Canada. Hmmm maybe Chicago?

Use the Player below to actually listen to the entire show live.

When the alignment of a really good band, a really good venue and a general admission situation that allows the opportunity to arrive early and get up close, great things can happen!! They certainly did last night as The Raconteurs brought their sold out Nashville Tennessee Rock & Roll show to the Kool Haus in Toronto!!

I was so glad to hear that the show had been moved from the Ricoh Coliseum to the much smaller venue. I guess Kool Haus may hold 1500 at capacity. Aside from venue size I understand the acoustics at Ricoh are not the greatest. I haven’t witnessed it first hand but have heard this complaint more than once.

First off Jack White is impossibly pale. He must work at that look!! Workin’ nights staying away from daylight!!

The band rolls right into Consoler and hardly takes a breather for the first few. I guess about 4 or so songs in we get Jack on the keyboards for You Don’t Understand Me the keyboards are so nice! (more…)