Saw the Jones Beach Nikon show Thursday night and had a great time. It was their 1st show of this tour back in the states
It was a 40th B-day gift for my wife and I got the "Wheels Up" package which included great seats (4th row, off to the right), an hour or so Q&A with Kramer, Hamilton and Whitford. And then a very very quick meet and greet with Tyler and Perry.
The Show: Say what you want about the music, but these guys are entertainers and they don't stop for anything. The amount of running around the stage Tyler does at his age is amazing. The stage is their classic T, with a runway out into the middle of the floor and he was back and forth it all night.
Musically they sounded fantastic. Whop knows if they had background 'help'? but Tyler ad libbed so much, that I would guess it would be tough to sync to him if they were.
Rest of the band was great. Mainly staying back on the main stage. AS expected they did all their old hits, really only pulling out 1 'new' song "Freedom Fighter' which Perry sang which was meh IMO.
Liv was there, at one point Tyler went over to the side stage and sang to her, the cameras caught it on the main screen.
Overall highly entertaining show.
Setlist
Slash: Holy ####, slash's band rocked the opening spot. I wasn't expecting it. Lots of energy, they sounded great and threw in a few old GNR songs....Night Train, Paradise City—and a few other covers—Slither. Their orig stuff seemed pretty good to. I'll give them a few rounds on Spotify. While the rest of the band seemed very cool and approachable—singer high-fiving a bunch of ppl in the 1st row. drummer and guitarist handed a pick and a stick to a young kid up front—Slash was his usual "I'm too cool" self and just played. He sounded amazing, and when he was spotlighted, he was into it.
Meet n Greet/Q&A
As I said this was a gift for my wife. Normally I wouldn't have jumped at this (maybe except for Rush), but it was her 4-0 so I wanted to make it fun and different.
We had to be there really early, 3pm and they let us in only to stand inside for another hour+. It was F-ing hot that day, and they had us stand under the grandstand for shade. They said the band was running late and had just flown in from overseas (I find it hard to believe they would sched a show that close to travel, but who am i?). We finally got the ok to go in and they sat us in the few sections at the tip of the T stage.
Kramer came out first, and he just jumped off the stage saying "Screw this I want to be down there with you guys" and just walked around the sections answering questions which was very cool. He seems like a cool dude, but the road, his addictions and being behind the drums as def taken a toll on him. His hearing must be shot b/c he was asking guys just a few feet away from him to talk into the mic.
Whitford was next and he stayed on stage with his guitar, but never played it. He seemed cool as well Spent a lot of time talking about the Euro tour they were just on.
Hamilton was last and again, he stayed on stage walking around plucking his bass softly. My wife and both noted that his voice was very strange. Never really hearing from him before, but I was not expecting the sound I heard. It was very low and forced, and he kind of slurred all his words together. We wonder if he is/was sick, bc he was also very, very thin..too thin.
Overall the Q&A was cool, but it relied a lot on the people asking the questions.
Tyler/Perry M&G
This was the main reason I bought into this. Figure give my wife a once in a lifetime chance to meet ST. When I gave her the gift, I had searched out an unopened copy of their Greatest Hits album (yes, record) for them to sign.
Well 4 days before the show, we finally get the package event info email and it specifically states:
• No personal photos, there will be a professional photog to take 1 shot for each ticket purchased
• No autographs, the band will give you and autographed 8x10
• Time will be limited with the performers.
Well #### then, so much for that!
After the Q&A, they lined us up on the steps up to the stage and leading to a 'tented' area (just a few black curtains hanging off some rig poles). There was a tbel where we had to leave anything we brought with us just before going into the tent.
Once in, we were about 3rd to see them, and you could tell even from outside of it that they were pushing people though quick.
So we step up and almost had to run over the couple before us b/c the handlers were just pushing them out.
Tyler was very cool and approachable. Perry could have been a cardboard cut out and hardly moved. (its funny too, bc he seems like a completely different person with a guitar on stage...very lively, but I guess that's why he's an entertainer).
We lined up me, Tyler, my wife and then Perry. Got a few picks in before they tried kicking us out.
Here is how our exchange went:
Me: Steven, we have a birthday girl here. Can she get a happy birthday?
ST: Damg, (looks at Perry) everyone's got a birthday today.
How old are you momma?
Wife: gonna be 40.
ST: #### girl...you ain't 40!!?? Happy birthday baby. Get in here and let me see what 40 feels like.
(Reaches in and gives wife a hug and kids on the cheek).
(Before the show, I was struggling with what to 'say' to Tyler, b/c I'm not a super fan, and I don't really care what his fav song is and yada yada.
So, we are headed to Disney tomorrow, so I figured I toss this out...)
Me: oh and by the way, were headed down to ride your roller coaster a few hundred times this week.
ST: Oh, alright man, have a blast (high fives me)
At this point they are pushing us out of the room. Then....
ST: Hey...wait, wait...come back here.
(He leaves the line up and walks over to us)
ST: Listen, listen...when you are on that ride, and that part...when you're coming over that hill and it starts....(he then breaks into "love in an elevator") "goooing dowwwwwn"
He puts his arm around my wife again, looks at her and says, smiles big and says "Baby...you gotta go down!".
Then kisses her again, gave us this big grin and laugh, high fives me and by then they're physically pulling him back in line.
I gotta say, I was really let down when I saw how slim they were making our time with them after dropping the money I did on it, but I think we got something special there b/c he seemed to really make his way over to us to give us that little extra exchange. After everything he must get asked about at these things, I bet he never gets that and I think he took the opportunity to play with it. That saved it.
My wife was like "Holy ####, Steven Tyler just f'ing sang to us!!!"
I was like "yea...but he also just told you basically to give me a BeeJay...and you gotta do what Steven Tyler says!"
Overall, amazing experience and a great gift for my wife.
Link to shots
It was right around the time Aerosmith released "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" that I stopped caring.
