Aerosmith - Hollywood Bowl - 8/6/12

Nicole Pajer

Aerosmith
Hollywood Bowl
8/6/12

See also: Our interview with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry

It was a paparazzi's dream last night as Ron Jeremy, Johnny Depp, Seth Green, Liv Tyler, Jim Carrey, and nearly 18,000 others watched Aerosmith bring their Global Warming Tour to the Hollywood Bowl. The parking lot was taken over by tailgaters in the hours leading up to the show. Fans arrived decked out in the most vintage Aerosmith t-shirts that they could wrangle up.

As people chugged the last of their preshow drinks, the restroom lines at the bottom of the hill became intense. (I recommend not trying to sneak into the men's bathroom to get things moving along faster, if you're a lady.)

Nicole Pajer

The Bowl bouncers executed thorough pat downs -- even Liv Tyler was asked to empty the contents of her backpack onto a table before reaching the ticket scanning station. Inside, the venue was packed. There wasn't a seat to spare - from the tiny orchestra pit that surrounded the stage's miniature catwalk to the very top of the hill's bleacher seats. Cheap Trick kicked things off around 7:30 pm, playing a catalog of old timers including "I Want You to Want Me," and "Surrender." Twenty minutes later the lights dimmed and Stan Lee appeared in a video. A minute later, "The Bad Boys from Boston" came out with the actual Stan Lee who walked the catwalk and announced the band.

Joey Kramer jumped behind his drum kit in what was possibly the sparkliest shirt imaginable, Tom Hamilton picked up the bass, Brad Whitford got into position, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry took to the catwalk - Tyler in a hat, sunglass, and shiny cape and Perry rocking a flashy green jacket. The set kicked off with "Draw The Line" and transitioned into "Love in an Elevator," "Same Old Song And Dance" and "Livin' On The Edge." The band greeted the crowd and continued on with a slew of classics from albums like Rocks, Get Your Wings, and Toys in the Attic - a treat for the aging rockers that made up the majority of the audience.

The band was as polished as ever, Perry delivered sassy guitar solos as Tyler pranced around the stage, twirling his scarf-adorned jeweled mic stand (which said "Lick Me" on the bottom) and teasing the ladies that had made their way up to the front row. Towards the end of the show, the singer engaged in some playful banter with an audience member, chirping, "Sir, are you sitting? Are you fucking sitting? What do you have hemorrhoids? Get up!" At one point, Perry took center stage to sing "Stop Messin' Around" as Tyler went behind the amps to hold down the back up vocals along with the band's two female singers.