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September 28, 2009
AC/DC Tour Delayed Due To Singer’s Medical Troubles
It’s a story that is beginning to sound all too familiar. An aging rocker’s medical issues have put a stop to a tour by a big-named rock act – although this time it is expected to be a relatively short break, although some unlucky AC/DC fans are probably wondering when the show they have tickets to will actually happen.
Vocalist Brian Johnson, who at age 61, is still doing an admirable job of belting out the group’s signature hard rock catalog is set to be recovering from an unspecified medical procedure that will take the band off the road until October 16th, when they plan to resume to tour in Washington, D.C.
The unexpected break will result in the cancellation of six tour dates which include Phoenix, Las Vegas, Louisville, Kansas City, Des Moines and Milwaukee. Those dates will be rescheduled, but it’s too early to know exactly what the new dates will be.
Johnson has been quoted recently regarding the possibility of his retirement from AC/DC. Referring to himself as the “the old dog in the regiment,” Johnson is not sure he will be able to keep rocking with AC/DC for much longer.
The current tour, which has had the band on the road for nearly a year has got to be a pretty draining experience even for rockers who are much younger than Johnson. Although fans see him on stage holding his own with the group, it’s likely that he devotes a lot of time to keeping himself fit and capable of delivering the kind of performance AC/DC fans expect.
Fans holding tickets for the Washington, D.C. show are likely keeping their fingers crossed while hoping that Johnson recovers in time to resume on schedule, but as we all know, the healing process does not always respect the schedule.
August 7, 2009
Reason To Worry For Aerosmith Ticket Holders?
The latest injury to put the brakes on the current Aerosmith tour is reported to be minor in nature, but seems to have created some confusion about the status of the tour. It has been announced that tonight’s show in Winnipeg has been 
postponed to allow for Tyler’s recovery, and fans holding tickets to other shows may be wondering if Winnipeg will be the last postponement for the tour.
There is no word on whether Tyler has been released from the hospital yet, but believe it or not, internet rumors have been circulating that suggest the Aerosmith vocalist has died. There are no credible reports that Tyler has died and it’s probably just something that someone decided to start just to see how far it would go.
Regardless of whether we see more postponements or not, this has to be one of the most (if not the most) injury-plagued tours in the history of rock. I certainly would not blame them if they decided that this was their last tour. Perhaps they are beginning to feel like someone is trying to tell them something.
More than likely, Tyler is just feeling a bit sore from his tumble off the catwalk at the Sturgis show and may need a few days to recover. Hopefully, he will be exercising a little more caution onstage when the tour resumes. A torn leg muscle and a fall within such a short period of time may be an indication that the 61-year-old rocker should slow things down just a bit.
July 11, 2009
Aerosmith Continues To Postpone Shows
The Aerosmith tour remains stalled, leaving in its wake thousands of ticket holders who will have to wait a while to see the show they thought they would be seeing this summer.
The latest two dates to be postponed are Sunrise and Tampa, Florida. Joe Perry said via Twitter on Thursday that the shows would be rescheduled for October, but later that day he said that his earlier statement was due to a miscommunication, and that they were hoping to be able to honor those two dates.
Obviously, that is not going to happen, but so far it seems like they remain hopeful that Tyler’s injury will not keep him out of action for an extended period.
At first there seemed to be some reluctance on the part of the group to reveal what type of “illness” was responsible for halting the tour, and which member of the group had been sidelined. Rumors that frontman Steve Tyler had torn a muscle were later confirmed.
Talking with rock radio station WBCN in Boston, drummer Joey Kramer said that Tyler tore a quad muscle during a show. Although he did not actually see the event that led to Tyler’s injury, Kramer said that he thinks that it happened at the Mohegan Sun show in Connecticut.
Like any injury, recovery from a torn quad muscle depends upon the severity of the injury, surgery may be required, and recovery time can vary from a few weeks to several months. It’s pretty certain that any injury requiring months to recover from would probably force Aerosmith to simply halt the tour and reschedule when Tyler has recovered.
You can hear comments from Joe Perry regarding the status of the tour from a recent interview he did with WHTP’s “The Cowhead Show.” You can listen here, but be aware that you will run into a “first time listener registration” page, but you can just click the “Decline” button and go straight to the interview.
The most interesting thing Perry said was that Tyler’s doctors want him off his feet for “at least one more show,” so perhaps the show will resume in the near future. There’s a lot more about Tyler’s injury in the interview as well as some talk about the other medical problems the group has had to deal with in recent years.
July 6, 2009
Steven Tyler Injury Holding Up Aerosmith Tour
Word has it that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is dealing with some type of medical issue that has caused the recent concert postponements as the veteran rock group’s tour got underway. The band is not saying much about what actually ails Tyler, so it is unclear if it should be classified as an illness or an injury.
Guitarist Joe Perry recently updated fans via his Twitter account saying, “Sincere apologies out 2 all Aero Fans regarding the canceled shows.It really bums me out too- you have no idea. Pray 4 Stevens speedy return.”
Hopefully the mention of prayer is not an indication that Tyler is seriously ill. One usually does not hear someone encouraging others to pray from someone who has sprained their ankle or broken a finger, but perhaps he’s thinking more about the fans that are holding tickets to upcoming shows and that Tyler’s (hopefully) minor medical issues will be resolved soon.
Fan reports from the group’s June 29th show indicate that Tyler may have pulled a leg muscle during the course of his performance, which would certainly not be considered life-threatening and may allow the group to resume the tour in a short time.
Harrisburg, PA rock radio station WRVV reported that Tyler tore his quad muscle during that show and that fans should hold onto their tickets for the re-scheduled shows.
There has been no announcement of a postponement for tomorrow night’s show in Raleigh, NC as of this writing, so perhaps the group plans to resume the tour there.
July 3, 2009
Is Aerosmith ‘09 Tour Becoming Van Halen ‘08 Tour?
Having just begun their much-anticipated summer tour with ZZ Top, Boston rockers Aerosmith have postponed two shows due to an “artist injury.” The show at Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center was called off Wednesday night and the group issued a statement yesterday announcing that Sunday’s show in Virginia Beach has been postponed as well.
One cannot help but think of similar events a little over a year ago when Van Halen abruptly started postponing shows and eventually began offering similar explanations regarding the health of one of the band members.
Virginia-area fans seem to be having a run of bad luck where big classic rock acts are concerned since the Charlottesville show was the first one that was postponed by Van Halen last year and Virginia Beach was the second show to be axed by Aerosmith this time.
Photo Credit: Chris Gampat
Although the explanation provided by Aerosmith for the postponements is a bit vague and no doubt has fans wondering what’s ailing who, at least they announced a reason in pretty short order, unlike Van Halen, who were suspiciously mum about why they were suddenly calling off shows. That led to speculation that included rumors of a barroom brawl, as well as a lot of talk about the state of Eddie Van Halen’s sobriety.
Eventually, Van Halen released information that revealed it was indeed Eddie Van Halen’s health that was behind the tour’s abrupt halt, but insiders (including Eddie Van Halen’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli) were adamant in their statements that claimed his problems had nothing to do with drug or alcohol abuse. As far as I know, the details of his medical problems at that time were never made public.
As we all know, Van Halen did indeed return to the road and finish up what turned out to be a very successful tour – something we can probably expect from Aerosmith once the medical issues are resolved.
It’s understandable that fans would be upset about cancellations after spending their time and money, and in some cases, even showing up at the event only to discover that it had been postponed. I suppose this is the kind of thing that fans may have to anticipate when the acts they are going to see are comprised of people that have been performing since Nixon was President – and maybe even longer than that!
Even though Aerosmith has publicly announced that the postponements are due to an injury, there are rumors circulating that suggest poor ticket sales may be the real culprit. The reason for the speculation about poor ticket sales? According to AntiMusic, high ticket prices for Aerosmith’s home-town show in Boston kept fans away and resulted in about 3,000 empty seats in the 10,000-seat venue.
That turn of events reportedly led Live Nation to send reps out onto the lawn and start offering inside seating to fans for an additional $20. With tickets for the good seats demanding a cool $233 a pop at that show, I can easily understand why there might be a noticeable number of them empty when the Bad Boys From Boston were about to take to the stage.
I admit I’m not a huge Aerosmith fan, but when I ask myself if I would be willing to part with $233 to see one of my favorite classic rock acts, I’m still coming up with the same answer. No way.
Even if money was no object, I think I would still ‘object’ to those prices (the English language is sometimes an amusing plaything). Asking for that kind of money to see these guys – especially in this economy – is just crazy, and frankly, comes across as a bit arrogant.
While money is likely not a problem for anyone within the ranks of Aerosmith, that’s certainly not the case for the vast majority of their fans. Maybe the time they have on their hands during this break in their tour would be best spent thinking a little more about their fans and less about that next new Harley or vacation home.
