Tulsa World: Slide Show: Emotions run high at BOK

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Slide Show: Emotions run high at BOK
Aerosmith's first Tulsa show in 21 years draws fans old and young.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith rocks at the BOK Center on Thursday. STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 7/31/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 8/10/2009 12:52 PM

"It's been 21 years since we've been here," Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry said backstage before the band's blowout rock show Thursday night at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.

"In rock 'n' roll years, it's been long enough that there's going to be a whole new generation out there tonight that has never seen us play live before."

How right he was. Outside the dressing room, the venue filled with a sold-out crowd, screaming and yelling to every preshow curtain flutter, every sound-check drum roll.

The crowd exploded into screams when, as the band emerged with "Eat the Rich," fans saw lead singer Steven Tyler decked out in a flamboyant purple feathered fedora.

Perry rocketed into a guitar solo as the cheering fans rose to their feet. What followed was "Fallin' in Love" and blocks of blindingly bright white light strobes.

"Tulsa!" wailed Tyler. Stage-front wind machines whipped his hair out from his face in snake-like strands. The scat-blues lyrics of "Rag Doll" topped off Perry's slide guitar as the band slammed into hit after hit.

Lighters waved, fists pumped, cell-phone screens gleamed and pillars of fire glowed from multiple rotating video screens behind the stage as Tyler wailed into "Dream On."

At times, the crowd's rhythmic chants eclipsed his dramatic vocals.

Relaxing before the musical melee, Perry shrank into an oversized leather couch adorned with red and gold-fringed pillows and took off his white lace-up boots.

As he slipped on sequined black sneakers and wound a belt through his black leather trousers, he thought aloud about his band's nearly 35-plus-year trek.

In the '70s, "fans were my own age," he said. When the band got its second wind and invented rap-rock in the 1980s, "the video — MTV — drove us to fame.

"In the '70s, I never imagined that video technology would find us a new generation in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1980s, we never imagined that those other little boxes — video games — would propel us into today."

Timeless tunes such as "Walkin' the Dog," "Last Child," "Cryin'," "Livin' on the Edge," "Sweet Emotion" and "Love in an Elevator" were possibly as popular with fans on Thursday as they ever have been. The band grew to six pieces and even added a bluesy Fleetwood Mac classic, "Stop Messin' Around."

Aerosmith has stayed current — and relevant — in an ever-changing industry. The band's video game version of "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" (and the classic songs included) has sold more copies than actual CDs of their last two studio releases.

"Years ago, I saw my son playing an early version of 'Guitar Hero,' and I called my manager," Perry said. "I said, 'We have to get on board with this.' "

And with that phone call, the legendary American rock 'n' roll act solidified another decade of sales, another generation of fans. "It's pretty amazing that the impact of a video game is more than putting out a new album."

Not that it's stopped the band from songwriting, said Perry. A new album is planned for release later this year, and Perry's also working on a solo album.

Known as "Admiral Perry" on the social micro-blogging site Twitter, he's even recruited his fans to name the work, he said. He and his wife, Billie, regularly "tweet" updates from the tour, their time together and photos from the road.

In fact, the "opening act" for ZZ Top and Aerosmith on Thursday was a pair of die-hard "Guitar Hero" players.

Kendall Strain of Claremore got up early for an interview with the local newspaper and maybe 40 minutes of practice before heading out for his BOK Center stage debut on Thursday night.

Fast friend Daniel Flood of Tulsa got a haircut and even weathered a car wreck in building the excitement of his stage debut.

The boys each had won a slot as the opening act at Thursday night's Aerosmith and ZZ Top concert. The pair were to face off to "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" on stage, in front of thousands of fans.

Despite big talk before the show, once the boys met back stage before the show, their braggadocio waned.

"It's not about the winning," said Strain, the son of Tulsa World Sports Editor Mike Strain. "We've already won. Now, it's about the rockin'!"

Flood agreed.

"How many kids get to do this? We do. I'm just happy to be here," he said.

The two nodded in agreement as they stood at the front of a long line to meet Aerosmith band members Perry and Tyler.

They named three songs they really wanted to hear played live. And Aerosmith played them: "Sweet Emotion," "Walk This Way" and "Train Kept a Rollin'."

And if they had not won, would they still have gone to the show? Of course, they said.

"But our seats wouldn't have been as good," laughed Strain.

Slide Show

To see all of the Tulsa World slide shows, go to tulsaworld.com/photos.

Jennifer Chancellor 581-8346
jennifer.chancellor@tulsaworld.com By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Aerosmith plays to sold-out BOK," which was published on 7/30/2009.

	Report Comment jasouthard, Tulsa (7/30/2009 11:09:16 PM) It was an awesome show! BOK Arena and Tulsa rocks!!!
	Report Comment Bullhead, Nicut (7/30/2009 11:20:51 PM) Absolutely awesome.
	Report Comment Daniel Day Simpson, Edmond (7/30/2009 11:22:20 PM) “It’s been 21 years since we’ve been here,” The BOK has stood up so well for so long!
	Report Comment debbiewade, Tulsa (7/31/2009 12:09:22 AM) Awesome show!
	Report Comment Anthony Bhal, Tulsa (7/31/2009 12:14:23 AM) They put the rock in rock show. Both zz and aero were awesome. Great time. worth the money.
	Report Comment webparent, Tulsa (7/31/2009 12:30:39 AM) Hey Danny boy, go back to Edmond with your derogatory comments. You are always correcting someone. We don't claim to be perfect and your stupid analogies and slants are very adolescent dude. Maybe your trying to be humorous but it's missing the mark. Why don't you just stick with the OKC beat (The Daily Oklahoman would love your input)and leave us imperfect Tulsa folks alone.
	Report Comment SteveBrown777, tulsa (7/31/2009 12:32:03 AM) Was Alicia Silverstone there?
	Report Comment Check It out, Tulsa (7/31/2009 1:11:32 AM) All the taxi drivers in town would just like to say "God bless the BOK!"
	Report Comment Alan Shore, (7/31/2009 6:21:25 AM) The real band to see was the Lil' Ol' Band from Texas...
	Report Comment jhill2, Tulsa (7/31/2009 7:13:04 AM) CIO -- Glad to learn that the BOk's positive impact on the local economy spreads out among regular people!
	Report Comment FromTheHeart, (7/31/2009 7:16:26 AM) I am glad the BOK is having success, I hope that is good for several other industries in Tulsa (taxi cab drivers, restaurants, etc). What does concern me though is the prices that are being charged for these concerts. I heard two people say they were going to see Aerosmith but they wouldn't be able to pay their electric bill this month. The concerts are great, but at the current ticket prices, they are definitely a "luxury" expenditure and people should only be attending these events if they have taken care of the necessities of life.
	Report Comment Bill Hader, Jenks (7/31/2009 7:31:25 AM) From the Heart, Seriously are you for real??? I really doubt that the ticket price of $49.50 is too much or would bankrupt anybody trying to see this show. Oh the necessities of like, so they must have to cut back on the smokes for the week, or it must cut into beer money. Really $49.50... that is a joke.
	Report Comment djhodgins, (7/31/2009 8:54:44 AM) Can anyone tell me how many people a "sold-out BOK Center" for this event really consists of?
	Report Comment 2Cool4School, Tulsa (7/31/2009 9:41:03 AM) That was an awesome concert. I will be an Aersmith fan for life! Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
	Report Comment Bullhead, Nicut (7/31/2009 10:08:52 AM) Heart, I think those who claimed to not pay their electric bills were trying to say the tickets are too high priced.. not that they really couldn't pay their bills.
	Report Comment Art Vandelay, Tulsa (7/31/2009 12:48:58 PM) Seriously, this is not much of a concert review. Does anyone know what the set list was? I hav heard from some people that Steven Tyler had his back to the crowd during alot of the songs. Is that true?
	Report Comment Few Clothes, Austin, TX (7/31/2009 4:58:49 PM) I'd rather see Tyler's daughter.
	Report Comment stonzgal, tulsa (7/31/2009 10:22:50 PM) I don't know about anyone else, but our seats SUCKED, we were so far to the side of the stage we could not even see but a corner of the stage, we bought the tickets that day. Those seats should not have even been for sale they were so bad. If I knew who to contact BOK someone would sure hear an ear full from me
	Report Comment okmark, (7/31/2009 10:27:06 PM) Aerosmith put on a fantastic show. It was a little shorter than I expected, but Steven Tyler has been nursing a leg injury that caused the band to miss seven dates earlier in July. It concert was definitely sold out, and the crowd seemed to have a great time.
	Report Comment OPEN YOUR EYES TULSA, Tulsa (8/1/2009 12:22:38 PM) $49.50 was the cost of the cheap seats. On the floor it was very expensive. It was worth the money though. I wish they played a few more of my favorite songs but they played most of them. I don't know how you can expect to have good seats if you buy them the day of the show on a show that obviously would sell out.
	Report Comment stonzgal, tulsa (8/1/2009 10:09:13 PM) I did not expect to get good seats being bought the day of the show, but at least a visible seat would have been good, the whole section we were in had very limited vision, and they should not have been sold.All we saw was the far corner of the stage. ZZ Top mostly played in the middle of the stage, had we stayed in our seats we would have seen nothing, had the screen gone down it might have been ok, but that did not happen
	Report Comment okmark, (8/1/2009 10:58:06 PM) In answer to the post by Art, I saw no evidence that Steven Tyler played with his back to the crowd. He moved around to face both stage right and stage left, and was up and down the stage runway a lot too. Tyler did sit out for two songs while Joe Perry played and sang. Steven Tyler and Aerosmith put on a great show.
	Report Comment Tulsa World Music Reporter Jen Chancellor, Tulsa (8/3/2009 4:48:37 PM) Art Vandelay: To answer your question ... Nearly every single song from the band's set is included in this story. I may have missed one or two, but it's close to complete. And heck no, Steven Tyler's back wasn't to the audience for a lot of the show. Quite the opposite. He faced the crowd and interacted with it from every possible stage angle.

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