Review: Lenny Kravitz & Aerosmith

Ottawa Sun Review: http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2005/11/17/1310651.html

Wednesday night came and went in a hail of rock n’ roll fury. Showed up past 7:30 but luckily the concert didn’t start for another 15 minutes. Trish, Holly and Vero accompanied me on this rock n’ roll experience.

Go to Row 38 and there are people in our seats. It’s very tough to try and convince someone that they are in the wrong seats once the concert gets started. Very loud and you have to use a lot of hand signals. Turns out these guys were supposed to be in Row 29, not 38. If it was only two of us at the concert, I would have just given up and went to take his seats in Row 29 (which coincidentally was right in front of the freakin’ catwalk!). Anyhow, he finally realized that he can be 10 rows up and bailed.

Lenny…what can I say about him? He can rock. He can groove. He can make the ladies swoon. I think I saw a few women pass out as he winked at them. Even though Lenny could hold his own in a headline spot, he took the 70 minute set instead. All the hits, including a balls-to-the-wall version of American Woman which lead quite nicely into Fly Away. I have visions of me also learning to play Are you Gonna Go My Way after seeing that in the flesh. Let Love Rule was a highlight of the night as the crowd was singing along and Steve Tyler came out to lend some vocal ramblings (read: Ramblings. You can’t understand the guy!)

In between sets, Trish bought a nice Aerosmith tank top and when she was trying it on (while taking off her shirt) one dude yells out “Take it all off!” in which I promptly said “That’s my sister!”. Ha! Man, I love that line. Gets them every time. Turns out that Trish saw this guy being thrown out during the concert. What are the odds?

Lights go down…giant video screens play images and music of Aerosmith. I felt like I was watching a promo campaign. Very hilarious.

• Helter Skelter
• Walk this Way
• Same Old
• Cryin
• Edge
• No More
• Jaded
• Shakin My Cage
• Sweet Emotion
• Miss A Thing
• Dream On
• Thighs
• Other Side
• Baby Please
• Train-Slow Train
• Encore
• Saddle
• Draw THe Line

Highlights:

• Steve Tyler can move for an old man. I think he is more youthful than Mick Jagger and Bono.
• Joe Perry can wail on his guitar. Holly asked if what he was doing was hard. If she only really knew that we were in the presence of a God.
• I was SUPER impressed with the two ramps which went out into the arena bowl 100 level seats. Never seen that before and I think they got more audience interaction at those spots than throughout the catwalk into the floor.
• Seats on the floor area suck.
• Sweet Emotion was my personal fave. Followed closely by Baby Please.
• Paranoia by Sam Roberts just came on random shuffle on my iPod. Today will be a good day. One of my fave tunes.
• Holly was commenting on how she wished there were more new (read: 80/90s) tunes. Aerosmith must have a hard time with their fans since it’s like they are in two different groups. Some prefer the old stuff, some prefer the new.
• Some dude asked me how he can go up closer in which I responded “Just walk up.” Am I a wise sage or something that can magically teleport him?
• Steve Tyler can really rock. He can move more than me. The other guys appeared to be fossils on stage. Other than Joe Perry. He still has it. I think he had flames coming from his guitar at one point. That’s what I’m talking about.

All in all, I was hesistant to pay $130 to go to this show, but it was justified by seeing Lenny AND Aerosmith. Two class acts. Go see them if you can.

Up next: U2. I’m trying to convince Vero that they are a decent band and she should give them a chance.

Also…Coldplay tix on sale tomorrow in Toronto. Hmm…

iplaying: (still) Paranoia by Sam Roberts – We Were Born in A Flame