Aerosmith/ Slash – The Gorge: August 16 2014

Final concert of my 3 concerts in 3 cities in 3 days was back home in Washington at the Gorge Amphitheater to see Slash and Aerosmith. A perfect ending to my concert weekend as I was able to go with Toni and the kids, and it was my birthday J

We had VIP for this show and were supposed to get a question and answer with Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton, but with what happened to Joey Kramer earlier in the week which resulted in a canceled show in California, they changed things up a bit where we were able to get a very unique and interesting view of their sound check. This was actually quite cool to see, where Steven Tyler came out and obviously took charge of getting things in order for setting the stage and the sound just right. As Joey Kramer wasn’t playing drums tonight, his spot was filled by his son Jesse, who Steven was taking extra time with. I think this must have been (if not) Jesse’s first show replacing Joey, (then one of) his first as they were running through a ton of their songs getting the tempo and pace just right. It was actually real cool to see them rehearsing and getting set-up. Definitely a treat to get a few full songs and a ton of snippets of others in such a small, intimate setting.

The show started promptly with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy who always put on a great show. They played 11 songs including one of my favorites Anastasia and of course some great Guns N’ Roses songs such as Sweet Child O’ Mine and Nighttrain and It’s So Easy with Duf McKagan. I always like to hear some of the Velvet Revolver music and they chose Slither, which I think is one of the best. They closed their one hour set with Paradise City which the crowd absolutely loved.

Aerosmith came on just around 9:00pm and absolutely tore it up. We had incredible seats just off the left of the stage where Joe Perry was set up and real near the end of the center stage extension. Steven Tyler is an incredible performer. He really knows how to get the audience going and has just an incredible amount of energy. He is almost as active on the stage as Mick Jagger (and there is no one which moves as much as him on stage). They put on a great show playing a great mix of the hits such as Love in an Elevator, Cryin’, Rag Doll, Toys in the Attic, Dude (Loos Like a Lady) and of course their greatest hits, Walk This Way, Dream On and Sweet Emotion.

This was an end to an absolutely wonderful three days of airports, hotels, taxis, cheap food and minimal sleep. Certainly an adventure I will never forget.