Steven Tyler Goes ‘Out On A Limb’ For Summertime Solo Tour
Steven Tyler is still doing things his way. The 68-year-old Aerosmith frontman, whose solo endeavors over the past few years have included a country music album and a judging stint on American Idol, will hit the road without his Toxic Twin, Joe Perry. Tyler is set to launch his solo “Out on a Limb Tour” in July, according to USA Today.
Steven Tyler’s solo tour will kick off July 2 in Las Vegas, and it will hit 19 cities over three months. Tyler will play in intimate music venues instead of stadiums and rock arenas, and he plans to incorporate revamped Aerosmith hits into storytelling sessions, much in the way he did last year for the PBS series Front and Center.
“What would I not pay to go see [Paul] McCartney, but instead of playing with whoever he’s with now, actually do [a show’ where he tells you what he was thinking when he wrote ‘Yesterday’?” Steven said. “That’s what I’m doing. I figured I’d talk about ‘Sweet Emotion’ and ‘Dream On’ and where I was when I wrote it, and ‘Seasons of Wither’ and how I played it.”
Steven Tyler has already told the stories behind some of his most famous tunes. The rocker became involved in the charity Janie’s Fund, an imitative that offers support to abused and neglected young women after he wrote the song “Janie’s Got a Gun.”
“When I wrote the lyrics to ‘Janie’s Got a Gun,’ I didn’t really know who or what it was — it was just a phrase off the top of my head that worked in the particular piano riff I was writing,” Tyler said. “But soon after, I found out about how many girls get abused in America and around the world… [This charity] was a way to lend my voice to girls that have no voice.”
In addition, in a previous interview with CNN, Tyler revealed that he started writing the 1973 Aerosmith hit, “Dream On,” when he was just 16.
“There were bits and pieces that I wrote when I was 16 and then 18 and by 20, ” Steven said. “I had a nice… I had the shell of the song. And when the band got together, we were a couple of songs short, so I wrote ‘Make It’ for that album, I wrote ‘One Way Street’ and I finished ‘Dream On.’ So, hey, the lean years, right? We got a contract with Columbia.”
And in an interview with Elle, Tyler explained the pointed lyrics to the 1975 song “Sweet Emotion,” which he wrote about his disdain for bandmate Joe Perry’s then-wife, Elyssa Jerret.
“I was pissed off,” Steven explained. “We had all been living in a house and writing many great songs together, and then he moved in with her. Suddenly, I only saw him at rehearsals. I’d lost my guitar player.”
Steven Tyler has come a long way since Aerosmith’s lean years. The rocker has released 15 studio albums with the band as well as five live albums and a dozen compilations. More recently, Tyler dropped two singles from his upcoming country album, but he hasn’t announced a release date for the full record. But the Nashville band, Loving Mary, has been working with Steven on his solo album, and they will also back him on his “Out on a Limb” dates. And it already sounds like it’s a match made in music heaven.
“It really is beautiful getting out there and singing with a band, where I can look at all the guys and go ‘Stop playing right now,’ and we’ll just sing a cappella. I’ve never been in a band like that, so it’s a whole new thing for me,” Steven told USA Today.
It sounds like it will be a whole new thing for Steven Tyler’s fans, too.
Steven Tyler’s “Out on a Limb” tour kicks off July 2 and runs through September. Fans can get ticket information at Livenation.com.
Take a look at the video below to see Steven Tyler performing “Dream On” with Loving Mary.
[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for M2M Construction]
