Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith, is 71 years old – at least that’s what people were whispering before his legendary band took the stage at the last night of Yas Marina concerts. Rumour had it that a fellow passenger saw his passport as he entered Dubai earlier this week and he is actually nine years older than he’ll admit to. All Time Out can say is that we hope we can work an audience that well once we hit advanced years. Hats off to the old codger.
It’s true that he looks like he may pop a hip every time he performs his trademark side shimmy, and the sight of a geriatric baring his pot belly is probably enough even to put Sebastian Vettel off his victory toast, but what Aerosmith delivered last night was nothing short of masterful. Tyler and his best friend/worst enemy Joe Perry strutted and preened their way through an hour and a half of classics, with hits like Love in an Elevator, Walk this Way and Walk the Dog whipping the Abu Dhabi crowd into an absolute frenzy. They even forgave him thanking the late great Sheikh Zayed (whom he claimed to have been hanging with the night before. You have to show patience with the old and infirm.
The biggest cheer of the night may have been reserved for soppy megahit I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, but for the epitome of rock’n’roll cool, nothing could top Joe Perry taking on his Rockband avatar in a frantic guitar battle. Perry Senior won, the young digital pretender exploding in a mess of sparks and shoddy finger work, and answered a key question in doing so: which was the best performance at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? A single, dirty old word: Aerosmith.
