Aerosmith's massive Musicares tribute concert: 7 standout moments and surprises

50 years of classic American rock and roll rang out at the Los Angeles Convention Center Friday night, as more than a dozen top music acts paid tribute to Aerosmith, the Nashville Tennessean reports, which is a member of the USA TODAY Network.

Ahead of Sunday’s Grammy Awards, the band was honored as “Person of the Year” by Musicares, the charitable arm of the Recording Academy.

But you couldn’t truly celebrate the band’s tumultuous run without some drama — and Steven Tyler and co. delivered, thanks to a brand-new falling out with drummer and founding member Joey Kramer.

Earlier that week, Kramer had unsuccessfully sued the band for preventing him from performing at the event, as well as Sunday’s Grammys. After missing tour dates due to injury last year, the drummer alleged that his bandmates wouldn’t allow him to rejoin until he was “able to play at an appropriate level.”

Naturally, we didn’t want to miss a thing. Here are seven performances and moments that’ll stick with us.

The band stands together

We'll start at the end. To close out the evening, Aerosmith took the stage to accept their award and play a fiery four-song set. As expected, Kramer didn’t get behind the drums, but he was there to accept the award, standing side by side with Tyler at the podium.

"Remember, people only really get interesting when they start to rattle the bars on their cages,” Tyler said, his hand on Kramer’s shoulder. “And the best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

Kramer expressed his “love and gratitude to Musicares, to all our fans, to my partners, to my forever-supportive wife Linda, and to you guys out there in the music industry."

From there, the band opted to “Let the Music Do the Talking,” kicking things off with Bull Moose Jackson’s “Big Ten Inch Record,” a raucous cover they tackled on 1975’s “Toys In The Attic.”

For “Dream On,” Tyler was joined by the Grammy’s reigning Best New Artist H.E.R., who provided blistering electric guitar work and a fearless wail – all the more impressive when Tyler’s howling right beside you.

Following a rock-solid “Sweet Emotion,” the band capped off the evening with “Train Kept A Rollin’” – and their pals Johnny Depp and Alice Cooper on guitar and harmonica, respectively.

After the final chord, the band sang the praises of Musicares and announced that the event had raised $6 million for the organization and its programs.

“Joey Kramer, where are you?” Tyler called, looking around the room. “We love you, man.”

Yola and Gary Clark Jr., "Cryin'"

Friday's audience of Los Angeles VIPs discovered what some Nashvillians have known for a good year or two: it doesn't matter who else is on the bill. Yola is going to blow them off the stage.

Flanked by a particularly sharp Gary Clark Jr., the British-born, Nashville-tied vocalist set fire to "Cryin'," the band's blueiest, brassiest power ballad.

By the way, the show's in a massive ballroom at the convention center, so video screens are a must. Soon enough, the cameras cut to Tyler, mouthing "wow" in his seat.

"I'm more than ready," Yola told us before the show. "They went, 'Who's gonna scream that much in a song? Call Yola.'"

John Legend: “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing”

As beloved as it is, we were pretty sure we never needed to hear the band’s last mega-smash — tied to the 1998 blockbuster “Armageddon" — ever again. But the pretty-much-infallible John Legend made us eat our words, oozing charm, sincerity and soul all over the Dianne Warren-penned ballad.

Warren was in the audience, too, and earned her own mini-standing ovation at the song’s conclusion.

Kesha, “Janie’s Got a Gun”

The Nashville-reared pop mainstay delved into one of the band’s darkest hits with a string quintet, a stark arrangement and a haunting, powerful vocal performance.

Foo Fighters, "Let The Music Do The Talking” and “Toys In Attic”

Dave Grohl knew exactly what he was doing when he and his band called dibs on two of Aerosmith’s high-octane classics. The Foos cut through both of these gnarly tunes like butter, and though Grohl roars through the likes of “One By One” and “Monkey Wrench” every night on tour, he may have met his match on Friday.

"I don't know how Steven Tyler screams like that for more than one song," he said between numbers.

Gavin DeGraw, “What It Takes”

We’ll be honest. We expected the Nashville-tied singer-songwriter to deliver a dependable — if not exceptional — rendition of whatever song he drew for this show. And he seemed to know what we were thinking.

"Are you ready to hear this song in a lower key, and not quite as good?" DeGraw asked the crowd.

But DeGraw had grander ambitions for his cover of "What It Takes." After a verse, he stood up from the piano, and eventually hopped off the stage.

He was a man possessed as he made his way through the rows of banquet tables, and eventually found Steven Tyler and Joe Perry in the middle of the floor.

Tyler couldn't resist shouting a few vocal ad-libs into the microphone, and DeGraw couldn’t hide a mile-wide grin as he bounded his way back to the stage.

Ashley McBryde, "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)"

Acclaimed country singer-songwriter McBryde was given a few song choices for the evening. She decided to go big, with the band's explosive 1987 hit.

“I know this song like the back of my hand," she said before the show. "I’ve been screaming it since I was a kid. And then I thought, ‘You get one chance to perform for Aerosmith. Don’t do the safe thing. Do the thing that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

By the time McBryde let out a Tyler-worthy wail, it was more than clear that the "Girl Goin' Nowhere" singer had made a brilliant call.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The biggest moments of Aerosmith's Musicares tribute