Aerosmith's permanent vacation: Fall River linked to the band's early days, biggest hits
Boston rock legends Aerosmith have called it a career — at least as far as touring goes — announcing on Friday that frontman and singer Steven Tyler is unable to recover from a vocal injury.
Tyler, known for his soaring, gritty howl on songs like “Walk This Way,” “Dude Looks Like a Lady,” “Cryin’,” fractured his larynx at a 2023 gig in New York. The band said a full recovery “is not possible” and has canceled its final tour.
Aerosmith is one of the most popular rock bands in history with 150 million records sold worldwide, and the SouthCoast has played a role in its early days.
Here’s a brief look at Aerosmith’s connections to Greater Fall River:
Aerosmith's early gigs in southern New England
Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford formed Aerosmith in Boston in late 1970, and within weeks were gigging around New England. They’d become the biggest band in America but literally played high school auditoriums at first in the Boston area and southern New Hampshire — and in Newport, Rhode Island, in March 1971, according to tour lists on AerosmithTemple.com. That summer, they played a private show in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Aerosmith played a free concert sponsored by the city recreation department in Fall River’s North Park on Aug. 5, 1973.
It was a few months after they released their debut self-titled album, which, despite including rock staples like “Dream On” and “Mama Kin,” was not initially a financial or critical success. As relative unknowns, The Herald News had to give the Boston-based “Columbia recording artists” a big sell.
“They plan hard rock and boogie,” the paper wrote.
On Feb. 10, 1974, just weeks before the release of their second album, “Get Your Wings,” Aerosmith gigged at Southeastern Massachusetts University, now the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. According to the book “Aerosmith On Tour: 1973-1985,” the band was never paid for that show.
They were back in Fall River in April, playing the Bank Street Armory. By this time, the band had added songs like “Same Old Song and Dance,” "Train Kept A-Rollin'” and “Lord of the Thighs” to their repertoire — but unfortunately no setlist from that show exists.
High school gyms and outdoor shows: Aerosmith book chronicles band's early tours
Aerosmith return to Fall River as conquering heroes
Aerosmith’s career soared in the next few years after that. They wouldn't be playing high school gyms or free concerts in the park anymore – they'd graduated to theaters and arenas like the Providence Civic Center, the Worcester Centrum and the Orpheum in Boston.
Twenty years after their free concert in Fall River, they came back to the Spindle City to shoot their music video for “Cryin’” at the former Central Congregational Church.
In the years since, Aerosmith had gone through terrible lows — drug abuse, declining sales, a band breakup — and a dramatic resurgence of popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s thanks in part to MTV.
They recruited an up-and-coming Alicia Silverstone to star in it. Her scenes weren’t filmed in Fall River, but the band used the hallowed, Gothic-inspired space for footage of themselves playing the dramatic ballad. The video became a smash hit on MTV that won several Video Music Awards.
Fall River on film: From "Cryin'" to "Don't Look Up," ways to see Fall River on screen
Aerosmith's connection to artist Brian Fox
Aerosmith has a local connection through Somerset artist and painter-to-the-stars Brian Fox.
In 2016, a painting of Tyler created by Fox was auctioned off to benefit Janie’s Fund, a nonprofit Tyler founded to help young women who have experienced abuse and neglect. By now, the little bar band were elder statesmen of rock.
Fox, known for his paintings of sports stars and pop culture figures in iconic poses, created more artwork for Tyler. In 2018, he attended a Grammy Awards viewing party packed with celebs including Alice Cooper and Sharon Stone, where his paintings netted $440,000 for the charity.
On Facebook, Fox posted several photos of himself using his art skills to touch up the flamboyant Tyler’s fingernails.
“Sad to hear Aerosmith has called it a career, but happy to have grown up listening to them and seeing them live," Fox posted. They have been an incredible influence and inspiration. Icons.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Aerosmith retiring: Southern New England linked to band's early days
