This post was originally posted over at Londonist.
Nobody would have guessed that Stephen Tyler is a mere 59 years old judging by his performance at last night’s Hyde Park Calling finale with Aerosmith headlining a day of stellar bands. Strutting around the stage like only he can, Tyler had the audience in the palm of his hand from the opener “Love in an Elevator”.
Whilst Aerosmith undoubtedly stole the show, Hyde Park Calling was a three stage festival which showcases the best in current rock. London band Haunts played the packed out third stage, slowly warming up the crowds with their unique brand of danceable rock, akin to a lighter Biffy Clyro. Closing with “Live Fast, Die Young” they had everyone moving, and are surely ones to watch in the future for those with heavier tastes.
After them Brigade managed to entertain sufficiently the sizeable crowd on the third stage with their Placebo / Muse / Oceansize / My Vitriol style mixture of rock. Over on the main stage The Answer put in a performance of their lives, playing to their biggest audience yet and winning over a sizeable part, with massive “Answer” branded balloons bouncing along the audience. Fans of Led Zeppelin, Free or The Who should make sure they catch them – as they themselves said “We may be Irish, but we love London, so we’re around a lot”.
Jet were next on the main stage, putting in a decidedly average performance – their (few) hits sounded tired and jaded, and new material never goes down well at festivals. During Jet’s set the heavens opened, soaking everyone, leading to chants of “Get your brolly down” (and alternatives) from people further back when former Audioslave star Chris Cornell came on for his second-on-the-bill slot. Unafraid of the rain, he commented how it was just like being at home for him. Highlight of his varied set which mixed both his own solo material and Audioslave material was probably his most recent song, “You Know My Name”, title song for the recent Bond film.
Finally the stars arrived, 15 minutes late, and bounded through a greatest hits set that highlighted their long and varied career. “I don’t want to miss a thing” was thrown in early, much to the appreciation of the crowd, drowning out Steven Tyler. Prancing around the stage like he has done for the last 30 years, they really were not showing their age other than their short “Deckchair set” which saw Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry at the end of the catwalk sat in (some rather comfy looking) deckchairs.
Climaxing with a fantastic performance of “Walk This Way” with Run DMC (yes, THE Run DMC), Aerosmith were gone from London for another few years. Past their prime? Unlikely – they’re just as good as they have ever been.
After the jump: more photos and the setlist.
Hyde Park Calling / Sunday 24th June 2007 / London, England. Aerosmith played:
Love In An Elevator
Same Old Song and Dance
Cryin’
Eat The Rich
I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing
Jaded
Baby Please Don’t Go
Hangman Jury/Seasons Of Wither
Dream On
Livin’ On The Edge
Stop Messin’ Around
Sweet Emotion
Draw The Line
——————-
Walk This Way (w/Run DMC)
Below: Haunts
Below: The Answer
Below: The Answer and their balls
Below: Jet
Below: Chris Cornell up on one of the side stages
Below: Aerosmith
Below: Aerosmith
Below: Aerosmith
June 25th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I went to the concert yesterday being 24th June, Aerosmith was fantastic, Steve Tyler was amazing, so was Joe Perry who for there ages was very sexy indeed.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:54 am
My Brother got me tickets to sundays concert, i haven’t stopped thanking him since! I’ve always loved Aerosmith and am a huge fan of Joe Perry, whom still looks incredible in my eyes. As did Chris Cornell, with his soaking wet Tshirt sticking to him… They all played a fantastic show.
June 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
we went on sunday, and although we got drenched………we loved every minute!!!!
wahooo bring on next years water festival!
June 26th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Aerosmith ROCKED .. for those who think they are ‘past it’ you need a reality check because they are the best .. the rest of the bands were great especially Chris COrnell and The Answer .. but Aerosmith were in a league of their own!
June 26th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Aerosmith once again proved why they’re Americas greastest rock and roll band. How many bands could get away with singing classic blues song BABY, PLEASE DONT GO? I’ll tell you how many. NONE!!!!!!!!!! only steven tyler could get away with doing an orgasm solo in the middle of said cover. Genius. Nobody else really grabbed me during the day (Although the Mcqueen set was good, in a dawsons creek kinda way). Then Chris cornell came on………………. Having been their in the hey day of grunge i’ve seen alot of my heroes drop off the scene (kurt cobain, layne stayley, all of Pearl jam), but the former Soundgarden frontman blew me away, from the classic ‘garden OUTSHINED to the amazing Audioslave COCHISE. You never could fault this man, and you still cant. Amazing.
June 26th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Aerosmith rocked big time. The whole set was fantastic, Regretts.. Yes It ended could have sang along all night. loads of energy brilliant. I went with my 11 year old son who enjoyed as much as his dad.
Answers were brilliant and Chris Cornell was perfect warm up for aerosmith.
Great day…
June 26th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Aerosmith Rule!!
No seriously, they Rocked, I have dreamed of seeing Steven Tyler for years and on sunday the dream came true, He is amazing in every way,
Chris Cornell was great too,(not knowing anything about him) I thought Jet were very dull and un-interesting, the answer were cool too,
Shame it was so wet but well werth the wait for the real stars,
Aerosmith Rule, and will for a very long time to come…
June 26th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
WOW!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! What a show!! man they were truly Amazing, word perfect,note perfect, you can tell they’ve been together for 34years!! if you closed your eyes you could have been listening to studio album, YES!! they were that good! The Answer what a swell band they were, heavily influenced by Led Zepelin and a bit Black Crowesi,but they ROCKED!!! and in the words of the “man” himself Steven Tyler said “God cried cos we all ROCKED” well no dude AEROSMITH ROCKED am still buzzing!!!!all the way from Doncaster
June 26th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Aerosmith were brilliant in what they played, BUT why did they not play Dude, Rag Doll, Pink, Falling in love is…… Monkey on My Back, Janies got A Gun, Crazy, Angel, The Other Side, Permanent Vacation etc…..and included blues covers with time wasted by jamming ?? After the fans had stood in the rain all day, I cant believe they played such a short set…Chris Cornell and Jet were great
June 28th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I was the best! Can’t belive they played dream on! I was an amazing day! Black stone cherry rocked hard. Chris cornell was awsome, and Mc Queen were great too.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Personally I thought Chris Cornell was the strongest set and Aerosmith played a rather short set!
Still a belting weekend!!!!
June 28th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Wow, totally awesome or what. I will be rocking to Aerosmith when I’m 90!! Saw them in Toronto, Canada back in 82 and they are just as good as they were then. Dream on was amazing. Can’t wait to see them again. Hope we ain’t gotta wait too long………
June 29th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I LOVE AEROSMITH!!!!!!!!
have done for years, cant believe i have now seen them live
best gig i have been too, bloody amazing regardless of the rain!
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Love AEROSMITH!!!!!!!! YOU ARE THE BEST, YOU ROCK BIG TIME !!!!!!!!
July 6th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Oh my god!!!! AEROSMITH were the best i’ve ever seen! i’m only in my teens and don’t know absolutely every song word for word but i knew every song they played that night ! i was so happy, i even think they were better live than the CD’s. As for Joe and Steve… all i can say is PHWOAR! i mean, c’mon! yes they may be about forty something years older than me but i can still wish can’t I? i think so. and even though Chris cornel was amazing i thought that some of his time could have been spent backstage while aerosmith played crazy and angel.
August 26th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy GOD!!! Aerosmith i have alllllllllllll ways loved they are great on the tv but when seen LIVE it was just simply th best!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my brother had a spare ticket so he asked me i would never of thought he would of asked me a 13 year old girl wow it was great apart from being hurt from this fat f**k**g slag behind me. but it was the best thing my brother had given me.