Aerosmith

So I used to rave my ass off about Bayfest and then all of a sudden something happened. 2007 happened. Rogers bought in to the event. The ticket prices doubled. Some asshole figured having the VIP section situated in FRONT of the stage would be such a better idea than to the side AND to kill the ability to get a fuckin beer while you're sporting your VIP pass. Also, to have the general ticket holders fenced off 100 ft from the stage was just pathetic. People fought long and hard to get to the front only to find the "front" was 100 ft back from the stage. You think road rage is bad? How about check out a buncha drunks bashing up against a fence and can't go any further.. I call that pit rage. THAT was rough. People were gettin busted up bad. I've never seen so many people get hauled out of a concert for exhaustion ever. My buddy ended up with two broken ribs just trying to hold on to our PATHETIC spot. After fighting through two opening acts to hold our spot I finally said FUCKIT and bailed about 15 minutes after Aerosmith took the stage. I couldn't get a decent shot at all. The shots I got were after messing around digitally to give an almost artificial rendition of what could have been. This was the 3rd time I saw Aerosmith and by far the best show and the coolest outfits I'd seen them wearing. These shots COULD HAVE been crying, amazing, crazy, but no... if I'd known we wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the stage as in previous years, I would have saved my money for the show in September at a much easier venue to shoot in. Tsk tsk tsk.. the idea that was Bayfest fizzled after a few years of successful and satisfied concert going.

I don't really know what happened and I don't know WHY it happened but the yearly plans for attending Bayfest have come to a screeching halt. Why bother driving all the way down to Sarnia to stand the whole day in a shitty location and pay what I normally would for a nice SEAT in a covered venue CLOSE to the stage. Sorry Rogers... not next year. Show conditions aside, the performance was REALLY good. Steve and the boys pulled off another stellar show with the professionalism and energy they always deliver. The runway stage they've been using the past few years has thrown another element into the show allowing many more fans the real close up and interactive aspect of the show that people, namely floor ticket holders, crave. Joe, Steve and company still have the power to turn goat piss into gasoline but how much longer will all five members be able to hold it up? Honestly, Brad Whitford, appeared bored. I mean do you blame him? He's been doing this same thing day in and day out for over 35 years. Half of the audience was barely half that AGE. I'd heard Tom had just recently been through some kind of health scare so I could imagine he's just happy to be standing. It won't be long til we hear the news that one of the original five has dropped out of the rock n roll race. So if you haven't seen the mighty Aerosmith, whether you like them or not, if you appreciate some good live music with a good show and LOTS of tunes you'll recognize, you gotta get your ass up and into an Aerosmith show. I can almost guarantee, you'll find a new appreciation for them and if you already love em, you'll see first hand why so many other people do too.

So the first time I went to shoot Aerosmith back in September 2002, something happened and NONE of my shots came out. Amazingly, the shots I took of Kid Rock that same night were just fine and Jim fuckin dandy... yeehaw. Go figure.

Anyway, this was my redemption show. My wife is the biggest Aerosmith head around and from day one I told her, "Darlin, I'm gonna make you a poster of Steve Tyler." Three years later, I finally got what I was looking for. Now it's obvious to me that Steve looked out a window in Hamilton that day and said, "I'm dressing for this ugly bastard of a town." So he dug into his Thrift Store bag and pulled out something that someone recently pulled out of their tailpipe and he put it on. Normally Steve wears some pretty flashy shit so I was hoping for some sparkly Cher-like number so I could really make the wife happy. Instead I got the "under the bridge downtown" look. Now don't get me wrong... just because Steve LOOKED a little less than stellar in the wardrobe department, he kicked ass in all other areas.

His voice was fresh and he hit every note. He was full of energy and put at least a few miles on the stage that night. For a 57 year old guy, grampa really kicked some ass. Joe Perry was in top form as usual, not to mention Tom, Brad and Joey were right in there all the way. Question. Is Joe Perry not like THEE coolest individual on earth? If you look up COOL in the dictionary it looks something like this:

COOL - (kool) 1. moderately cold, lacking warmth. 2. calm in action or thought, deliberate, composed. 3. Joe Perry.

Even at about 50 something years old, Joe Perry makes the Fonz look like the geek he always was. He makes LL Cool J look like Erkle. He makes... you get the fucking point. Our seats weren't the greatest but considering they had this little ramp that came up the side just 10 rows down from us, I managed to get a good zoom happening and I GOT that poster a few times over. Baby, this little Stevie's for YOU.

Aerosmith Official Web Site

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