Flashback: Aerosmith Play ‘Last Child’ at Final Pre-Pandemic Concert
Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford stunned a lot of fans late last week when he told Joe Bonamassa’s podcast Live From Nerdville that he didn’t know if the group would ever play again. “I have my doubts about Aerosmith ever really performing again at this stage, because age is becoming a real factor,” he said. “And it is what it is.”
The band has an extensive European tour on the books for summer 2022, but Whitford is quite skeptical that it’s going to go forward. “It’s a pipe dream right now,” Whitford said. “Nothing’s gonna happen for a long time. Sometimes I’m not sure what my partners are thinking when they think that’s gonna happen.”
He’s certainly right that Aerosmith has had a bumpy road in recent years and age has indeed been a factor in some of their problems, but they still managed to play 46 concerts in 2019 and another 10 in early 2020 before the pandemic shut everything down. Many of the shows were in Las Vegas as part of their Deuces are Wild residency at the Park MGM. Here’s video of “Last Child” from the final show on February 15th, 2020.
The show came just weeks after the band got into a spat with drummer Joey Kramer during Grammy week.. He had missed many recent gigs due to health problems, but was ready to rejoin the band for the award show and the MusiCares Person of the Year Gala. When they refused to play with him, he filed legal papers and even shared a video that showed security blocking him from band rehearsals.
All of this drama played out in the public sphere and it truly seemed like the Kramer was going to take a permanent vacation from the band, but they somehow came to peace and Kramer was back with them for the last few pre-pandemic shows.
This is a band that has endured through five decades of bitter feuds, crippling addictions, and major medical scares. Miraculously, the five guys that took the stage at their most recent show in Las Vegas are the same five guys that recorded their debut album in 1972. Age is going to catch up with them at some point, but let’s hope Whitford is wrong and they have many good years in front of them.
