Credit: Ross HalfinAerosmith will get back in the saddle and launch its 2015 Blue Army Tour tonight with a show in Glendale, Arizona. Guitarist Brad Whitford says fans who come out to see the band won’t necessarily witness the same old song and dance, as the rock legends are planning to introduce some rarely performed tunes into their set.
“We have so many songs in our catalog and there’s a lot of songs from the early days that we kind of just like to take out and dust ’em off and try and keep it interesting,” Whitford tells ABC Radio. “The hard thing about our show is we…have a bunch of hits that we feel like we have to play and feel like people want to hear, [but we also want] to intersperse the show with stuff that may be a little more eclectic.”
Brad says that because Aerosmith’s audience these days is comprised of older and newer fans, the band tries to “take care of everybody.” He adds that the longtime fans, especially, “love to hear some of the earlier material, from the first couple of albums.”
Whitford tells ABC Radio that he also loves the band’s early music, and is very proud that a lot of the songs from that period have become classics.
“When the volcano was erupting in this band in the early years it was just a lot of really, really cool music,” he says. “It’s kind of cool to know [that] people are gonna continue to play that stuff for many, many years. I take great joy in that.”
Aerosmith’s summer trek, which winds down with an August 7 concert in Canton, Ohio, features only 16 dates, and the band will have at least three days off between each show. Brad admits that he’s not thrilled about there being so much downtime during the trek.
“[M]y philosophy is if you’re a musician you should be performing almost every night of the week, ’cause that’s what you do and people want to hear music,” he says with a laugh. “So, you never know where you might see me when Aerosmith has a night off. I could turn up anywhere playing on stage someplace.”
Meanwhile, when Aerosmith wraps up the tour, frontman Steven Tyler is planning to finish work on his first-ever solo album, a country project he’s been recording in Nashville. Whitford tells ABC Radio that the only song he’s heard from the record so far is the first single, “Love Is Your Name,” which Tyler debuted last month during the finale of Fox’s American Idol.
As for what the other Aerosmith guys think about Steven doing an album outside of the group, Brad says, “I’m maybe speaking a little bit out of the side of my mouth here but I think the band is fine with it.”
He points out that he’s always been supportive of Tyler’s desire to make a solo record.
“He’s been talking about this forever, and I’ve always been, ‘Just go do it. Stop talking about it. Just do it!'” Whitford reveals. “So, I’m glad he’s finally doing it.”
Here’s the full itinerary of Aerosmith’s Blue Army Tour:
6/13 — Glendale, AZ, Gila River Arena
6/24 — Evansville, IN, The Ford Center
6/27 — Durant, OK, Choctaw Casino
6/30 — Hidalgo, Texas, State Farm Arena
7/3 — Lake Tahoe, NV, Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
7/7 — Santa Barbara, CA, Santa Barbara Bowl
7/10 — Salinas, CA, Salinas Sports Complex
7/13 — Kelowna, BC, Canada, Prospera Place
7/16 — Victoria, BC, Canada, Save on Foods Memorial Centre
7/19 — Fort McMurray, AB, Canada, Shell Place at MacDonald Park
7/22 — Cheyenne, WY, Cheyenne Frontier Days
7/25 — Minot, ND, North Dakota State Fair
7/28 — Ridgefield, WA, Washington Amphitheater Northwest
8/1 — Las Vegas, NV, MGM Grand Garden Arena
8/4 — Grand Rapids, MI, Van Andel Arena
8/7 — Canton, OH, Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium
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