Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has revealed the band “kinda changed our minds” over splitting up after what’s been billed as a farewell tour.
And he’s suggested that the prospect of remaining active for their 50th anniversary in 2020 is one of the ideas that’s driving them.
They’d already kept the Aero-Vederci Baby! schedule open to extension, and Perry had recently talked up the chances of recording another album, while frontman Steven Tyler said last month that he couldn’t say “for sure” whether it was really the end.
Speaking to the NME, Perry says: “We thought it was going to be a good idea, when we first started plotting the European run. We were going to do South America and the States for five months, and we thought, ‘We’re getting near the end here.’
“We all have lives outside the band, we grew up together – went from being kids in the apartment to a long and storied career. So we thought, ‘It’s time.’”
They began to rethink their plans during the South American dates. “We were doing interviews and we couldn’t fucking say it,” Perry recalls.
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“We were looking at each other going, ‘Are we really going to say, ‘This is the farewell tour?’ So we kinda changed our minds.’”
On the subject of how much longer Aerosmith might last, he says: “God may have other plans – judging by how he’s treated us over the last 48 years, I’d like to think he’s going to let us see 50. But you can’t guarantee that.”
In a separate interview, Tyler tells Associated Press: “I don’t know if it’ll continue for ever – but as long as the band is playing the way it is right now, it’s going to be for a long time.”
Aerosmith played their first concert in Mendon, Massachusetts, on November 6, 1970. Their upcoming dates include a headline appearance at the Download festival on June 11.
Aerosmith Aero-Vederci Baby! tour dates 2017
May 30: Berlin Waldbuhne, Germany
Jun 02: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
Jun 05: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Jun 08: Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
Jun 11: Download, UK
Jun 14: Dublin 3 Arena, Ireland
Jun 17: Hellfest, France
Jun 20: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany
Jun 23: Florence Firenze Rocks Festival, Italy
Jun 26: Lisbon Meo Arena, Portugal
Jun 29: Madrid Rivas Auditorio Miguel Rios, Spain
Jul 02: Rock Fest Barcelona, Spain
Jul 05: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jul 08: Santa Cruz Estatio Rodriguez Lopez, Spain
Sep 15: Quito Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa, Ecuador
Sep 18: Belo Horizonte Esplanada Mineirao, Brazil
Sep 21: Rock in Rio, Brazil
Sep 24: Sao Paulo Allianz Parque, Brazil
Sep 27: Curitiba Pedreira Paulo Leminski, Brazil
Sep 30: Santiago Estadio Nacional, Chile
Oct 03: Rosario Estadio Rosario Central, Argentina
Are Aerosmith really hitting the road for the very last time?
