Back in the Saddle
As we await the two-night "Aerosmith and Friends" concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, here's a look back at the mini-reunions and odd one-offs that got us here
In a little under a week, Aerosmith will awake from a three-year hibernation to play the first of two “Aerosmith & Friends” shows at the Hollywood Bowl with a pretty stunning lineup of guests, including Guns N’ Roses, Run-DMC, the Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Heart, Sammy Hagar, and Tom Morello. “We have the songs that we’re going to do and all that, but I don’t know what the rest of the whole production is really all about at this point,” Slash recently told Eddie Trunk. “It’s been very sort of last-minute throw and go.”
The highlight of the event will be the first Aerosmith performance since their farewell tour was prematurely called off in 2023. In rehearsal photos they posted to Instagram, the band is playing with original drummer Joey Kramer, who last played with the band during a Las Vegas show in February 2020.
It’s unclear exactly how many songs Aerosmith are going to perform at the concerts, if singer Steven Tyler has recovered from the larynx injury that ended the farewell tour, and whether or not this marks a rebirth of the band or some sort of Black Sabbath-style coda for fans. Either way, it’s going to a genuine moment in rock history.
But it won’t be the first time that Tyler has performed in public since the last tour, or even the first time several members of the band have played together. Here’s a look at 10 key Aerosmith moments over the past three years that show how they slowly pieced themselves back together, setting the stage for their big comeback in L.A.
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Steven Tyler Claims to Injure His Larynx — Sept. 9, 2023
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Aerosmith’s Sept. 9, 2023, stop at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, was supposed to be just the third stop on their epic Peace Out…Farewell Tour, which likely would have stretched on for at least a couple of years. They opened with “Back in the Saddle,” broke out big hits like “Rag Doll,” “Love in an Elevator,” and “Sweet Emotion,” and pleased the hardcores with the first live rendition of the Draw the Line deep cut “Bright Light Fright” since 1994, before wrapping up in standard fashion with “Dream On” and “Walk This Way.” But at some point during the night, Tyler claims he fractured his larynx. They initially postponed dates and then ultimately pulled the plug on the entire tour. There’s a small contingent of fans who have analyzed tapes from the night like the Zapruder film and see no moment where Tyler fell, collided with something, or did anything that would have resulted in a larynx injury. But we have no reason not to take the man at his word. We may never know exactly what happened that night, but we do know it marked the end of a major chapter of Aerosmith history.
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Tom Hamilton’s Close Enemies Launch First Tour — October 2024
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton could have easily booked himself a beachfront cabana once the group called off their last tour and spent his time sipping daiquiris and taking dips in the ocean. But he decided instead to form the new group Close Enemies with guitarists Peter Stroud and Trace Foster, drummer Tony Brock, and singer Chasen Hampton. A couple of years before dropping their self-titled debut, they launched a club tour. Their sets focused largely on their original material, but they closed out most every night with “Sweet Emotion” so Hamilton could once again play his iconic bass intro.
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Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton, and Guests Play the Hollywood Palladium — Feb. 5, 2025
Image Credit: Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images Steven Tyler was off the grid for much of 2024, presumably recovering from his larynx injury and plotting his next chapter. (There was also a civil sexual assault lawsuit that is still ongoing, stemming from a relationship he had with a 16-year-old in 1973.) He finally emerged on Feb. 2, 2025, at his annual Janie’s Fund Grammys Viewing Party, where he played an extended set with Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, Aerosmith touring keyboardist Buck Johnson, Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, and a series of guests, including Linda Perry, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, and Chris Robinson. The setlist was largely covers, but Tyler did sing “Toys in the Attic,” “Dream On,” “Sweet Emotion,” and “Walk This Way.” Judging from this one night, he sounded like his old self, without any strain. Fans began dreaming of a rescheduled farewell tour, but it didn’t materialize.
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Steven Tyler and Joe Perry Reunite at Janie’s Fund in San Francisco — April 30, 2025
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard Just two months after the Janie’s Fund benefit in Los Angeles, Tyler headed up to San Francisco for another. This time around, he played with Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, and longtime buddies Chris Robinson and Nuno Bettencourt. More importantly, Joe Perry came out and played with Tyler for the first time since the end of the farewell tour. We still didn’t know the state of Tyler’s health, but at least we had confirmation that he was on good terms with Perry. An actual Aerosmith reunion felt like only a matter of time.
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Steven Tyler Sings at Back to the Beginning in Birmingham, England — July 5, 2025
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Billboard Up until Ozzy’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert in Birmingham, England, Steven Tyler’s post-injury performances had been limited to special charity events in California with relatively small audiences. But the Ozzy concert was not only staged at a giant soccer stadium, it was also broadcast live on the internet and professionally filmed for a movie. If Tyler felt any extra pressure, he didn’t show it when he played “The Train Kept A-Rollin’,” “Walk This Way,” and “Whole Lotta Love” with Ron Wood, Tom Morello, Travis Barker, Chad Smith, and his new best friend, Nuno Bettencourt. Once again, he was in stellar form.
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The Joe Perry Project With Brad Whitford Goes on Tour — August/September 2025
Image Credit: Amy Sussman/WireImage Just as Steven Tyler was crossing the Atlantic Ocean to honor Ozzy, his old buddy Joe was assembling a new incarnation of the Joe Perry Project featuring Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, and Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo. They launched a brief theater tour that featured very few actual Joe Perry solo tunes, and instead focused on classics by the Black Crowes, Stone Temple Pilots, and Aerosmith. For fans, it was an amazing chance to see the duo of Perry and Whitford back in action. Old standards like “Last Child,” “Draw the Line,” and “Mama Kin” sounded incredible. During the interregnum, this was the closest thing to an actual Aerosmith tour that we got.
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Steven Tyler and Joe Perry Perform at the VMAs — Sept. 7, 2025
Image Credit: Manny Carabel/Getty Images/MTV Before the Joe Perry Project tour came to a conclusion, the guitarist headed back to UBS Arena in Long Island — the site of the last Aerosmith concert — for a special MTV VMAs tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who died just 17 days after the Back to the Beginning concert. He came out alongside Steven Tyler to join Yungblud, Adam Wakeman, and, of course, Nuno Bettencourt for “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” It was yet another sign that Tyler was in fine vocal shape.
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Steven Tyler Jams With the Joe Perry Project in Los Angeles — Sept. 17, 2025
Image Credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for MTV Throughout the Joe Perry Project’s summer 2025 tour, fans dreamed that Steven Tyler might make a special appearance. It didn’t happen until the grand finale of the last show, which took place at the Hollywood Bowl, where they opened for the Who. To thunderous applause, Tyler delivered “Walk This Way” and “The Train Kept A-Rollin'” while Chris Robinson gracefully took a backseat. It was the end of the Joe Perry Project, at least for now, and a little preview of another Aerosmith event at the Hollywood Bowl that was coming a little over a year later.
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Aerosmith and Yungblud Release the EP ‘One More Time’ — Nov. 21, 2025
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for MTV The cancellation of the Peace Out…Farewell Tour may have marked the end of Aerosmith as a touring entity, at least for now, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to make new material. It finally happened in November 2025, when they teamed up with Yungblud for the collaborative EP One More Time, which features four brand-new songs and a remix of “Back in the Saddle.” The project wasn’t exactly a commercial bonanza, but it did chart all across the world. It also gave Aerosmith much-needed forward momentum, and fans hoped it meant that the band was more than just a relic of the past.
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Steven Tyler and Guests Return to the Hollywood Palladium — Feb. 1, 2026
Image Credit: Robin L Marshall/Getty Images One year after his initial return to the stage, Steven Tyler came back to the Hollywood Palladium for another benefit show for Janie’s Fund. He was joined by usual suspects like Nuno Bettencourt, Robin Zander, Chris Robinson, and Matt Sorum, but this time around, Yungblud and Belinda Carlisle joined in on the fun. Tyler was only onstage for “Back in the Saddle,” “Mama Kin,” “Last Child,” and “Come Together,” and no other members of Aerosmith appeared. But it was the final Tyler performance before the announcement of the upcoming Aerosmith & Friends Hollywood Bowl show. As we said, we simply don’t know what’s going to happen that night. Just about the only thing we can say for sure is that Nuno Bettencourt will make an appearance.