Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is not expected to tour again despite recently returning to live performance.
“Steven cannot put himself under the rigors of doing a full worldwide tour because there’s a lot of pressure,” his friend Matt Sorum, of Guns N’ Roses, told WBAB Radio in an interview broadcast on Thursday, February 13.
Tyler, 76, returned to the stage on February 5 for only the second time since suffering a 2023 vocal injury, performing as part of Sorum’s Jam for Janie fundraising concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The event raised money for Janie’s Fund, the charity Tyler started to support girls and women who have suffered from abuse or neglect.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee covered classic rock hits, including four Aerosmith songs, alongside an all-star band featuring Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, country music superstar Lainey Wilson, hard rock icon Joan Jett and 1980s rocker Billy Idol, among many others. Sorum served as musical director for Jam for Janie.
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Sorum, 64, has since clarified that Tyler’s ability to perform a one-off show doesn’t mean that he will be able to tour with Aerosmith ever again.
“Steven sang for the first time in a year and a half,” Sorum told the radio station. “Some fans were a little bit, like, ‘Well, he can sing.’ Well, let me just explain what’s happening with Steven Tyler, because he’s a really good friend… He went out and sang. And it was a really big moment for him because he hurt himself bad. Now, is he gonna tour again? No, he’s not.”
The former Guns N’ Roses drummer suggested that Tyler is “a perfectionist” and would thus never commit to a tour if he wasn’t physically able.
“If you’re not a singer, you wouldn’t understand what he goes through, but he’s 77 years old and he’s a perfectionist,” Sorum said. “And if he doesn’t sing correctly, it bothers him. And he’s not gonna put it on tape, like 80 percent of the people that are out there taking your money. He will not be on tape, and he won’t change the keys of the song. That’s just who he is. He’s, like, ‘I’m an artist. I’m a singer. This is my band. I’ve been doing this for 50 years. And if I can’t do it perfect, I can’t do it.’ And I respect that.”
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Sorum went on: “I talked to him about it multiple times. I said, ‘So, just sing four or five songs tops.’ He says, ‘I can do that.’ And that was just one time. Maybe down the line, he’ll do it again and possibly do the same amount of songs.”
Tyler initially fractured his larynx during the third date on Aerosmith’s Peace Out: The Farewell Tour in September 2023. After multiple postponements, Aerosmith announced in August 2024 that they would retire from touring due to Tyler’s ongoing vocal issues.
“Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other. He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury,” Aerosmith said in a joint statement. “We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible. We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage.”
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Aerosmith formed in Boston in 1970. Through the group’s historic career, the ‘Bad Boys from Boston’ sold more than 150 million albums and scored an astonishing 21 Top 40 hits on the U.S. Hot 100 Singles chart.
Tyler established the Janie’s Fund charity in 2015 and named the organization after Aerosmith’s 1989 single ‘Janie’s Got a Gun,’ which raised raised awareness about child abuse.
