Well, Joe Perry called it. Back in June, the Aerosmith guitarist told SPIN, “I don’t think you’ve seen the last Aerosmith performance.” Now we know what he meant: Aerosmith will return to the stage for two guest-packed special shows at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 29 and Nov. 1.
Dubbed “California, Dream On: Aerosmith & Friends,” the concerts will bring Steven Tyler, Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Brad Whitford together alongside a ridiculously stacked guest list that includes the Black Crowes, Run-D.M.C., Heart, Billy Idol, Eric Church, Sammy Hagar, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan, Tom Morello, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, Marcus King, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Train’s Pat Monahan, Godsmack’s Sully Erna and producer/musician Andrew Watt.
Don Was will serve as music director, with additional guests and surprise appearances still to come. Organizers Blackbird Presents say the nightly lineups will vary.
The shows mark Aerosmith’s first announced performances since the band’s touring future was thrown into doubt when Tyler suffered a fractured larynx and additional vocal cord damage in September 2023. The band’s Peace Out tour was postponed after just three shows and ultimately canceled a year later, with Aerosmith going so fas to announce it would never be able to resume touring.
But the door to the stage never quite closed. Over the past year, Tyler has made a handful of high profile appearances, including a July 2025 performance at Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning farewell concert, as well as his annual Janie’s Fund event at the Hollywood Palladium. Tyler and Perry also teamed with Yungblud for One More Time, a collaborative EP released last November.
“We’ve pretty much written off the idea of touring, but it doesn’t mean we can’t play some gigs,” Perry told SPIN in June. “It took Steven a long time to recover from his throat injury. He was getting his voice back, but I think he was afraid to break it. It was such a freak accident. He was afraid if he started hitting some of those notes, it would pop again. So it wasn’t until the last year or so he was feeling confident enough to even do voice exercises.” While a traditional tour remained unlikely, Perry added, “I don’t think you’ve seen the last Aerosmith performance.”
Consider that prediction fulfilled at Hollywood Bowl, where the guest list is fittingly broad. Run-D.M.C.’s presence nods to Aerosmith’s role in breaking down the wall between rock and hip-hop with “Walk This Way,” while artists including Heart, Idol, Slash, Morello and former opening act the Black Crowes reflect the band’s enormous reach across generations of rock. See the show poster below:
