On many tours, everyone from concert promoters to managers to musicians themselves have stripped shows of profit-gobbling perquisites such as large quantities of alcohol, extravagant catering and other ego boosters so costly that even the biggest touring acts of the '70s often were hard-pressed to break even on the road.Īt the time, rock tours primarily were intended to boost sales of a new album they were not seen as money-makers in themselves.īut now, although tours still are used to promote recordings, they also are regarded as profitable ventures in their own right, with the emphasis on efficiency and organization rather than frivolity and self-gratification.Īnd as the rockers themselves have aged, they've found that they don't have the physical tolerance for the old excesses.Ĭoncerts now usually last a strenuous two to two-and-a-half hours, and tours often go on for several months (Aerosmith was on the road nearly a year when the tour ended recently), demanding an athletic endurance and concentration that is difficult to sustain on the steady diet of alcohol, drugs and junk food that used to be a standard part of life on the road.īackstage at Aerosmith's Meadowlands concert not a drop of alcohol, a trace of drugs or even much cigarette smoke was to be found.
Rob Reiner's 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap captured the mood with its parody of rock musicians who refused to go onstage if the sandwich bread was too small or the olives didn't have pimentos.Īs the indulgent '70s became the health- and business-conscious '80s, even rock 'n' roll cleaned up its act much of the excess seems to have gone out of style. The new atmosphere backstage at Aerosmith's concerts is one of the more conspicuous examples of how the business of rock tours has evolved.īy the end of the 1970s the game of excesses played by rock tour promoters and the bands themselves had reached ludicrous proportions, with each act attempting to one-up the last with their demands _ the more idiosyncratic the better. The tables were littered with half-empty bottles of mineral water and bowls of Greek salad.Īt one point someone handed Tyler a small brown jar. Lead singer Steven Tyler, 42, was bouncing his year-old baby on his arm.
After the show, the atmosphere backstage was calm, peaceful, almost domestic.
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