Out of the Saddle: Aerosmith Cancel Shows

Falling in love is hard on the knees -- and so are twenty-pound microphone stands. Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler learned that lesson the hard way last week when he smacked his mic stand into his knee during the encore of the band's second sold-out show at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and tore his knee-stabilizing anterior cruciate ligament. Tyler made it through a video shoot the following day for "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," but his pending surgery has forced Aerosmith to postpone the remaining fourteen dates of its North American tour.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am that we're being forced to postpone these shows and disappoint our fans across the country," said Tyler in a statement Tuesday. "In all our years together, I don't think that we've missed more than a handful of gigs -- so this comes as a tremendous blow to all of us. All I can say is that I'm going to work my butt off, after the operation, to get back on my feet, so that we can get out on the road again as soon as possible."

Tyler must wait a week to ten days for the swelling in his knee to go down before he can be operated on. After that, he faces at least twelve weeks of rehabilitation before he can get back into the Aerosmith saddle. The postponed shows from the North American tour have been tentatively rescheduled for later summer or early fall, though exact dates have not yet been announced.

Shows being rescheduled:

• Saturday, May 9 La Crosse Center La Crosse, Wis.
• Monday, May 11 Metro Center Rockford, Ill.
• Wednesday, May 13 The Mark Moline, Ill.
• Friday, May 15 Peoria Civic Center Arena Peoria, Ill.
• Sunday May 17 Fort Wayne Coliseum Fort Wayne, Ind.
• Tuesday, May 19 Freedom Hall Louisville
• Thursday, May 21 Thompson Boling Center Knoxville
• Saturday, May 23 Roberts Stadium Evansville, Ind.
• Monday, May 25 Nutter Center Dayton, Ohio
• Wednesday, May 27 Van Andel Arena Grand Rapids, MI.
• Friday, May 29 Toledo Sports Arena Toledo
• Sunday, May 31 Copps Coliseum Hamilton, Ontario
• Tuesday, June 2 Molson Centre Montreal, Quebec
• Thursday, June 4 Colisee de Quebec Quebec City, Quebec

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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