Watch Aerosmith, Post Malone, 21 Savage Close Out MTV VMAs With ‘Toys In The Attic’

Twenty-five years after Aerosmith released their Video of the Year-winning “Cryin,” the Rock Hall-inducted band returned to the MTV Video Music Awards to close out the Radio City Music Hall award show with two gems from the early Seventies about artists just beginning to follow their paths: “Dream On” and “Toys In The Attic.”

The generation and genre-crossing collaboration began with onesie-wearing Post Malone performing “Rockstar” – which won the VMA for Song of the Year – with recent tour mate, 21 Savage. The duo played the lo-fi jam on a stark, smoke-filled stage with a wailing guitarist rounding out the sound before introducing Aerosmith. The band emerged on risen platform, elevating Malone’s win by launching into their own aspirational breakthrough, “Dream On.”

Malone joined the rockers for their 1975 song “Toys In The Attic,” his pasty, tattooed-face leaning in on the sacred mic-sharing of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. But the 23-year-old rapper gave the performance a heartwarming sense of continuity (replete with backward hugs for Tyler). Perry’s personal nod to the VMAs was evident when he jammed the fretboard of his guitar into one of the amps reminiscent of the way Tyler broke through a wall with his mic stand in their classic “Walk This Way” video.

In addition to celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Cryin” – which won three Moonmen at the 1994 VMAs –and its Alicia Silverstone-starring trilogy (“Amazing” and “Crazy”), the VMA performance also served as promotion for Aerosmith’s upcoming Deuces Are Wild Las Vegas residency, which kicks off April 6th, 2019 at Park MGM’s Park Theatre.

The residency promises “never-seen-before visuals and audio from Aerosmith recording sessions,” with Aerosmith working with producer Giles Martin – the son of George Martin and the soundscape architect of The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil – on the stage show.

General on-sale for the 18-date Deuces Are Wild begins Friday, August 24th.