Aerosmith, ZZ Top show called off after Tyler hurt

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This article was published 07/08/2009 (6182 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – The on-again, off-again Aerosmith and ZZ Top show is officially off again.

But the promoter — for what was to be tonight’s concert — is encouraging fans to hold onto their tickets as he works to reschedule the rock bands at Canad Inns Stadium before the end of September.

"Right now we’re just saying it’s a postponement, please hang on to your tickets until we set the new date," Bryan Taylor said.

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler suffered injuries in a stage fall Wednesday night. The 61-year-old was airlifted to a hospital in Rapid City, S.D.

Taylor said early indications showed Tyler suffered cuts and bruises, but that prognosis quickly changed.

"(Tyler’s) doctor’s advice was to take the night off," Taylor said, adding Tyler suffered a shoulder injury. "He’s hurt enough that he can’t play."

"Steven Tyler did get a bit banged up and had to have a few stitches, but all Canadian dates are going on as planned," an initial statement from the band’s management said.

The Winnipeg concert is the only Canadian date affected and the band plans to perform in Regina on Sunday.

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of crew members worked to tear down the massive stage set up in the north end of the stadium. Only 10,000 tickets had been sold for the 23,000-seat show, Taylor said.

Tyler fell while entertaining the crowd by dancing around after the sound system failed during the song Love in an Elevator, said Mike Sanborn, spokesman for the Buffalo Chip Campground, which hosted the outdoor concert.

Tyler was on the stage’s catwalk when he fell backward onto a couple of fans in the middle of what was a record crowd, Sanborn said. Security rushed to help him and the crowd cheered when Tyler got back up.

"He was good-natured about it," Sanborn said. "He was in good spirits when he got in the helicopter. He was talking and joking with the physician."

"It was an unfortunate end to an extraordinary evening."

Tyler was taken backstage and around 12:15 a.m., guitarist Joe Perry came out to tell the audience Tyler was being taken to the hospital and that the show would not go on.

It happened about halfway through the performance, Sanborn said.

"He does a lot of dancing on the stage and he does a lot of stuff with his mike stand. He put his stand down and twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage," he said.

Sanborn said Tyler was attended to on-site by a physician and flown to Rapid City Regional Hospital, the only major hospital in the region.

The band’s current tour with ZZ Top has been a rough one on Tyler. The band was forced to cancel seven shows last month when he injured his leg during a June 28 concert in Connecticut.

"It just happens in this business," Taylor laughed. "It’s rock ‘n’ roll."

 

— Staff/The Associated Press