BOSTON (AP) — Thousands of Aerosmith fans watched the band perform on Monday in front of the building in Boston where they once lived.
People hung out windows, crowded fire escapes and stood on roofs on Commonwealth Avenue to watch a free concert meant to encourage voting and promote the band’s new album, which comes out Tuesday, Election Day.
The band played songs including “Walk this Way,” ‘’Sweet Emotion” and some from their new album, “Music from Another Dimension!”
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was among those at the show, getting on stage with other football team officials after the band arrived in an amphibious tour vehicle.
The caravan of seven duck boats, with the band riding in “Beantown Betty,” shut down city streets as a police escort led the way from TD Garden arena to 1325 Commonwealth Ave.
Some fans lined streets to wave to the band as their caravan rolled past landmarks including Boston Common and City Hall, and many skipped work or school to go the show.
Boston University student Becca Emmetts, who lives in Aerosmith’s former building, sent a friend to her physics class with this message explaining her tardiness: “Aerosmith was playing on my front stoop.”
Angela Menino, wife of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, presented band members with street signs commemorating their old address and a city plaque that will be mounted in front of the building.
It says Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Joey Kramer, and Tom Hamilton lived in the building’s second story in the 1970s, and that it was there the “The Bad Boys of Boston” got their start in rock music.
A track on Aerosmith’s self-titled album called “Movin’ Out” was about moving out of the apartment. But Monday, the rock stars were happy to be back in their old digs.
Building resident Melissa Morrissey snapped a photo of Tyler as the front man came in the building minutes before Aerosmith got on a stage in the back of an 18-wheeler.
“I got a sick picture of him blowing a kiss,” the 23-year-old pharmacy student said. “Want to see it?”
Morrissey said she’d already planned to vote and buy the band’s new release, but Monday’s show was something special.
“It’s just really, really cool that they came back to where they started to show their appreciation,” she said.
The show caused transportation disruptions with a trolley service suspension, road closures and parking bans, but police said the show went off without any major hitches.
“Everything was fantastic. The logistics worked out well,” Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Dan Linskey said after watching people of all ages rock along with the band’s music.
“It was great. Who doesn’t love Aerosmith?” Linskey said.
“I think we’ve all been on a treadmill with Aerosmith getting us through the final minutes,” he added.
And with U.S. political races entering their final hours Monday, Aerosmith ended its Election Day Eve show by blasting the crowd with red, white and blue confetti.
Later, band members also made imprints of their hands in squares of wet cement, which the city plans to plant in front of the rockers’ old Boston home.
