Aerosmith guitarist, Joe Perry, has likened the current coronavirus pandemic to a world war. Speaking to Boston radio station WBUR, Perry said that the COVID-19 crisis is “as close to a world war as you could get, in a lot of ways.”
“If you tick off the boxes, it is a world war. Basically, it has shut down the touring business for an indefinite period of time,” he said.
Like most artists, coronavirus venue and travel restrictions have impacted Aerosmith’s touring schedule. The legendary rock outfit were scheduled to resume their Las Vegas residency on May 20th, but were forced to cancel the remainder of their shows there.
Joe Perry is trying to see the positives, however, and has realised that there are upsides to being at home.
“As soon as I realized we weren’t gonna be playing for at least months, if not a year, it was almost like I felt like I was on vacation for the first time in 30 years,” he said.
While he is excited to get back on stage, for Perry, the safety of fans and his fellow bandmates is of utmost importance.
“We don’t want to be the ones responsible, the ones to say to people, ‘It’s okay to come in. Take your chances. Wear masks. Come in and rock out,'” he said.
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“I don’t see 5,000 people in an arena or theatre. It’s too contagious. It doesn’t take much to pass it from one place to another. It would take a lot to get me on a plane to Vegas at this point.”
Aerosmith plan on touring Europe in June and July, and have a concert at Boston’s Fenway Park lined up in September. However, Perry admits that those shows may not go ahead.
“If they say we can’t do the shows, that’s when they’d be canned,” he said.
Check out ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ by Aerosmith:
