Aerosmith Live in Pontiac Silverdome (1976)

I remember this concert as a 15 year old living in Pontiac we did not miss any events. We jumped the fence into a big dumpster that was set up for all the alcohol trying to be smuggle in had to be disposed of. All you had to do was jump the fence into the trash.  After consuming about a fifth of every kind of alcohol there was in the world, you just jump out of the dumpster and your free to go.  I remember every song played.  The Pontiac Siverdome was the shit, the place to be, not even a year old the facility was brand new. Every songwriter singer Band and the Lions played this place. from Led Zepplin to the Who, Pope, Elvis, hell Everybody This is the good O days.

I was at this show. Honest opinion here, from what I remember. Senior year. My friend Alan and I drove almost two hours from the Lansing area to see this show. The 80,000 seat Silverdome had "The Giant Curtain" drawn across the center of the arena, effectively cutting it in half. It still was a huge venue and was almost filled to capacity with 30+ thousand fans. I was used to seeing bands at places like Cobo Hall and Wing Stadium in Kalamazoo, MUCH smaller, more intimate and much better acoustics. First time seeing a concert in Pontiac, and I was in awe of the cavern like Silverdome.   "The Outlaws" band opened to a mostly indifferent crowd. Remember feeling a little bad for them, they sounded great but got almost NO response from the crowd, who weren't really there to see a "Southern Rock" act I guess. I watched them walk off the stage after their set to almost no applause, looking out into the crowd and shaking their heads like "Damn, this sucks." Ted Nugent (with the great Derek St. Holmes still on lead vocals) and Foghat were also on the bill, and Ted was up next. His first solo album "Ted Nugent" had recently been released and was getting some good local rock radio air time (Hey Baby, Stranglehold, Just What the Doctor Ordered) and "Uncle Ted" was a hometown favorite for sure. The crowd was starting to get into the mood. Foghat had recently released the "Fool for the City" album and were a little bit more well-known nationally than Ted was at the time. Both acts were really good and the crowd was definitely getting more and more into both the music and the "spirit" as the night went on. The Silverdome interior had a thick, bluish tint to the air from all the cigarettes and weed being smoked. (OK, I'll admit that I also contributed a little bit to the "atmosphere." ) Both Nugent and Foghat put on a really good show. The crowd was definitely there to see the headliner Aerosmith though, that's for sure. Toys in the Attic was HUGE at the time, and they were probably one of the "Must See" go-to shows that year. You could feel the anticipation growing as the night went on. That's where things got a little weird (to me anyways.) There was a long ass (really long ass) delay between Foghat's end and Aerosmith's start. Not sure why the delay, but you could tell people were getting a little annoyed with the wait. You must remember about 4-5 hours had now passed since the gates opened, three previous acts performed, and it was an "evening" event. It was getting a little late, and many people had been partying pretty hard during the entire time, and were in various states of "buzz." Tempers were a little thin. A few fights broke out. I remember seeing many fans passed out on the floor of the dome, stumbling around and some being escorted out of the venue by security. When Aerosmith FINALLY came on, people were pretty fired up. I don't know what changed, but from where we were sitting, on the floor ground level, the sound level and quality had now changed It now kind of "sucked" in fact. It had been pretty good up till then, so I'm not sure what happened. Maybe the environment had changed from an earlier sound check, maybe the sound engineers had it cranked a bit louder than the settings had been for the previous acts for more of a "wow" factor, I don't know. But it wasn't good. Big, Boomy, and muddled...kind of disappointing. To top it off, I think Steven Tyler was stoned out of his mind (look at his eyes in this video.). There was a big video screen above the stage so the people in the nose-bleed seats could see better I guess. We were on the floor and I swear you could see Tyler's red eyes from the screen. I know they were hard partiers back then, but I think they must have overdone it a bit in the dressing room before they went on. Maybe the reason for the long delay between sets? He tripped and fell on his ass at least 3 or 4 times during the show, and got sloppier as the set went on. Hate to say it, but I was very disappointed and had seen enough. My friend and I left about 20 minutes before the "encore" and felt a little let down to be honest. The headliner was definitely the poorest performers that night in my opinion. And this is coming from a huge Aerosmith fan. On a final note, got to Alan's car and found he had locked the keys inside. LOL. Had to break the vent window, reach in and pull the inside door handle to get in. It was a loud, cold and windy 2 hour ride back home that night. Anyways...That's my recollection of things.

joe perry's guitar tone is raw and nasty and crunchy!

Outstanding 🤟... That version of Sweet Emotion was incredible. We were so much cooler than kids today.

This is the epitome of American Rock and Roll!!!!

For whatever reason, you just never hear Joe Perry's name come up when there's talk of great guitarists. Just one majorly under-rated player. One of my favorites.

Incredible. Aerosmith at their peak!

I remember every minute of this show! Was 15 years old then.  Stumbled in with the rest of the Blue Army! The Golden Age of ROCK! Never to be seen again I'm afraid.  Never knew there was a tape of this show.  What a find!  Even this far into the future this is one of my best memories - ever!  What a killer show!

0:12 Toys in the Attic 3:32 Same Old Song And Dance 8:08 Sweet Emotion 12:55 Walk This Way 16:56 Adam's Apple 21:41 Train Kept a Rollin' 27:16 Peter Gunn Theme / Rats in the Cellar / S.O.S. (Too Bad)

I was born 3 years later on September 26th but I didn't get into Aerosmith until 1993 during the Get A Grip era and I am really enjoying this window into the 70s era. I'm 40 now and like they say, You're never too old to rock!

This was when concerts were truly fun and esciting. Can you imagine pople getting on stage like this now? Perry was awesome as always!

Joe Perry's playing on this show is really HOT! 

They should remaster this and release the full concert. 

saw 'em at the Forum in '78 , ...... this is why these guys are legends

First album I ever bought , Dream on , I live to the awareness of consciousness , from teenager to age 59 years old , it's still got it , thank you , Aerosmith , tod .

i love the old stuff thank god youtube people still have them around

I saw Aerosmith the first time in 1973 as they opened for Robin Trower and Mott the Hoople. Never heard of Aerosmith and they blew it up! I saw them many times but this is the first video that truly captures what I remember them sounding like. Awesome!

Aerosmith as pure and great as it gets....my junior year of high school. They are stepping out as strong as ever with the original intent in each song!

Great concert - bring back the good old days!

My all time favorite song performance by Aerosmith is this recording of Adams Apple. Great lyrics, awesome guitar riff, and Stevens voice was peaking at this time. Even though he was blitzed at this concert, he killed it. Check out @ 21:00 how he mugs for the camera as if it was choreographed.