AEROSMITH frontman
Steven Tyler was the special surprise guest for the
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA concerts at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 12 and the Izod Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on December 13. According to
Kevin Alba of
MetalAsylum.net, "halfway through the [Izod Arena] set, [
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA] mastermind
Paul O'Neill told the audience not to leave until the last note of the night was played because there was a huge surprise in store. When the time came,
Paul O'Neill came back out and introduced
Steven Tyler who came out and sang
'Sweet Emotion' and
'Dream On' with
TSO backing him up as the crowd went completely wild."
Commented
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA guitarist
Chris Caffery (also of
SAVATAGE): "[Playing with
Steven Tyler at the Nassau Coliseum and Izod Arena] was extra special for a ton of reasons. Mainly because
AEROSMITH is one of my all time favorite bands and it was surreal to be standing onstage and performing these songs with
Steven.
"The Nassau Coliseum venue is very special to me, I saw my very first concert ever there when I was 11 years old. It was
KISS and
JUDAS PRIEST. My best friend's dad drove us there, I still go sit in the seat that I watched the show from each time I walk in this building.
"I have played there four times now. Three headlining with
TSO. I first played there with
SAVATAGE on the
'Hall of the Mountain King Tour' opening for
DIO and
MEGADETH on New Year's Eve 1987/8.
"The Izod venue, or as we all called 'The Metalands,' as kids is even more special. I grew up in Northern New Jersey so I must have seen 100 shows there. I had always dreamed of just playing there. Each time I walk in there to play with
TSO, I walk up to the upper level and just sit in the seats and think about the shows I had seen in the past.
AEROSMITH,
JUDAS PRIEST,
IRON MAIDEN,
THE GRATEFUL DEAD,
SPRINGSTEEN,
BON JOVI,
JOHN COUGAR,
DEF LEPPARD,
TED NUGENT,
TRIUMPH,
PINK FLOYD,
SCORPIONS,
OZZY,
METALLICA,
JOURNEY... the list goes on. Headlining our fifth show there and having
Steven Tyler as a special guest was so incredible!
"So... tie all of this history together. This will sit forever in my mind as some of the greatest moments of my life and career!
Steven was so amazing!
"Thanks to everyone at the shows for the incredible crowd response, to
Paul O'Neill for making all of the magic happen and to
Steven Tyler for the priceless memories!"
Fan-filmed video footage of
Tyler's December 12, 2008 performance with the
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York can be viewed below. A better-quality clip of the
"Dream On" performance can be found
here.
