Joe Perry Project Invades Hampton Beach!

Joe Perry LivePublished in Goldmine Magazine, Dec. 10, 2009
Live at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom - Hampton, N.H., November 13, 2009
For fans of Joe Perry, a chance to see the legendary Aerosmith guitarist in such an intimate setting as the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in New Hampshire was surely a treat. However, even the most die-hard Perry fans could not have expected Joe's new incarnation of The Joe Perry Project to be such a tight, cohesive unit in such a short period of time. This version of The Project has been together for less than six months.
Featuring a new German vocalist named Hagen (uncovered by Perry's wife Billie on YouTube), original Project bassist-extraordinaire David Hull (Farrenheit, Dirty Angels), drummer Marty Richards (Duke Robillard) and utility man Paul Santo (Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Ringo Starr) on piano, Hammond organ and percussion, Perry & Co. successfully pushed the pedal to the metal with a nearly two-hour set that featured 18 songs spanning his entire career.
Joe tunes it up!After a half hour opening set from long-time Boston, garage-punk rockers The Neighborhoods, (ironically, this reviewer also saw them open up for Aerosmith way back in 1985), Perry hit the stage and cranked it full throttle from the get-go, opening the show with original Project staple "Let The Music Do The Talking", then Aerosmith favorites "Walkin' The Dog" and "Get The Lead Out." Proving early on and beyond a shadow of a doubt, that young Hagen could successfully pull off a Steven Tyler vocal!
From there, The Project proceeded to touch upon every phase of Perry's extensive catalog including, from his latest release Have Guitar Will Travel, rollicking anthem "We've Got A Long Way To Go", which is also the CD's first single. Other tracks from Have Guitar featured throughout the set included the slinky "Slingshot", the melodic "Do You Wonder" (featuring lyrics by Billie Perry), the hard-rockin' "Scare The Cat" and
a rip-roarin' cover of "Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonight)", an old Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac gem.
Joe and HagenFor the die-hards who remember the early 80's Project band, there was the fan- favorites "Discount Dogs", "I've Got The Rock And Rolls Again" and "Rockin' Train", complete with amazing, 5-string bass solo from Hull. And from Joe's 2005 self-titled solo effort, a smokin' cover of Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man" in which the guitar slinger unleashed a distorted whirlwind of a solo.
And yes, there were more Aerosmith classics, with a strange-yet-fresh reggae (that's right) version of "Dream On", the Rocks gem "Combination" (as Joe pulled out his classic 70's, beat-up lefty strat played upside-down), "Bright, Light Fright", "Toys In The Atttic" and "Stop Messin' Around", from the Aero-blues release Honkin' On Bobo.
Of course, underlining the proceedings was the interesting dynamic of witnessing whether Hagen could indeed, be able to adequately vocalize these Tyler staples and judging by the response from the crowd, he pulled it off with flying colors.
In fact, with the recent rumors surrounding a possible Tyler departure from Aerosmith, and after hearing the young man hit that famous "Tyler scream" note at Joe tears it up!the climax of "Dream On"? This long-time fan believes Hagen could step in and certainly not completely fill Mr. Tyler's shoes of course, but absolutely nail any Aero-lyric in the iconic band's repertoire.
As for Mr. Perry, the Boston bad-boy still looks, performs and most importantly, plays like he never has before. Sober and clean at 59, Joe has lived through all the rock-and-roll wars you could imagine, yet has come out the other side a better and more reflective musician for it. The only way one might tell he has been living on the road for the past 40-plus years is the white streak down the front of his thick mop of
black hair. That rock star stage presence is clearly alive and well, with or without the other Toxic Twin. Perry's solos are gritty and energetic, while still insisting to be
creative and not rest on past laurels, which was never more evident then with the encore-closing number of the night. No… not "Same Old Song And Dance" or "Train Photos by Joe MillikenKept A Rollin'", that would be the easy way out, but a heavy-riffing version of "Rockin' In The Free World." Move over Neil Young.