AEROSMITH's JOE PERRY On Las Vegas Residency: 'Frankly, I Haven't Been Bored Yet'

AEROSMITH guitarist Joe Perry spoke to Billboard about the group's "Deuces Are Wild" Las Vegas residency, which kicked off on April 6 at the Park Theater at Park MGM. Asked what made him and his bandmates guys decide a residency was the next move at this point in time, Joe said: "Over the last few years, we've talked about coming in and doing some kind of residency. And then we were hearing about the pop acts doing it, and finally, it got to a point where we didn't feel like doing another album, and we wanted to do something different. This seemed like the natural thing. We went down the short list of, 'What do you do?' We've played Europe, we've played the far east; it just seemed like a really cool thing. And we said, 'Look, if we're going to go in and do it, let's do it in a way no one has for a rock band. Let's bring in that production.' We wanted to take a giant step beyond that."

According to Perry, the Las Vegas residency has "a different vibe from a regular AEROSMITH rock n' roll show. You're immersed in AEROSMITH's world when you come to this show, and that's the difference. It was important to us to maintain the hardcore, garage band feel of what AEROSMITH is and try to bring in the big show element of a Las Vegas show. We're on the same stage as everyone from David Copperfield to the Cirque shows. We wanted to have a taste of that in there, but with the energy of what an AEROSMITH show is. I'd like to think we found that balance."

Joe said that he has found the Las Vegas performances more exciting than he originally expected.

"Every night I just hold my breath," he said. "I thought I was going to be bored doing this by now the way everybody was talking about it. You know, 'You don't have to travel every day, it's all automated, the lights, moving stuff.' Well the bottom line is, when we go out there, it's a new audience and it's like a whole different show. It's not that much different from being on the road except you don't have to travel every night. You have to go out there and win them over. If you have a night where everything was great, you still gotta do another great one tomorrow. You gotta try. You're always starting from zero every time you walk out there. So that part is exciting. Frankly, I haven't been bored yet."

AEROSMITH is scheduled to play 26 more shows in Las Vegas dates before the end of the year — five in June, four in July, four in September, four in October, seven in November, and two in December. The band also has multiple-night "Deuces Are Wild" engagements booked at MGM properties in National Harbor, Maryland; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Springfield, Massachusetts.

In addition to the "Deuces Are Wild" shows, AEROSMITH is scheduled to make two festival appearances this summer: July 14 at the Roxodus Music Fest in Edenvale, Canada; and July 19 at the Twin Cities Summer Jam in Shakopee, Minnesota.