Lisa Martineau – Manchester, NH
Sherri Landry-Sousa – Houston, TX
Lisa M: In November 1995, the band had written some of the songs for their upcoming album and they were ready to “try them out” in front of a live audience. So they booked two clubs: The Middle East in Cambridge and their own club Mama Kin’s in Boston, for back-to-back shows on November 9-10, 1995. They announced the shows under false names; it was “Rayco and the Seatcovers” at the Middle East and “The G-Spots” in Boston.
I found out about this show by calling into the fanclub hotline, where the information had been leaked for only a few hours. Tickets could not be ordered over the phone. They could only be purchased in person at local record stores like Strawberries Records, which was just around the corner from where I lived. The first time I went to buy tickets, I bought two pairs for each show. I think we paid $8 each for them. Then I got a call from my friend Sherri from Texas who wanted to fly up for one of the shows. So I went back and bought several more tickets. By now word had spread and the man behind the counter was onto me. He bravely stated that he knew it was going to be Aerosmith. I just played stupid. I knew that tickets would be sold out very soon. So I bought a handful of additional tickets in case anyone needed some. Sherri’s friend Lisa from California also wanted to fly in for the show so I offered to meet up with her at the Middle East Club with a ticket.
When my husband and I arrived, there were only a few people in line. Lisa was one of them (thankfully) and we managed to find one another pretty quickly. There was an instant connection between us. We were about 5th in line, so when we strolled into the club we made it to the front left side of the stage, directly in front of Tom Hamilton and tried not to move from that spot.
The band opened with “Make It.” It was heavenly listening to the bluesy tunes they cranked out that night, songs that are not usually played in concert like “Get the Lead Out” and “Reefer Headed Woman.” Steven Tyler said something like, “We’re gonna play all the songs we don’t usually play out there,” referring to the arena shows we had grown accustomed to. There was a feeling that we would never get to experience anything like this ever again so we had better soak up every minute. After a blistering set that included songs like “Bone to Bone” and “I’m a Man”, they closed the show with Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”. Seeing Aerosmith in a club atmosphere was unforgettable – loud music, raw, gritty, in-your-face, and from the front row! It just doesn’t get any better than that. The band seemed to feed off the intimacy of the club.
The next evening, I met up with my friend Sherri and my new friend Lisa outside Mama Kin’s. It was November so there was a bit of a chill in the Boston air. As we were standing in line shivering, the employees of the club brought out paper cups filled with hot chocolate. We wrapped our fingers around the cups to keep warm, and noted how sweet the gesture was to the freezing fans outside.
Sherri: Funny that you say there was a chill in the air. I’m a Texas girl; it was freezing!
Lisa M: As soon as the doors opened, we walked right to the front of the stage and held our ground. We stood just off center stage, front row. And we did not move for the next five hours. There were two opening bands to stand through and we had to deal with the dangers of crowd surfing as some people got out of hand before Aerosmith took the stage. The club was filled beyond capacity and we were packed in tighter than sardines.
The reward for our perseverance though, was the best rock and roll show I had ever seen live. They rocked us to the core that night, opening the show with a smart ass Steven Tyler remarking, “Good evening. As you already know, we’re the G-Spots.” It was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to see this historic show up-close and oh so very personal.
Sherri: I remember waving to some friends across the room, but standing my ground at the front of the stage. The stage was only like three feet off the ground, the band was an arms length away. It wasn’t like front row was fifteen feet from a ten-foot high stage at all. It was a nightclub, I tell ya! But my fantasy of what it would be like wasn’t perfect. It was too crowded to dance! If I could have had room to dance, it might have been the perfect G-Spot fantasy! One thing is for sure, there was plenty of body heat.
I was wearing my “Who the heck is Joe Perry” guitar pic which I had made into a necklace. I swear I saw Joe looking over at that necklace. I had guitar pic earrings too, one for Brad, one for Tom. I remember there were lips printed in lipstick on Steven’s butt. You could see it because there was a huge rip across the backside of Steven’s jeans. We all wondered whose lips kissed Steven’s ass that night. It was during this show that we first heard “What Kind of Love Are You On?”
Of course, the Mama Kin’s G-Spots show rocked. It was rock and roll raw and heavy on the blues, the show that many of us longed for, and oh boy, did they deliver! For those of you who can imagine, yeah, it was THAT good.