The terrible news scrolled across the bottom of my TV screen at just before 8:00 Saturday morning. Aerosmith has canceled their re-scheduled “Peace Out” farewell tour because Steven Tyler’s throat has not recovered from his fractured larynx.

It’s not surprising. My family and I have said for months now that a 78-year-old man who fractures his larynx  while singing / screaming like Steven Tyler probably doesn’t recover enough to do it again. We bought the tickets last summer for the tour which was supposed to start in September last year. Then, just a couple of shows in, Tyler’s vocal cords began bleeding and everything was put on hold. Postponed. Stay tuned. When Tyler gets well, we’ll do this last tour.

We held onto our tickets and to some cautious hope.

The band announced a new schedule in March–all the same venues, most of the same dates. He’s back! It’s happening! We did some research and wound up trading our seats at AAC in Dallas for better spots in Tulsa for the concert November 12. Even then, we kept telling each other, “We’ll believe it when we see it.” When Carrie-Anne and I visited Valerie and David in Tulsa in May, we drove right by the BOK Center downtown and I exclaimed, “We’re going to be there! We’re going to be inside that building listening to Aerosmith!” Valerie took her eyes off the road just long enough to look at me and say, “Dad. We don’t know.”

Now we do. It’s over. Ticketmaster has already refunded our money. It’s not happening.

Aerosmith says they are retired from touring. They might make some new music together in studio someday, but their concert days are over. And it’s terribly sad. I am so lucky to have seen them live at least half a dozen times: at a couple of Texxas Jams, at Reunion Arena in Dallas and the Erwin Center in Austin, and once with Carrie-Anne and Whitney at Starplex. But I was unable to make good on my promise to take Valerie and Carley to see these favorite and iconic rockers. Huge regret. I’m so sorry, girls.

We will always have the songs. We will continue to rock out to the classics like “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion” and “Dream On,” we’ll still find creative ways to hijack the lyrics in “Just Push Play” (what do you say, Carley Renae, Chick-fil-A), we’ll never forget that Carley and Collin walked out of the chapel at the end of their wedding to “Under My Skin,” we’ll smile at the memories of Whitney singing/speaking all the words to “Hole in My Soul” in her sweet alto, and we’ll all sing at the top of our lungs when “What It Takes” or “Jaded” comes on anytime anywhere.

As it says at the end of the official statement from the band, we will play their music loud, now and always.

Peace,

Allan