Spinner, NY
May 12, 2008
Put variations of Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, Linkin Park and Guns N’ Roses on the same bill and you’ve got a serious rock show. Last Friday night, about a thousand lucky fans got to see just that as Slash and Cooper were honored for their sobriety by MusiCares.
Steven Tyler, who was on hand to present the From the Heart honor to Slash, talked to Spinner about their friendship before the show. “They opened up for us one night,” he recalled. “We were backstage and I said, ‘Listen you guys, we got like five years sober, so if you guys got anything on you and you bring it in my dressing room, I’m gonna have to leave. I’m gonna get real pissed off and kick your a–.’ But they found their own road.” Asked then how proud he was of Slash, Tyler responded, “Forget it, beyond belief. He’s been through hell and high water, and he’s come out the other side.”
During his acceptance speech, Slash, who, in true rock star fashion left his sunglasses and top hat on, thanked his “awesome” wife and two little boys, as well as “music in general since it’s been my underlying motivation for survival.” Letting his guitar do most of the talking though, he jammed with his mates in Camp Freddy for a ridiculous all-star celebration that started with Cheap Trick vocalist Robin Zander killing versions of the classic ‘Surrender’ and ‘Gonna Rase Hell,’ continued with Chester Bennington crooning Cooper’s ‘Eighteen’ to the icon. The jam ended with Tyler coming out for two songs, including a standing o-inducing version of ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ that also featured Jerry Cantrell.
After accepting his award for 26 years sobriety, Cooper quipped, “The last thing in this business you wanna do is follow Steven Tyler on vocals.” But modesty aside, Cooper takes a back seat to noone onstage, as he proved with a rollicking set that started off with ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ and included a joyous ‘Billion Dollar Babies.’ And then what else could the night end with but Cooper being joined on stage by Slash for a sing-along version of ‘School’s Out’?