Level 1 - Absolute Beginner

Aerosmith is a famous rock band from Boston. In 2024 the band said it would stop playing concerts. The singer, Steven Tyler, hurt his voice badly.

Now the band is coming back. Aerosmith will play two concerts in Los Angeles. The dates are October 29 and November 1.

The concerts are at the Hollywood Bowl. Many other singers will come to help. Run-DMC, Heart, Billy Idol and Slash are on the list.

Tickets go on sale to everyone on October 10. The shows are called California, Dream On.

band

A group of people who play music together.

rock

A loud kind of popular music with guitars and drums.

concert

A live music show in front of people.

singer

A person who sings.

voice

The sound a person makes when speaking or singing.

stage

The raised floor where performers stand.

guest

A person who is invited to join something.

ticket

A paper or code that lets you enter a show.

Level 2 - Elementary

Aerosmith announced on Tuesday that it will play two concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, on October 29 and November 1. The band had retired from touring in August 2024, so this is a real surprise for fans.

The reason for the retirement was an injury. Steven Tyler fractured his larynx, the part of the throat that makes the voice, during a show in Elmont, New York on September 9, 2023. The farewell tour, called Peace Out, had lasted only three concerts. The band said a full recovery was not possible.

The new shows are billed as California, Dream On: Aerosmith and Friends, with Don Was as music director. The guest list is long: Run-DMC, Heart, The Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Eric Church, Sammy Hagar, Slash, Duff McKagan, Tom Morello, Jerry Cantrell, Chad Smith, Nuno Bettencourt and others. The line up will be different on each night.

A presale for Citi cardholders runs from Thursday morning until Friday morning, Pacific time. More presales follow, and general tickets go on sale at 10 in the morning Pacific time on Saturday, October 10.

retire

To stop working or performing, usually for good.

tour

A series of concerts in different cities.

injury

Physical damage to the body.

larynx

The part of the throat that holds the vocal cords.

fracture

To crack or break something, often a bone.

farewell

A goodbye; a final appearance.

presale

A chance to buy tickets before general sale opens.

line up

The list of performers at an event.

Level 3 - Intermediate

Retirement announcements in rock music have a way of not lasting, but Aerosmith's seemed firmer than most. When the band withdrew from touring in August 2024, it did so on medical grounds, explaining that Steven Tyler's voice would not fully recover from the larynx fracture he suffered on September 9, 2023 in Elmont, New York, three concerts into a farewell tour named Peace Out. On Tuesday the band announced two nights at the Hollywood Bowl, on October 29 and November 1.

The framing is deliberately modest. The shows are billed as California, Dream On: Aerosmith and Friends, a title that borrows from the band's own first hit while signalling that Tyler will not be carrying four hours of singing alone. Don Was, a producer with a long record of assembling all star evenings, serves as music director, and the announced guests will rotate between the two nights rather than all appearing at once.

That guest list is unusually broad, drawing from almost every branch of the band's history. Run-DMC, whose 1986 version of Walk This Way pulled Aerosmith back into the mainstream, appear alongside Heart, The Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Eric Church, Sammy Hagar, Marcus King and Pat Monahan. The guitar contingent includes Slash, Duff McKagan, Tom Morello, Nuno Bettencourt and Steve Stevens, with Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, Chad Smith and Sully Erna also listed, plus the producer Andrew Watt and the drummer Kenny Aronoff. Final line ups are expected to be confirmed close to showtime.

Demand is likely to be heavy for a venue of roughly 17,500 seats. A Citi cardmember presale opened at 10 in the morning Pacific time on Thursday and runs to the same hour on Friday, with additional presales before the general on sale at 10 in the morning Pacific time on Saturday, October 10. Prices were not disclosed in the announcement.

on medical grounds

For reasons of health.

billed as

Advertised or announced under a particular name.

contingent

A group forming part of a larger gathering.

rotate

To take turns in a fixed order.

mainstream

The most popular part of a culture or market.

venue

The place where an event is held.

disclose

To make information public.

all star

Featuring many well known performers together.

Level 4 - Advanced

Few farewells in popular music have been as involuntary as Aerosmith's. The band did not tire of the road; it was removed from it, when Steven Tyler fractured his larynx on September 9, 2023 at a show in Elmont, New York, three dates into a tour pointedly titled Peace Out. The remaining shows were postponed, then cancelled, and in August 2024 the band conceded that a complete vocal recovery was not achievable. Tuesday's announcement of two Hollywood Bowl concerts, on October 29 and November 1, therefore arrives less as a reversal than as a negotiated settlement with a damaged instrument.

The structure of the evenings acknowledges that limitation rather than denying it. Billed as California, Dream On: Aerosmith and Friends, with the veteran producer Don Was installed as music director, the shows are conceived as revues in which guests carry a substantial share of the vocal load while the band supplies the architecture. It is a familiar format for Was, whose tribute evenings have long specialised in reassembling a catalogue through other voices, and it conveniently converts the central question about Tyler's stamina from a risk into a design feature.

The invitation list functions as an annotated history of the band. Run-DMC, whose 1986 reworking of Walk This Way effectively restored Aerosmith to commercial relevance and helped establish the rap and rock crossover, sit beside Heart and The Black Crowes from the blues rock lineage, Billy Idol and Steve Stevens from the same mid eighties radio moment, and Eric Church from the contemporary country wing that has absorbed much of classic rock's audience. The guitar roster, which includes Slash, Duff McKagan, Tom Morello, Nuno Bettencourt and Marcus King, is joined by Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, the drummers Chad Smith and Kenny Aronoff, the Godsmack singer Sully Erna, Train's Pat Monahan, Sammy Hagar and the producer Andrew Watt. Organisers have said the nightly rosters will differ and will be finalised near showtime, a hedge that preserves flexibility for a production of this complexity.

Commercially, the choice of the Hollywood Bowl is instructive. At roughly 17,500 seats across two nights, the run is small enough to be announced three weeks out and intimate enough to avoid the comparisons an arena tour would invite, while the staggered ticketing architecture, a Citi cardmember window from Thursday to Friday morning Pacific time, further presales, then a general on sale at 10 in the morning Pacific time on Saturday, October 10, is designed to meter demand rather than test it. No prices were published. Whether the two nights remain an exception or become the template for a band that cannot tour conventionally but has not finished performing is the question the announcement politely declines to answer.

involuntary

Not chosen; forced by circumstances.

concede

To admit something reluctantly.

revue

A show made of several separate musical turns.