The Permanent Vacation Tour, was a headlining concert tour by American hard rock band Aerosmith, lasted from October 16, 1987, to September 15, 1988. It supported the band's commercially successful comeback album Permanent Vacation, released in September 1987.
Background The tour was the band's first since completing drug rehabilitation. Guns N' Roses, notorious for drug abuse at the time, was the supporting act for part of the tour, primarily during the summer of 1988. Aerosmith asked Guns to not do drugs in their presence, so they wouldn't relapse.Davis, S. and Aerosmith: "Walk This Way", page 460-461. Avon, 1997 "I told those guys, 'This is my dressing room and, if you whip out the coke, I'm going to have to leave,'" Steven Tyler recalled. "That was it. Then it was printed that we banned them from drinking backstage. Never."
The two bands had a similar style, musically and personality-wise, and were both on Geffen Records at the time. Upon their first meeting, the band members couldn't help but notice how much they resembled each other.Davis, S. and Aerosmith: "Walk This Way", page 460. Avon, 1997 Guns N' Roses' video for "Paradise City" included footage from a show in which they opened for Aerosmith and Deep Purple at Giants Stadium on August 16, 1988. Duff McKagan can be seen wearing an Aerosmith T-shirt in the video.
"Thank God we got to meet some people that weren't fucked up!" remarked Guns guitarist Izzy Stradlin. "It influenced me, big-time… cos Tyler and those guys, they were always like my rock idols… When we toured with them, I'd go out to watch and they'd sound fucking amazing! I thought, We're gonna have to really pull this shit together to keep up."
Extreme, Dokken and White Lion also filled opening slots on the tour.
During a show on this tour, Liv Tyler, aged 11 at the time, learned that her sister was Mia Tyler and her father was Steven Tyler.Davis, S. and Aerosmith: "Walk This Way", page 461-462. Avon, 1997
Setlist The band consistently played six tracks from Permanent Vacation: the major singles "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", and "Rag Doll", as well as the rock radio hit "Hangman Jury", the rocking title track, and the Beatles cover "I'm Down". The band also played numerous songs from their classic 1973–1982 era. A typical setlist would be this:
"Toys in the Attic" "Same Old Song and Dance "Big Ten Inch Record" "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" "Lightning Strikes" "Rag Doll" "Hangman Jury" "Permanent Vacation" "Angel" "Back in the Saddle" "Last Child" "Draw the Line" "Rats in the Cellar" "One Way Street" "Dream On" "Train Kept A-Rollin'" "Sweet Emotion" "I'm Down" "Walk This Way"
Tour dates + List of 1987 concerts Date City Country Venue Tickets sold / available Revenue October 16, 1987 Binghamton United States Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena October 17, 1987 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium10,254 / 17,000$164,060 October 19, 1987 Syracuse Onondaga County War Memorial October 20, 1987 Toronto Canada Maple Leaf Gardens11,955 / 12,500$203,779 October 22, 1987 Montreal Montreal Forum October 24, 1987 Rochester United States Rochester Community War Memorial10,718 / 10,718$166,276 October 25, 1987 Glens Falls Glens Falls Civic Center7,812 / 7,812$128,898 October 27, 1987 Portland Cumberland County Civic Center15,573 / 19,000$250,956 October 28, 1987 October 30, 1987 Providence Providence Civic Center28,350 / 28,350$467,775 October 31, 1987 November 1, 1987 Springfield Springfield Civic Center10,227 / 10,227$165,000 November 3, 1987 New Haven New Haven Coliseum10,165 / 10,165$162,701 November 5, 1987 Pittsburgh Civic Arena13,326 / 16,000$223,210 November 7, 1987 Lake Placid Olympic Center November 8, 1987 Uniondale Nassau Coliseum15,122 / 16,822$263,587 November 10, 1987 Philadelphia The Spectrum17,504 / 17,504$261,876 November 11, 1987 November 13, 1987 East Rutherford Brendan Byrne Arena19,436 / 20,528$315,288 November 14, 1987 Richmond Richmond Coliseum10,407 / 12,500$150,330 November 16, 1987 Hampton Hampton Coliseum8,730 / 13,800$128,377 November 17, 1987 Roanoke Roanoke Civic Center7,374 / 8,064$116,704 November 19, 1987 Landover Capital Centre16,255 / 18,700$261,046 November 20, 1987 Bethlehem Stabler ArenaNovember 21, 1987CharlestonCharleston Civic Center November 22, 1987 Raleigh Reynolds Coliseum November 25, 1987 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena November 26, 1987 Indianapolis Market Square Arena14,310 / 17,000$225,090 November 27, 1987 Cincinnati Cincinnati Gardens10,205 / 10,205$155,186 November 29, 1987 Richfield Richfield Coliseum15,577 / 18,000$250,763 November 30, 1987 Fort Wayne Allen County War Memorial Coliseum6,045 / 7,450$95,508 December 2, 1987 Rosemont Rosemont Horizon10,852 / 18,055$172,359 December 3, 1987 Columbus Battelle Hall December 5, 1987 Detroit Joe Louis Arena19,409 / 19,409$339,658 December 6, 1987 Saginaw Wendler Arena7,001 / 7,001$122,518 December 8, 1987 Milwaukee MECCA Arena December 9, 1987 St. Louis St. Louis Arena11,249 / 19,008$178,563 December 11, 1987 Omaha Omaha Civic Auditorium9,040 / 12,000$134,633 December 12, 1987 Saint Paul St. Paul Civic Center17,962 / 17,962$263,050 December 13, 1987 Madison Dane County Coliseum8,895 / 12,000$131,628 December 27, 1987 Augusta Augusta Civic Center7,206 / 8,225$108,328 December 28, 1987 Worcester The Centrum33,702 / 38,312$580,000 December 30, 1987 December 31, 1987