Joe Perry: Aerosmith Won’t Play American Idol Finale

Despite Steven Tyler’s vows that Aerosmith will play the May 25 finale of American Idol – for which he is a judge – guitarist Joe Perry says otherwise.  

“[We’re] not playing Idol ’cause we were never asked by producers,” Perry wrote on his Facebook page. “Brad [Whitford, Aerosmith guitarist] has a gig that night with [Experience Hendrix]. It’s not logistically possible.”

Perry did write that Aerosmith is “looking forward to playing American Idol next season when our new CD is out and we can prepare [for] a kick-ass show if they ask us.”

Making it clear that his decision was based on logistics and timing and not personal beefs with Tyler, Perry wrote, “There is no peace pipe to smoke because I have no problem with anything Steven is doing. It’s all media driven. In case ya didn’t get that.”

In fact, Perry revealed that Aerosmith will wrap up their next CD this summer.
“Really looking forward to recording with Aerosmith this July [and] August to finish our long-awaited CD,” he wrote. “Icing on cake, Jack Douglas is producing … The band [definitely] wants to tour after the new CD. We want to rock out in the U.S. and for our Blue Army behind some new songs.”