Joey Kramer Rejoins Aerosmith In Las Vegas

Aerosmith‘s classic lineup is whole again as drummer Joey Kramer returned to the kit for the band’s Monday night concert at the MGM Park Theater in Las Vegas. Kramer had took time off to deal with a shoulder injury and filed a lawsuit against his band mates when they wouldn’t let him come back.

Joey Kramer alleged that his band mates made him “re-audition” for his longtime role and was hospitalized in November due to what the lawsuit described as stress from the situation. The drummer wanted to return in January for a pair of televised events as part of the Grammys and submitted tapes of him performing to the other members of Aerosmith. On the week of the Grammys, Aerosmith released a statement that said in part, “Joey has now waited until the last moment to accept our invitation, when we unfortunately have no time for necessary rehearsals during Grammys week. We would be doing a disservice to him, to ourselves and to our fans to have him play without adequate time to prepare and rehearse.”

While Kramer didn’t perform with Aerosmith at the Grammys and MusiCares events, he did appear at both. On Monday, Aerosmith emerged from a riser at the start of their concert at which point Joey headed to his drum set. The rest of his band mates followed and frontman Steven Tyler exclaimed, “On the drums, Mr. Joey Kramer” and then Aerosmith began the fitting “Let The Music Do The Talking.” The status of Kramer’s lawsuit has not been disclosed.

Watch the beginning of last night’s concert captured by manteca080:

Setlist