The band Joe Perry preferred to go see instead of Rolling Stones

The Aerosmith co-founder and guitarist Joe Perry is one of the most influential American musicians of all time. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1950, he was still a teenager when he had the chance to see many incredible bands from the 60s playing in small clubs in Boston when they were not big enough to play to completely sold out stadiums like they would in the following decades.

Although he always loved the Blues, Perry was heavily influenced by the British artists who reinvented the American Blues music. One of them was The Rolling Stones but once he preferred to go see another band instead of them, which is one of his favorites.

The band Joe Perry preferred to go see instead of Rolling Stones

There are many difficult choices we need to make in life and there was a night back in the 60s that Joe Perry certainly can’t forget, since he refused to go see The Rolling Stones because Fleetwood Mac was playing in the same night in the city.

He always loved that first classic Fleetwood Mac line-up with the guitarist and singer Peter Green and it was one of the bands that influenced him the most. He recalled that interesting story in an interview with Spin in 2022. “I mean, it seems like yesterday I was watching The Who back in 1968. Just for a little perspective on this.”

“I remember it was either ‘68 or ‘69. I was at the Boston Tea Party (a synagogue-turned-rock club), out by the ticket window. Fleetwood Mac was playing. A couple of friends of mine had an extra ticket to see the Stones. They told me ‘this could be the last tour.’ You know with Keith and everything. I said, I think I’m going to stay and watch Fleetwood Mac,” Joe Perry said.

Born in Bethnal Green, England in 1946, Peter Green was only four years older than Perry. He was part of Fleetwood Mac from 1967 to 1970 and in 1971, recording three classic studio albums. They were “Fleetwood Mac” (1968), “Mr. Wonderful” (1968) and “Then Play On” (1969). After that Fleetwood Mac had more line-up changes and became even bigger when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the group in the mid-70s. It was during that era that they recorded their best-selling albums.

Peter Green is one of his favorite guitarists of all time

The late Peter Green is one of Joe Perry’s favorite guitarists of all time and as he told  Music Radar in 2014, he had the chance to see Fleetwood Mac with him many times. He curiously even saw them performing classic tracks like “Green Manalishi” and “Oh Well” before they were even officially released. “Well, Peter Green is one of my all-time favorite guitarists. I went to see Fleetwood Mac a lot live when they played in Boston .And I even knew Green Manalishi, Oh Well, all those songs, before their release. They were a great band and that’s where I got a lot of my blues education,” Joe Perry said.

In the mid-70s Peter Green was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and his battle against the disease prevented him from composing, recording and touring for many years. As a solo artist he released six studio albums, the last one being “Kolors” in 1983. But he also collaborated with other artists and recorded his final albums with the Peter Green Splinter Group, the final one being released in 2003. The guitarist and singer passed away in 2020 at the age of 73.

Over the decades Aerosmith covered a few Fleetwood Mac songs during their live concerts. The most frequent ones were “Oh Well Pt. 1” and “Stop Messing Around” (This one appeared on their 2004 covers album “Honkin’ On Bobo”).