Legendary Rock Band Aerosmith Officially Retires

Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers Aerosmith have officially called it quits. The band announced their retirement today, almost nine months after delaying their “Peace Out” farewell tour. 2023’s tour dates had been pushed back into this year after lead singer Steven Tyler suffered a fractured larynx and damaged his vocal cords. Back in April, the band announced that they were coming back, but today, they took to Instagram to say it was time to call it quits. The band said that Tyler is not recovering as fast as they had hoped, and that there was no way to put on the kind of show they thought the audience deserved.

“It has been the honor of our lives to have our music become part of yours,” Aerosmith said in part, in a statement you can see below. “A final thank you to you – the best fans on planet Earth.Play our music loud, now and always.Dream On. You’ve made our dreams come true.”

Some may examine the language closely and see that the band intends to retire “from the touring stage.” Whether that means another album is theoretically possible is unclear, although it feels unlikely at this point. The band’s last studio record was 2012’s Music From Another Dimension!.

The band first formed in 1970, and released their self-titled album in 1973. The “Peace Out” tour had been timed to the 50th anniversary of that first record. Those who bought tickets for concerts that were delayed and then cancelled, can get them refunded at the point of purchase.

During their decades as “America’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band,” Aerosmith earned four Grammy Awards, a Soul Train Award for Best Rap Single (for “Walk This Way,” recorded with Run-DMC), and numerous Video Music Awards. The band was celebrated by fans, parodied by “Weird” Al Yankovic, and even inspired the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, a Disney attraction that ran from 1999 until 2019, and was eventually replaced by Avengers Assemble: Flight Force. Even outside of their music itself, Aerosmith became pop culture icons when they linked up their song “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” with the movie Armageddon (which starred Tyler’s daughter Liv).

This is not the band’s first farewell tour; in 2017 and 2018, they previously had an “Aero-Vederci Baby! Tour,” which felt like it might be a farewell tour, but was almost immediately followed up with a “Deuces are Wild” tour which ran from 2019 until 2022, with a COVID-related hiatus built in. Still, after more than 50 years, the end already felt a lot more “real” this time — and with Tyler’s injuries seemingly much more serious than originally thought, it seems the band, in all likelihood, really is done touring.