Steven Tyler July 2, Venetian Theatre.

A week before launching his first-ever solo headlining tour at the Venetian, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler told Howard Stern that his band would be ending its long career with a farewell tour next year—and was then almost immediately contradicted by Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry in an interview with Rolling Stone just days later. Whatever the status of his contentious band, Tyler seemed very happy to be in the solo spotlight, interacting more warmly with seven-member backing band Loving Mary than he has with his Aerosmith bandmates in recent years.

Following video snippets from past interviews and performances, Tyler took the stage accompanied by an old-school Vegas showgirl, and the concert was structured around stories from Tyler’s career, although it wasn’t quite the multimedia production that it initially appeared it might be. The setlist was split fairly evenly between well-worn Aerosmith hits and songs from Tyler’s upcoming solo album We’re All Somebody From Somewhere, which ranged from forgettable (bland ballads “Only Heaven” and “My Own Worst Enemy”) to terrible (island-tinged pop nightmare “I Make My Own Sunshine,” pandering pseudo-patriotic country anthem “Red, White & You”).

Although members of Loving Mary (which includes longtime Tyler and Aerosmith collaborator Marti Frederiksen) played fiddle, banjo and mandolin at various times, the country influence was barely noticeable, and nearly all of the Aerosmith songs were delivered in a straightforward, faithful style (with the exception of a dark, atmospheric version of “Janie’s Got a Gun” that will appear on WASFS and was the highlight of the show). Tyler’s rambling, mostly self-aggrandizing trips down memory lane provided the opportunity for a handful of solid but unremarkable covers (Fleetwood Mac’s “Rattlesnake Shake,” The Beatles’ “I’m Down” and “Come Together,” Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Piece of My Heart”), but there was little sense that Tyler was really weaving a story about his upbringing and musical influences.

The mainly older crowd enjoyed every minute of it, though, staying on their feet even through the unfamiliar new songs and chanting “Steven!” (not “Aerosmith!”) during the encore break. If anyone missed Tyler’s usual bandmates, they didn’t show it, and the singer himself commanded the stage effortlessly on his own.

Setlist:

“Sweet Emotion”

“Cryin’”

“Love Is Your Name”

“I Make My Own Sunshine”

“Jaded”

“Piece of My Heart”

“Only Heaven”

“Rattlesnake Shake”

“I’m Down”

“Come Together”

“My Own Worst Enemy”

“Red, White & You”

“Dream On”

“Walk This Way”

Encore:

“Janie’s Got a Gun”

“We’re All Somebody From Somewhere”

“Train Kept A-Rollin’”