Aerosmith rocks motherland Boston with 'hometown lovefest'

MANSFIELD - No matter how hard a Boston rock critic tries to get through an Aerosmith concert review without using the words "hometown lovefest," the effort is futile. Our local rock heroes returned to the roost last night and fell into the motherland's ecstatic embrace. And while the crowd's affection preceded the performance, Aerosmith earned every shriek during an electrifying two-hour set.

The stage was sleek and uncluttered, a clean palette for Steven Tyler's star power. He was a little hoarse, but completely on. Tyler strutted the catwalk, a model rock god, scarves flowing from his hat and his neck and his mike stand, gripping fans by the wrists, dipping his fingers into a woman's drink and rubbing it behind his ear. And that was just the first song, "Love in an Elevator."

Nearly four decades after forming, Aerosmith is still funneling heavy, swaggering blues through a lean, mean rock machine with energy that defies the passing of years and a catalog that bridges the band's deep musical roots and mainstream hits. They played plenty of both, blues jams and blockbusters, but it was the band's signature tunes that supplied the night's transcendent moments.

"Walk This Way" has one of the most excellent guitar riffs in rock, and Boston is part owner. "Dream On" is Aerosmith's epic, and Aerosmith is ours. Maybe it's provincial, but that sense of iconography-by-association turned a great concert into a galvanizing experience.

The band has only gotten tighter, playing with the sort of synchronicity available only to those who beat the odds and survive long enough to reap time's rewards. Brad Whitford's guitar solos were phenomenally clean and searing, while Joe Perry did the dirty work.

Bassist Tom Hamilton's occasional forays into the flow of the fan were his version of a star turn, but his bottom end was perpetually turned on, as were Joey Kramer's clockwork rhythms.

Tyler spewed enough charisma to make up for his bandmates sedate ways - nearly falling into the crowd over and over again as he reached for open hands and the occasional lips, thrusting and shimmying in every corner of the stage, sharing the microphone with countless fans, and kissing Perry's mother - a hometown lovefest, indeed.

Boston staple James Montgomery was an ideal warm-up act, opening with a set of blustery, hard-rocking blues that represented Aerosmith's roots.

Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com.