Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
Brent Mason
Artists “You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Chad Smith watches a busker playing RHCP
Artists “Who wants to tell him?” Busking drummer unknowingly performs Chili Peppers song in front of Chad Smith
Zak Starkey
Drummers "I dropped some beats apparently. I’ve looked and I can’t find them!": Zak Starkey on Who sacking and more
Ray Cooper
Artists Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
Hal Blaine
Drummers Read our classic interview with Wrecking Crew legend Hal Blaine
Exodus Gary Holt
Bands "It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
10 people drummers will encounter at gigs
Drummers The 10 people drummers will inevitably encounter when playing a gig
George Lynch performing with Dokken in the '80s
Artists “I remember Eddie Van Halen asking me, ‘What’s wrong with you?'”: George Lynch, the guitar hero cursed by bad luck
Frank Ferrer on stage in 2012
Artists How drummer Frank Ferrer powered Guns N’ Roses for 19 years
Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer (drums), Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith on "Midnight Special" in Burbank, CA - June 1974. (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
Gigs & Festivals Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Brad Whitford on the support act who completely upstaged them
Josh Freese performs onstage with The Vandals during day 1 of Warped Tour at Shoreline Waterfront on July 26, 2025
Drummers “It wasn’t music that I really resonated with”: Josh Freese lifts the lid on his exit from the Foo Fighters
The Who
Artists “I got it right and Roger got it wrong”: Zak Starkey provides more details about his sacking from The Who
Danny Carey
Drummers 6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time
Neil Peart performing with Rush in 2012
Artists “To those I inspired to start drumming, I apologise to your parents!”: A rare interview with Rush legend Neil Peart
Alcatrazz in 1983
Artists “Yngwie would walk in front of me going widdle-widdle-widdle. It was very rude”: A great singer's fights with Malmsteen
  1. Artists
  2. Drummers

Kenny Aronoff: my best and worst gigs ever

News
By Joe Bosso published 2 July 2014

"I've been lucky – so many amazing shows. And one that was very strange."

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Kenny Aronoff: my best and worst gigs ever

Kenny Aronoff: my best and worst gigs ever

Continuing our series My Best And Worst Gigs Ever, session and touring legend Kenny Aronoff talks about one show that stands out in his mind as being particularly memorable – and one that he'd like to forget.

“There are way too many great gigs to narrow them down to just one, but I can think of one that is certainly unique and personally very special to me. But let me start by setting the stage: I was 10 years old when I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and after that I saw A Hard Day’s Night in a movie theatre. Those two events made me say, ‘I wanna be in The Beatles!’

"So how does a 10-year-old kid in New England, in a town of 3,000 people, get in The Beatles? I didn’t know how to do it; I didn’t have any mentors. And The Beatles had a drummer anyway, so that was that. [Laughs]

Make believe

“What did I do? I started a band, and I made believe I was in The Beatles. Fifty years later, after recording hundreds of records and doing hundreds of tours, I’m in the rhythm section honoring The Beatles and celebrating the night they played the Ed Sullivan Show.

"This is the TV special, The Beatles’ 50 Anniversary. I’m playing with Ringo, I’m playing along with Paul McCartney, and I’m performing with all of these other artists honoring The Beatles. For me, what could be a heavier, more significant experience?

10 weeks of work

“I always study hard and prepare for every gig I do. The Beatles show came at the end of 10 weeks of non-stop work, starting with the Kennedy Center Honors and ending with the Grammys. For all of the shows of various kinds during that 10-week period, I had to learn over 200 songs.

"The Beatles show came at the end of everything. At that point, I looked at myself as if I were an NFL player. By the time you get to the Super Bowl, you belong there. I didn’t have time to get blown away by what I was doing; I focused on the show – song by song. And when you do that, you win the Super Bowl.

“During the show itself, I thought back to being that 10-year-old kid, but only for a minute or so – I had to keep focused on the gig. Between performances with all of the artists I played with, I checked each song for the tempo. I put a click in my ear and ran over the songs and all the difficult areas, and I made sure that I was playing everything perfectly, in the exact tempo that we’d discussed in rehearsal.

Pressure

“There was a lot of pressure on me – I’m playing drum parts that Ringo Starr had recorded, parts that people knew. Some of the things were from the records, and some were new arrangements that were a little more modern. But I couldn’t let the pressure get to me. I was dedicated to playing everything just right.”

“When it was all done, I had an incredible conversation with Ringo, right in the middle of the entire arena. I told him what an honor it was for me to play the show, and I basically starting telling him my story. But as I did, I caught myself and said, ‘Hey, you’ve heard this all before. It’s cliché.’ And he said, ‘No, no, tell me.’ So I told him: ‘You’re the reason why I play drums. You’re the reason why I play music. You’re the reason why I got in a band. You’re the reason why I’m here today.’ He went, ‘I love hearing that!’ And he told me I did an incredible job, which you know… What do you say to that?

“There’s a shot in the show where Ringo looks at me after I did a particular roll on Something. The only reason why I knew to do it was because the producer, Don Was, got me the isolated drum tracks. Ringo did this buzz roll on a rack tom and another one on a floor tom, on beats three and four. You can’t hear it on the record, but it’s there. So when I did it live, Ringo mimicked me and smiled. That was amazing.

“In addition to the conversation I had with Ringo, I had a long talk with both him and Paul after the show. What surprised me was, they had no idea what was going to happen after they played Ed Sullivan. They didn’t knew the show was so big back then. To them, it was just one more thing their manager had booked them for. And, of course, everything changed after that night.”

Page 1 of 2
Page 1 of 2
Kenny Aronoff: my best and worst gigs ever

Kenny Aronoff: my best and worst gigs ever

“OK, so this show’s a lot different.

"I was playing with John Mellencamp on the Uh-Huh tour back in the ‘80s. All of a sudden during The Authority Song, my stick broke. It broke at the end, so the part I’m holding is sharp, and the other part went… How do I say this? It went right into my dick. [Laughs]

“I’d never felt anything like this in my life. It was like somebody had bullwhipped my dick. I didn’t know what was going on at first – I thought somebody stuck a knife in me or something. I started feeling a sensation of blood. There was no blood, but that’s what it felt like. My head got all light, and I started to faint. The whole band turned around and looked at me, ‘cause I was playing all weird. I’m almost passing out back there.

It's not my cymbals

“My drum tech rushed over to see what was going on. He said, ‘What’s wrong, man? Is something wrong with your cymbals?’ – that’s what he thought. And I go, ‘No, no, it’s not my cymbals. It’s my dick! My stick broke and hit me right in the dick.’ He slapped me on the head and said, ‘Sorry, dude, you’re on your own.’ [Laughs]

“I finally got it together and shook it off. I’ve played sports my whole life, so I’m used to physical injuries, but this was a new one. It was a freak-out at first. Man, what a feeling."

Page 2 of 2
Page 2 of 2
Categories
Drums
Joe Bosso
Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.

Read more
Brent Mason
“You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Chad Smith watches a busker playing RHCP
“Who wants to tell him?” Busking drummer unknowingly performs Chili Peppers song in front of Chad Smith
Zak Starkey
"I dropped some beats apparently. I’ve looked and I can’t find them!": Zak Starkey on Who sacking and more
Ray Cooper
Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
Hal Blaine
Read our classic interview with Wrecking Crew legend Hal Blaine
Exodus Gary Holt
"It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
Latest in Drummers
Josh Freese performs onstage with The Vandals during day 1 of Warped Tour at Shoreline Waterfront on July 26, 2025
“It wasn’t music that I really resonated with”: Josh Freese lifts the lid on his exit from the Foo Fighters
Photo of Mike JOYCE and SMITHS and MORRISSEY and Andy ROURKE and Johnny MARR; L-R: Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce (drums), Morrissey, Johnny Marr (playing Gibson ES-335 guitar), performing live on The Tube
“This book truly conveys what it felt like to be a member of the Smiths”: Mike Joyce’s memoir to be published in November
Drum Recording Techniques
How the rules of drum recording were shaped over decades of trial and error
Neil Peart performing with Rush in 2012
“To those I inspired to start drumming, I apologise to your parents!”: A rare interview with Rush legend Neil Peart
Simon Dawson
“We didn’t want a clone”: Bruce Dickinson on why Maiden chose a drummer with a different feel
Danny Carey
6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time
Latest in News
Boss PX-1 Plugout FX: the white compact series pedal has blue knobs, digital display, and is a platform for 16 digitally modelled Boss effects, one of which is available at a time.
A compact series stompbox you can turn into any one of 16 classic Boss effects? Meet the Plugout FX
Zak Starkey and Axl Rose composite
“C’mon bro... It could generate $2M for teen cancer”: Zak Starkey pleads with Axl Rose to give the go-ahead for charity cover of Bolan classic
Don Felder plays his iconic white Gibson doubleneck electric guitar onstage. Note the double jack: that mod is crucial when playing Hotel California, which he surely is in this picture.
Don Felder on why he had to mod his white Gibson doubleneck to play the Eagles’ biggest hit – and how he got the idea from Chet Atkins
Marek "Ashok" Šmerda wears corpsepaint that makes him look a little like Hellraiser's Pinhead as he performs live with Cradle of Filth.
Cradle of Filth guitarist Ashok fired mid-tour, days after keyboardist wife quits citing low pay and “toxic” atmosphere
Burning man in 2023
“Crazy winds” wreak havoc at Nevada’s Burning Man festival
madonna
"I look forward to hearing everyone’s interpretation - don’t hold back”: Remix Madonna's Ray of Light and win $12,000 of music gear

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...