Joe Perry and Billy Gibbons didn't have Guitar Hero when they were kids, and we can be glad for that, because they may have been content with faking Berry, Hooker and Hendrix rather than learning the real thing.

		What they played Aerosmith Train Kept A Rollin Cryin' Love In An Elevator Jaded Dream On Combination Toys In The Attic Uncle Salty Adam's Apple Walk This Way Big 10 Inch Record Sweet Emotion No More No More Round And Round Livin' On The Edge Draw The Line Come Together ZZ Top Got Me Under Pressure Waitin' for the Bus Jesus Just Left Chicago Pincushion Cheap Sunglasses I Need You Tonight Just Got Paid Gimme All Your Lovin' Sharp Dressed Man Tube Snake Boogie Legs La Grange Tush

The two gunslingers rode into the Post-Gazette Pavilion Wednesday night on the Guitar Hero Tour, the first time the two have shared a stage in Pittsburgh since Three Rivers Stadium in 1976. Back then, ZZ Top was on top, Aerosmith was a dangerous new prospect, and what ensued was rock 'n' roll anarchy among 54,000 teenage hellraisers. This time it was more middle-aged guys in Polo shirts with $8 beers.

The other difference is that the bands now come equipped with songs modernized for the MTV age. But even ZZ Top at its slickest sounds pretty gritty live, with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard churning the rhythm section and Gibbons topping it with the bluesiest vocals you'll hear from a white guy and a guitar tone so godlike, even Guitar Hero gamers could make it sound good.

Gibbons makes it sound great, tearing through the classic-rock radio riffs with masterful precision -- sometimes one-handed! "Come on, go along with it -- we're just makin' this stuff up," he said during the extended breakdown on "Cheap Sunglasses." Between that, "Waitin' for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago" and "I Need You Tonight," there was plenty of room for the blues.

The trio upped the tempo on "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs," delivered with matching white fur guitars. They closed it out by grinding through "La Grange" and "Tush," two songs that drove people wild in '76, and still does -- just a tamer kind of wild.

There are few things in rock 'n' roll more exciting than the first moments of an Aerosmith set, where the big black curtain drops to reveal the band, last night playing "Train Kept A Rollin'," with singer Steven Tyler all a-swagger in a cowboy hat and flowing white coat. It set a blues-rock party tone that was quickly undercut by the latter-day power ballad "Cryin'" -- part of three-song run, with "Love in an Elevator" and "Jaded," that acted as a buzz-kill for the older fans but perhaps a thrill for the younger.

The Bad Boys from Boston didn't get a new album ready for this tour, so the plan was hatched to jam through one that's 34-years-old, "Toys in the Attic." That, of course, means a killer title track and classics like "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion" sprinkled with deeper cuts -- the more nuanced "Adam's Apple" and the Sabbath-heavy "Round and Round." Not surprisingly, Tyler's attempted crowd sing-along on "Uncle Salty" wasn't the best idea.

The downside to a full load of "Toys" was that it pushed some favorites from "Rocks" and "Get Your Wings" -- like "Back in the Saddle," "Last Child" and "Seasons of Wither" -- out of the set. But "Dream On," batting fifth in the lineup, was particularly powerful, with Tyler screaming into the smoke, and later Perry got to pump out one of his best riffs with set-closing rocker "Draw the Line."

Aerosmith had a long layoff before this summer tour, and is missing ailing guitarist Brad Whitford, so the band wasn't clicking quite the way we've seen it in the past. Tyler and Perry are remarkably intact, though. When has a 61-year-old dude, speaking of Tyler, ever looked like a hot female model from a distance? And who was he singing to backstage during "Jaded" and "Sweet Emotion"? Having screeched for 40 years and coming off throat surgery, he sounded better than anyone would expect. Perry, in contrast to Gibbons, was more unhinged and possibly getting paid by the note.

Bizarre footnote: During the '76 show, the power went out during Aerosmith's set when a rogue fan climbed a fence to pull the switch. Stunningly, Wednesday night, the PA konked out toward the end of Perry's "Combination."

Don't think it was a crazed ZZ Top fan this time ...