Steven Tyler Is Not Leaving Aerosmith

Tuesday night Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler joined Joe Perry on stage at the Fillmore in New York to set the record straight about the rock group's future.

Photo: Steven Tyler Is Not Leaving Aerosmith

"New York, I want you to know I'm not leaving Aerosmith," Tyler told fans in a surprise appearance on Tuesday night at a concert by Perry's solo side project, music web site NME.com reported.

Tyler, 61 and Perry, his songwriting partner of 40 years, then launched into a version of "Walk This Way", one of Aerosmith's biggest hits, NME.com said, Reuters reports.

It was also reported, a few days after guitarist Joe Perry Tweeted that Tyler was leaving the band, the longtime duo has apparently patched things up.

Tyler and Perry made a surprise appearance onstage and announced that Tyler was back in the saddle. "I just want New York to know I'm not leaving Aerosmith," Tyler, 61, told the cheering crowd. The band then gave an rousing performance of "Walk this Way."

The speculation of a breakup started last week when Tyler told Classic Rock Magazine that his next project was "definitely going to be something Steven Tyler, working on the brand of myself – Brand Tyler." Distraught fans speculated that Tyler was taking a permanent vacation from the band, People Magazine reports.

After he performed the song, Tyler (who has been recovering from injuries sustained when he fell off the stage over the summer) left without seeing or speaking to Perry again. "He appeared so fast and was gone so fast," says the guitarist, noting that physically, Tyler "seemed fine. He stood up there and sang and that was it."

So what does all of this mean for the future of Aerosmith?

"Nothing has really changed between two days ago and today," says Perry, who believes that Tyler's intention to take two years off from the band still stands.

But speaking for himself and bandmates Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford, and Tom Hamilton, he adds, "We're still Aerosmith. We don't know what we're gonna do. We've talked about all kinds of different things. Things are still up in the air," People Magazine reports.