Fan Fare

Summer’s almost here, and the time is right for Aerosmith’s first North American shows in almost two years.

America’s rock ‘n’ roll bad boys, sidelined last year by singer Steven Tyler’s rehab stint and guitarist Joe Perry’s bad knee, said Monday they would begin a three-month amphitheater tour in St. Louis on June 10. 
    
The trek will take the band to 33 cities, including Washington on June 21, Houston on July 17, Chicago on Aug. 28, Toronto on Sept. 3, and finally Detroit on Sept. 16. Opening act ZZ Top will join the tour on June 16, when Aerosmith play to a hometown crowd in Boston.

The band is taking a break from recording its first album of new material since 2001′s “Just Push Play.” A band spokeswoman said there was no scheduled release date yet.
    
Aerosmith last toured in 2007, playing 20 countries between April and September. It was forced to scrap a planned festival show in Venezuela this past February because Perry, 58, had to undergo emergency knee surgery caused by unforeseen complications from a total knee replacement in March 2008.
    
Tyler, 61, went into rehab last May, saying he needed “a safe environment” to recover from a series of foot surgeries that proved to be more painful than expected. He will be the top draw at the upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, which allows civilian rockers to jam with and learn from their heroes. It runs from April 29 to May 3 in Hollywood.
    
Both Perry and Tyler — nicknamed “the Toxic Twins” — and their bandmates were infamous for their hard-partying ways during the 1970s. Since a carefully engineered comeback in the late 1980s, they have largely been models of sobriety.