Steven Tyler on top of the Green Monster behind a white grand piano belting out “Dream On.”

This is my favorite memory of seeing the Demon of Screamin’ and Aerosmith live. And I got to witness it twice at Fenway.

Writing about rock ‘n’ roll in Boston, and just being a rock ‘n’ roll kid, I saw the band a ton — the two Fenway shows, one at the TD Garden, half a dozen at the-venue-formerly-known-as Great Woods, at Foxboro Stadium, on 1325 Commonwealth Avenue outside the band’s old apartment, in a Washington, D.C. arena where I caught one of Joey Kramer’s drum sticks and gave it to my date. I guess I’d always see the band despite the fact it was born before I was.

Last week, Aerosmith announced its retirement from touring. Tyler’s recent vocal cord injury made future touring impossible — “He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury,” the statement read. “We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible.”

I still have trouble believing it. On one hand, the band constantly seemed on the verge of death — both through breakups and the too real possibilities that one or more of the members would actually die. I wrote about Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry’s onstage and offstage bickering year after year. I reported on everybody’s injuries and ailments, and the list was long and crazy…

Tyler has suffered drug relapses, battled hepatitis C, broken his shoulder falling from the stage, and undergone throat and foot surgeries. Bassist Tom Hamilton beat throat and tongue cancer. Perry has collapsed on stage and backstage. Other guitarist Brad Whitford missed shows in 2009 after injuring his head while getting out of his Ferrari.

And yet, the band has gotten back in the saddle over and over again. And they have rekindled their magic.

As recently as the summer of 2022, Tyler was behind that white grand piano screaming, “Sing with me, if it’s just for today/Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away.” But it’s naive to think anybody who regularly scats and shouts out lyrics at full volume and full sprint — see various yowls, yelps, and yakkakakkakows from “Walk This Way” to “Amazin’” — for five decades can do that forever.

I’m not convinced there will never be another Aerosmith show. Of course that’s probably because there has always been another Aerosmith show on the horizon just beyond the recuperations, reconciliations, and rescheduling. But that seems beside the point.

The message is clear: Go see the band. I don’t mean this band. I mean your band, your favorite artist. Go see the Stones or Stevie Nicks or Missy Elliot or Dolly Parton or Buddy Guy or your favorite local band or that band you kinda like but never saw. Go see all the bands before their yakkakakkakowing days are done.