THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - Steven Tyler is thanking the South Dakota police department and others who helped him after he fell off the stage during a performance at the city's famous motorcycle rally earlier this month.
In a lengthy statement issued Thursday, Tyler says he broke his left shoulder and needed 20 stitches in his head after the Aug. 5 accident in Sturgis. The 61-year-old Aerosmith frontman also thanks the band's crew, the helicopter that evacuated him "for getting me outta there before I bled to death" and the doctors and nurses who treated him.
Tyler said thunderstorms delayed the band's set by an hour, then fuses blew and the audio systems failed shortly after the concert began.
"Well, I wasn't gonna go hide under the big top and play 'ROCK STAR' and wait for everything to be fixed," Tyler says. "I wanted to go out to the crowd to continue the show."
He said he was doing "the Tyler shuffle" when he slipped and fell off the edge of the stage.
"I just want to say that I' m plain grateful that I didn't break my neck," he says. "In truth, after thousands of live shows, falling off the edge four times ain't too bad."
