Edna Gundersen

USA TODAY

"The world is living on the edge," says Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. "Every now and then, people need a big fat bonfire to dance around, and that would be us."

That match gets struck Thursday, when Aerosmith's 20-city Let Rock Rule tour kicks off in Wantagh, N.Y. The band ended its two-year Global Warming Tour June 28 in London, yet they seem more fired up than worn down.

"We still love to rock," says Tyler, 66. "It's nothing but a good time when the band hits the stage."

Expect a show top-heavy with hits: Dream On, Walk This Way, Dude (Looks Like a Lady), Livin' On the Edge, Love in an Elevator, Janie's Got a Gun, Amazing, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.

"There are two hours, and we fill them up with what people want," Tyler says, adding that they hope to insert Oh Yeah, Freedom Fighter and possibly Out Go the Lights from 2012's Music From Another Dimension! Not that he minds serving up the favorites.

"It's the greatest feeling," Tyler says. "There are songs we fought hard to get on a record, that took a year to write, and they stuck in the craw of people all over this planet. That's overwhelming."

Guitarist Joe Perry, 63, says Aerosmith's fatter catalog and multigenerational audience have made crafting set lists tougher.

"Everyone in the band has a different view," he says. "If you put in new songs, what old songs do you take out? That's the battleground. We're not talking about screaming matches. It's more philosophical."

The players monitor fan feedback on social media for requests. On this run, they'll also factor in likely encounters with opener Slash, who has jammed on stage with Aerosmith several times, including at a Los Angeles club when Let Rock Rule was announced in April.

"There's going to be interplay at some point," Perry promises. "Slash and I have talked about it. He's a great guitar player, and he's in one of the best new bands that we've ever played with."

For Slash, joining the bill was a no-brainer.

"It's a great matchup, and Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands from way back when," says the guitarist, 48. "They put out Rocks (1976) when I picked up the guitar, and it had a profound influence on my playing and spoke to who I was as a teenager. They were exactly what I was looking for, a raucous combination of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones that had rhythm and soul in a loud delivery."

Nearly 40 years later, Aerosmith still aims to thrill.

"A lot of what Aerosmith offers is that rock 'n' roll sense of excitement that the train might go off the rails any minute," Perry says. "The challenge is to put enough energy behind every song to make it fresh so everything locks and we can say, 'Tonight we were the best band in the world.' "