Red Hot Chili Peppers
Brisbane Entertainment Centre
26.02.2019
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are touring Australia for the first time in over a decade. With most of the band in their mid-50’s, they’ve lost none of their zeal.
As the house lights drop, Flea (bass), Chad Smith (Drums) and relative newcomer Josh Klinghoffer on guitar, emerge on stage and fall into a heavy jam.
Standing in the shadows on the stairs at side of stage is frontman Anthony Kiedis. When it’s his moment Kiedis bursts into the spotlight in a blur of energy.
Arms flaying Kiedis grabs the mic stand and the band tear into ‘Around The World’. ‘Otherside’ follows and then it’s ‘Dani Californication’.
Age hasn’t wearied them. Flea pops like a madman on bass, Smith lays down a groove that lasts the best part of two hours while Kiedis is now shirtless leading us through ‘Dark Necessities’ and ‘Strip My Mind’.
Klinghoffer once earned his stripes as a ‘touring’ guitarist with the band, now he’s firmly in John Frusciante’s spot on stage right and playing searing guitar.
The venue is packed to the rafters. The energy in the room is electric. Twenty years ago fans at the same venue pulled out the floor chairs. Tonight, it’s standing room only.
With a brutal take on The Stooges’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, the band are defying father time. Flea jumps for most of the night, while the rest of the band match him for intensity.
Kiedis wanders on and off stage as Flea takes occasional MC duties or leads the band in another jam. The one preceding ‘Californication’ would have been a perfect fit for a lost Blaxploitation soundtrack.
Post ‘Californication’ there’s a cover of Funkadelic’s ‘What Is Soul?’. ’Go Robot’ follows and there’s Flea’s ‘Pea’. The latter sees one lone guy in the stands holding his cigarette lighter aloft. Pre cell-phones, it’s å classic 1990’s stadium rock move… the irony is lost on no-one.
The band have been rotating songs on a regular basis throughout the tour. Tonight, it’s a mix of crowd favourites, a few things from the relative margins and the odd surprise like ‘Soul To Squeeze’.
In the final furlong Flea confides that after the show he’ll be settling down ‘with a chamomile tea to watch the True Detective final’. Until then, it’s maximum intensity.
The main set closes with ‘By The Way’. Josh and Chad kick off the encore with a ragged cover of Elvis Costello’s ‘Watching The Detectives’.
Flea walks across the stage on his hands – this guy has abs of steel.
After ‘Death Of A Samurai’, the great George Clinton joins them for ‘Give It Away’. It’s a magic moment.
Overall, the gig is a killer, but, after such a long hiatus, a little more generosity with the ‘hits’ component wouldn’t have gone astray.
Sean Sennett
The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Australian tour dates Brisbane Ent Centre Feb 25 & 26; Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Feb 28, Mt Duneed, Geelong March 2; Superloop Adelaide 500 March 3; NIB Stadium, Perth March 5.
