RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS LIVE @ METLIFE STADIUM
In my experience, Red Hot Chili Peppers fans tend to fall into one of two categories: Pre-Californication and Post-Californication.
My husband, who likes mellower jams, fits the mold of the second category (with the exception of a few radio hits), whereas I’m a pretty diehard Blood Sugar Sex Magik gal. That 1991 album — the band’s second one with guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith — is a musical masterpiece that blends vulgar, sexual lyrics with funky bass slapping and shimmery, memorable guitar riffs.
And the songs are catchy as hell. Decades later, five of my all-time favorite Chili Peppers tunes are from this record, including the title track, “Give it Away,” “Suck my Kiss,” “Breaking the Girl” and the lewd “Sir Psycho Sexy.”
But for nearly two hours on August 17, as I stood within MetLife Stadium (in East Rutherford, N.J.), I found myself gravitating toward the center of the pre/post Californication Venn diagram, as the Chili Peppers played a show that showcased their the most memorable post-1999 tunes.
On the heels of two mighty sets by newcomer Thundercat (which I was sorry to miss) and NYC aughts darlings The Strokes — whom I only heard of because drummer Fabrizio Moretti dated Drew Barrymore — The Chili Peppers took the stage at the tail end of a gorgeous sunset, awash in a backdrop of psychedelic neon lights and a crowd that went berserk as Frusciante, Flea, and Smith picked up their respective instruments.
After a few moments of jamming, lead singer Anthony Kiedis made his entrance clad in a neon-green-netted shirt, prompting the band to launch into “Can’t Stop” from 2002’s By the Way as the crowd that went wild for the high-energy hit. RHCP kept the mood upbeat with another favorite, the effects-heavy hit “Dani California” from 2006’s Stadium Arcadium, by which point every single person in my section was dancing along.
Throughout the show a few things truly enhanced my experience (not including the ripped, bare-chested Flea’s magnetic presence).
One was the intimacy between Frusciante and Flea as they stood about a foot across from one another when played in unison to songs like “Californication” and “Black Summer” (from 2022’s Unlimited Love). I felt like I was witnessing a sacred and special connection, a kinetic vibration between two strings musicians who gain constant sustenance from each others’ presence. They’ve been like this for years, apparently, and in those moments I understood why the Red Hot Chili Peppers are not only one of the greatest current bands, but one of the greatest bands that have ever existed.
Another thing that enhanced my experience more than my possible contact high was the lighting. I’ve never paid much attention to visual elements at concerts, but I couldn’t not pay attention to the brilliance of the synchronization of the Chili Peppers’ music with Rorschach-test-like red, orange, yellow, purple, and green blobs swirling and pulsing to the beat during uptempo tunes, and fizzling into simple shapes during the quieter songs like “Soul to Squeeze.”
Yet the absolute highlight of my night came at the end of the set, when the band launched into “Give it Away,” and I found myself screaming along the words I knew so well…
What I got, you gotta get it put it in you
Reeling with the feeling, don’t stop, continue…
The encore that followed — “Under the Bridge” and “By the Way” — was truly icing on a delicious red cake. Both songs were sung, strummed, and drummed beautifully.
Admittedly, I hadn’t seen RHCP in at least 15 years before this show, so it was hard not to yearn for ballsy, spacious funk jams like “Suck my Kiss” (which they apparently played in San Diego on July 27), and I kind of missed Kiedis’ long, brown hair, parted in the middle, which would sway as he’d sing, bare-chested, in smaller clubs.
But times have changed. The men of RHCP are fathers pushing 60, playing to crowds of all ages who pay a small fortune to hear their big hits like “Parallel Universe” and “Scar Tissue” Honestly, I loved hearing these two songs, too — I’m just greedy. I wanted “Higher Ground” and all the BSSM tunes ON TOP OF the entire Rutherford, N.J., set they delivered. That’s why the RHCP are true alt-rock GOATs — while it was late when the Chili Peppers men took their final bow, and a crowded parking lot awaited us, every single person who attended the show left it wanting more.
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor of Rockmommy
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