LAST year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers cancelled their Glasgow show only hours before their feet were due on the stage.
Tonight, they looked to make up for the now infamous ghosting. And the fans who rapidly filled the 52,000 capacity Hampden Park seemed more than eager to give them a second chance.
There were easily three generations of concert goers present. Some family groups contained all the aforementioned – all equally excited.
King Princess started the night off. The Brooklyn singer-songwriter has a refreshing, sincere brand of pop that’s delivered very well. There’s a lot of rock under the pop, with a backing band that doesn’t shy from thrashing around the stage. However, it didn’t take long for the rain to begin to put a dampener on the set, which left the crowd a bit flat.
The second support slot came from The Roots. If the name rings a bell but you don’t know the tunes, that might be down to The Roots being Jimmy Fallon’s house band for the last umpteen years. But being a TV band does not do these guys justice. They made a wall of sound that I can only describe as the funkiest, sexiest, Rage Against The Machine ever.
I couldn’t tell you how many songs they played as they were seamlessly mixed into one another. Samples came from Kool and the Gang and Trick Trick amongst hundreds of others.
You’ve seen drum solos before, but they’re old news. The Roots pull out a drum sampler solo that’s so impressive, drummer Questlove puts his own sticks down and records his bandmate at work on his phone.
I don’t care how good the Chili Peppers are – this is a hard act to follow. Think the stage presence of Morris Day (or Bruno Mars if that’s too deep a cut) with the attitude and likeability of Bernie Mac – they ain’t scared of you.
The set is smooth, funky, and most important of all … authentic. You can hear the streets in these songs.
The main event
You know the Chilis are making their entrance when bassist Flea walks on his hands across the stage – in a kilt no less – to a sudden roar from the now party-hungry crowd. Stylish black Y-fronts on show to tens of thousands before a jam session with guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith ensues.
There’s no urgency here as the band improvise their way to the blistering intro of All Around The World over the course of five long minutes. Flea screaming into the mic is the cue for frontman Anthony Kiedis to bounce on the stage from the wings. Any rain has been forgotten by now.
Following the first track, Flea doesn’t waste his time in taking to the mic to personally apologise for last year. The affirmation from the crowd confirms they’ve been forgiven.
The backdrop tonight is a huge, single screen draped from the top of the stage and pouring down to the ground. A waterfall of psychedelic colours and overlays of live footage of the band. The camera crew struggled to keep up with Flea and Kiedis running around the stage while superimposed over a kaleidoscopic acid trip.
There are lights – but they’re dwarfed by the mammoth screen which is colouring the stadium by itself. Almost as bright as Flea’s Day-Glo pink hat, serving as a beacon letting us know what part of the stage he’s gyrated to.
Still writing and releasing music to this day, tonight’s headliners appear to have access to a bottomless pit of inspiration. Glasgow got a taste of every era. Seemingly improvised instrumentals between tracks from every decade they’ve been together remind us that even after over forty years of playing music, they still love it.
This isn’t a show that’s just passing through to pay lip service to fans by flying through the hits. This is a show where you get to watch four musicians play on stage, and it seems that what they play is entirely down to them. Maybe some fans aren’t happy with the lack of Under The Bridge or Snow (Hey Oh) ... but Frusciante’s cover of Danny’s Song and the finisher Give It Away were definite highlights.
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The die-hards were very vocal in their delight of the inclusion of Soul To Squeeze, Wet Sand, and I Like Dirt. These seldom played songs make tonight that little bit special. Even if they didn’t play everyone’s favourites, it was worth the wait to have these performances.
We’ll say the omissions are the perfect excuse to have them come back and make amends again.
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