Concert: Red Hot Chili Peppers

After 30 years of being a band, touring the world countless times, a handful of member changes and ten albums you would think Red Hot Chili Peppers would see signs of slowing down in their age.



But after last night, RHCP proved that they still got it as much as they ever had had in the prime time of their youth.

Last night I had the opportunity to see Red Hot Chili Peppers once again in concert. Last time I had saw them was the first time they came around in 2006 during their Stadium Arcadium tour. I was seated to the right of the stage on the second level. It was pretty high up but I still could see everything just fine. But I still envy those people who were on the floor dead center.

This time around was the "I’m With You" tour that was written with their new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer who was the backing guitarist for RHCP for some time.

I admit I was a little hesitant to go since I’m a bit of a stickler for original bandmates and stuff. Prior to Klinghoffer was John Frusciante, the one responsible for a lot of RHCP’s sound. I was thinking that it just wasn’t gonna be the same without Frusciante. Nope, I was wrong. Klinghoffer gives the same amount of depth and emotion that Frusciante does when playing the guitar, which is critical to the sound of Red Hot Chili Peppers. On top of that, there's also Anthony Kiedis' pitch perfect spot on singing or Flea's god like prowess on the bass or Chad Smith's masterlike skills on the skins. Without any of that, RHCP would just be another band with a standard 4/4 power cord riff.

The set list blew me out of the water. I was under the assumption that it was gonna be all new songs from their I’m With You album, but instead they had an even ratio that ranged from old school (Give It Away, Suck My Kiss), to the Californication/By The Way (Californication, Can’t Stop, By The Way, etc.) days, to their new stuff, which I won’t lie, I didn’t listen to that album too much.

Red Hot Chili Peppers definitely don’t show any sign of slowing down. The band members excluding Klinghoffer, who is only 33, are of the age of 50 or over. You’d think at that age you’d see signs of wear and tear but absolutely not, they gave it 110%, which just goes to show that RHCP will one day definitely be one of the greats, if they’re not already.