Review and Pictures: Sheri Hastings
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA. 3/10/17
On tour in support of their eleventh album, “The Getaway”, and first since 2011’s “I’m With You”, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played to a third and final sold out crowd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The band, which consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis on Vocals and Flea on Bass, along with longtime drummer Chad Smith and newest Pepper, Josh Klinghoffer on Guitar, pounded out 19 tunes which spanned their entire catalog; throwing in a couple of covers for good measure.
The band sounded great, however it didn’t seem that Anthony Kiedis, was connecting with the audience at all. I have seen them live a few times and for the first time noticed that he never really spoke to the crowd. Most of the time he just jumped around and danced around the stage in a circle. Flea & Chad took up the communication slack. Flea introduced the songs and dedicated them to people in his life, like the store owner of the market down the street from his house when he was a little kid, and his neighbor’s little sister. He also entertained us by doing headstands and even had his daughter come out at one point doing cartwheels & headstands as well across the stage.
The 90+ minute set ended with an encore that featured Josh Klinghoffer playing a beautiful keyboard solo, covering Randy Newman’s “Living Without You”, before the rest of the band joined him to finish of the evening with a couple more of their hits.
RHCP Set list:
Intro JAM, CAN’T STOP, DANI CALIFORNIA, THE ZEPHYR SONG, DARK NECESSITIES, HARD TO CONCENTRATE, ME & MY FRIENDS, GO ROBOT, CALIFORNICATION, WHAT IS SOUL (Funkadelic Cover), SICK LOVE, DON’T FORGET ME, THE ADVENTURES OF RAIN DANCE MAGGIE, SUCK MY KISS, UNDER THE BRIDGE, BY THE WAY. Encore: LIVING WITHOUT YOU (Randy Newman/Harry Nilsson Cover), GOODBYE ANGELS & GIVE IT AWAY.
Opening the show was RHCP’s original drummer, Jack Irons, who played a solo drum set, followed by Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue who played a rocking set to an enthusiastic crowd.
Related Links:
