RHCP Review

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Mars Volta - 11/05/06 in the Twin Cities

Riding an escalator to a seat at the concert hall can be a disheartening experience. Frightened thoughts of, "Will we see the rock show? How high are we going here? Was this a good idea? Do they have skin-picking vultures at these great Minnesota heights?" And this wasn't one of those short, why-did-we-even-take-this-anyway escalators either. Somewhere along the way, we passed Bob Uecker.

We found our seats with a minimum of trouble once we finally reached the summit of the Xcel Energy Center. As it turned out, height was more illusion than stunning, and we had a good straight-ahead view of the stage.

The Mars Volta started shortly after 7:30 and played for a little under an hour. The set only saw about 5 songs but each one seemed to be a solid 10 minutes long. There was plenty of jam and plenty of loud. I enjoyed his set much more than the MV late-night show at Bonnaroo 2005. Also, I actually remember more than 5 minutes of Sunday's show. The best song played was 'Viscera Eyes' from the new cd. Some people were clearly not impressed by the high-pitched singing or the 'too loud!' music. One guy to my right even asked, "Who are these guys?" I found that odd considering their name was all over the building.

Less than hour after the opening act, a wait that included many yelps from lil juniors apparently attending their first rock&roll show and attempts to broadcast a big OleOleOle chant(Go Manchester United!!!), and it was time for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Flea/Frusciante/Smith jammed it up for a bit before Anthony Keidis came out for a really swell sounding triumvirate of Cant Stop, Dani California, and Scar Tissue. The light show for this tour is absolute incredible. The Peppers took the time to thank Minnesota for "the Lakers, Flea's wife, & Chad Smith." Mars Volta drummer Marcel joined in for the new song 'Charlie'. Fortune Faded (from the Greatest Hits), Readymade(new) and Blood sugar Sex Majik followed that before John Frusciante belted out 'Your girl thingy Is Glued To A Building On Fire' from his first solo record. Next up was 'Snow', my fave song from the new cds. This was about the halfway point of the show and the band maintained a very high level of energy throughout. Frusciante remains a brilliant guitarist with an endearing stage presence, Flea danced endlessly with his bass partner while wearing a bodysuit that resembled a broken orange condom, and Chad Smith was clearly born for his job. Anthony Keidis never was at the top of anybody 'best singers' lists so it comes as no surprise that he still appears to be embroiled in a feud with notes & harmonies. Nonetheless, he performs about as well as can be expected, dances like a goof on occasion, and lets the massive audience carry the tunes whenever he cant. 'Tell Me Baby' was one final example that people still care about this band and what they do with their talents these days. I'm not a big fan of stadium Arcadium myself, but is nice to see a big crowd really into a band's new material. Finally, the set would end with 'Californication' & 'By the Way', my fave song from my fave RHCP album. More jams, 'I Could Have Lied' and 'Give It Away' were the encores. The last date on this Peppers tour was a really fun show. Hopefully, there will be a second-leg to dance on.