The Chilli's Blaze Funkified Fortitude at BC Place Stadium

By Keir Nicoll

The Red Hot Chili Peppers concert was opened by King Princess, who I asked a girl in the crowd about the name of. I feel like I had read about her and she moved me with her aberrant shrieks and howls and also her beautiful swooning soliloquies of sounds. She had an easy-grooving feel, as well as a more progressive momentum as well. She toyed well with the audience's emotions. 

Dallas Green in City and Colour got up next and reminded us all that "We're a Canadian Band." They played some broadly-appealing Canadian Folk-tinged Indie, or even country music over the next hour. The band, aside from Green, who hails from St. Catherines Ontario, are all from B.C. They played the song "Lover Come Back To Me," which has been on the radio a lot. There is a current mainstream expression of Canadiana coming from them. I didn't know if it was a great opener choice, as I heard that the Mars Volta and Iggy Pop opened on other legs of the tour and they may have provided a more dynamic introduction. Anyways, they were still good. 

Headliners the Chili's were right on point throughout their set. They opened with an intense jam with Chad Smith's hammering-big drums, Flea's super-funky-driving basslines and John Frusciante's literal shredding of the guitar. They had an explosively building opening jam for five-plus minutes before Anthony Keidis took to the stage. He was perfectly punctuated with his rap/sung delivery, which always paints the views of his possibly jaded consciousness, possibly idealistic. They played "Tippa My Tongue," which rocked hard and was very bouncy. There was "Black Summer," which was nice to hear Keidis singing "it's been a long while since I made a new friend," as I was meeting some of the friendly people at the BC Place stadium. There was "Here Ever After," which had the kind of fast drive that they make their name by. They played "Eddie," off of Return Of The Dream Canteen, the one that goes, "Please don't remember me, for what I did last night...etc." It's so melodramatic - I love it. They also for sure played "Californication," which is their homage to their crowd's pleasure of information about what it is to live, especially on the West Coast of North America, in the 21st Century. They also played a few more off of Unlimited Love. Flea and Fruscianti faced-off and played intricately with each other at several moments, throughout the show. Frusciante was both wild and constrained. Flea was super-funkified and technical and soft at different times and Smith is a big basher boy! They rounded out the set with two off of Blood Sugar Sex Magic - "I Could Have Lied," which I love and it always pains my heart to hear, in this bittersweet way, and "Give It Away," which really drove-home the funkiness of the whole time! Much funk was had by all an it was a perfectly pointed performance by Keidis especially, whose lyrical complexity still makes me wonder about what sage wisdom he is saying, every time I hear it and then there are the choruses, wherein he chimes in with the most memorable lyrics and sings intricate songs. Flea's hair was pink and short and he had his "Support Your Loca Freak" sticker on his brown bass. Keidis wore a red fishnet shirt and a black pair of shorts with a red lightning bolt on the front. Of course, his shirt came off for the encore. I think all of the frontmen may have had their shirts off at some point. Frusciante looked very beatific with his long hair and grungey style. Smith wore his patent vest and was a monster. A great and impressive showing from the Chilis, whose oevure continues to grow and expand, as they continue to change and experiment.