Red Hot Chili Peppers: 05/19/03 - Continental Airlines Arena; East Rutherford, NJ

[davepeck]

jam
By The Way >
jam >
Scar Tissue
Flea Solo* >
Around The World
Great Expectations**
The Zephyr Song
jam >
Suck My Kiss
jam >
Paralell Universe >
jam
Otherside
Don\'t Forget Me
jam >
Throw Away Your Television >
jam
Havana Affair
Warm Tape
London Calling >
Right On Time
Mellowship jam/tease^
Soul To Squeeze
jam >
Can\'t Stop
jam >
Venice Queen
Give It Away

ENCORE:

Under The Bridge
Sir Psycho Sexy >
They\'re Red Hot

* with \'Flashlight\' (Parliament) teases.
** KISS cover; John on vocals; unfinished.
^ Flea & John lightly played about 8 bars of \'Mellowship Slinky In B Major\' before abandoning it.

Random comments from the night:

Flea: "After the show, I want all the guys in here to line up outside and I\'ll suck all your dicks!"

...Later on: "You know what I said before, I was only kidding. See, it\'s a joke. It\'s funny. Cause I say I\'m gonna suck all your dicks, and then you all cheer. Then I say, \'No, I\'m only kidding.. I can\'t blow all of you!\' See... I\'m funny."

Anthony: (wearing a Jason Kidd jersey) "Just so you all know, I\'m not kissing your ass by wearing this shirt or anything. I mean, I\'m not ashamed to be wearing it, but I\'m only wearing it because I lost a bet. Just to clear that up."

Anthony: "I wanna start a tradition in this next song..." (something about girls menstruating) ...I want all of you to remove your tampons and throw them up on stage during this next song... No clean ones though, only dirty tampons."

[davepeck]

Red Hot & Smooth:
Have the Red Hot Chili Peppers turned a cool blue?
From the New York Daily News

It certainly seemed that way at the band\'s Continental Airlines Arena show Monday night.

The Peppers\' old manic panic rhythms took a back seat to longer, more considered melodies. Spastic funk gave ground to grand rock. And graceful ballads sprang up everywhere you turned.

While the Peppers - who played Madison Square Garden last night - have long trafficked in stiff shouts and pummeling beats, here, careful singing and pretty tunes ruled.

The transition hardly came out of nowhere. The Chili Peppers have been working hard on their last two albums to write and perform formal songs that stand up to the pitched riffs that first made them the kings of funk rock. Proof of how well they\'ve succeeded turned up throughout the show.

A fierce jam opened things up. But the group soon went into power ballads like "Otherside" and "Scar Tissue," which showcased singer Anthony Kiedis\' increasingly fine pipes. Over the next hour and 40 minutes, songs from 1999\'s "Californication" and their most recent CD, "By the Way," dominated.

Even though the latter came out last July, the band is only now engaged in a full American tour. The Peppers spent much of the time in between performing around the rest of the world. The practice paid off at the Meadowlands.

John Frusciante, long one of rock\'s most innovative guitarists, has evolved into one of its more tuneful. In numbers like "The Zephyr Song" and "Throw Away Your Television" his solos had a new fluidity that proved stirring. He also spent more time than usual in vocal harmony with Kiedis.

The material here downplayed funk for balladry, yet the band gave its relatively soft songs more animation than on the albums. The backbeat increased, the verses were punched up and Flea brought as much muscularity to his bass playing as the material would allow.

Also, the Peppers threw in some consistently concussive older pieces, such as "Suck My Kiss" and "Give It Away." But in the rest they proved something worthwhile: That a little mellowing needn\'t take away your essential spice.