SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL APRIL 8TH, 2007

WHEN THE CHILI’S STARTED OUT IN LA IN THE EARLY EIGHTIES, THE REPUTATION OF THEIR FRENETIC AND PASSIONATE LIVE SHOWS THAT COMBINED FUNK, ROCK AND RAP LIKE NO OTHERS BEFORE THEM, HAD PEOPLE LINING UP AROUND THE BLOCK. TWENTY ODD YEARS LATER NOTHING HAS CHANGED, WITH THE QUEUE TO SEE THE BAND STRETCHING AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL. HALF AN HOUR, A QUICK BAG SEARCH AND A TIPPING OUT OF MY WATER BOTTLE LATER, I WAS IN.

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE VENUE WAS EXCELLENT. RIGHT DOWN TO THE OBLIGATORY OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE VAN AND ‘BAR AREA’ FOR THOSE OF US WEARING THE ORANGE ‘I’M OVER EIGHTEEN NOW GIVE ME AN OVERPRICED, SLIGHTLY WARM EUROPEAN BEER’ WRIST BAND. NOTHING SAYS ‘I’M AT A ROCK CONCERT’ LIKE A FLUORO WRIST BAND. YOU LINED UP; THEY LET YOU IN AND DIRECTED YOU TO THE BAR. PRICEY BEVERAGE IN HAND, YOU SAT DOWN ON THE DAMP GRASS TO CONSUME THIS WHILE THE SWEET SMELL OF SOMEONE ELSE’S LESS DAMP GRASS WAFTED OVER.

A SURPRISINGLY QUICK TRIP TO THE TOILET LATER, WE WERE READY TO FIND A POSSIE AND WAIT FOR THE BOYS TO ARRIVE ON STAGE. AND WAIT WE DID. THE SUPPORT ACT OF HAR MAR SUPERSTAR GARNERED MORE BOOS THAN JOHN HOWARD AT A LABOUR FUNCTION, WITH THE BEST RECEPTION GOING TO HIS DRUMMER, THE STROKES‘, FAB MORETTI. PERSONALLY, I LIKED HAR MAR. SURE HE’S FAT AND UNATTRACTIVE AND SPENDS THE SHOW SLOWLY GETTING HIS KIT OFF, BUT HE’S GOT CHUTZPAH AND IS ACTUALLY A GOOD PERFORMER.

FINALLY AFTER ALL THE WAITING THE LIGHTS WENT OFF, WHICH IS ROCK SPEAK FOR HERE WE COME. HANDS WENT UP IN THE AIR, WOO HOOS CAME OUT OUR MOUTHS AND IT WAS ON FOR YOUNG AND OLD.

FLEA, JOHN AND CHAD CAME OUT AND WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE FIRST JAM OF THE NIGHT WHICH FLOWED INTO THE FIRST NUMBER, ‘CAN’T STOP’ WHEN ANTHONY KIEDIS JOINED THEM ON STAGE. THE ALWAYS CROWD PLEASING SCAR TISSUE CAME NEXT, FOLLOWED BY DANI CALIFORNIA, THE FIRST SINGLE TO BE RELEASED FROM THE CURRENT STADIUM ARCADIUM ALBUM.

THE MAJORITY OF THE SET CAME FROM STADIUM ARCADIUM, INCLUDING CHARLIE, GET ON TOP AND RIGHT ON TIME. TITLE TRACKS FROM CALIFORNICATION AND BY THE WAY PROVOKING APPRECIATIVE ROARS FROM THE CROWD, WHILE WE WERE LESS PLEASED ABOUT HUMP DE BUMP.

INTERSPERSED BETWEEN SONG CLUSTERS CAME MINIATURE FUNK ROCK JAM SESSIONS BETWEEN FLEA, JOHN AND CHAD. THE TENDENCY OF ANY BAND TO JAM DURING A CONCERT WILL ALWAYS YIELD MIXED REACTIONS FROM THE FANS. SOME SEE IT AS AN OVERINDULGENCE AND THINK THE BAND SHOULD PLAY THE SONGS THEY HAVE COME TO HEAR WHILE SOME, AND I AM IN THIS CROWD, CONSIDER IT AN INTEGRAL PART OF A RED HOT CHILI PEPPER SHOW. THE BAND COMPRISES ARGUABLY THE WORLD’S BEST BASSIST AND GUITARIST AND THE FLUID ORGANIC JAMMING IS HOW THEY CREATE THEIR ALBUMS AND IS THE CORE OF THEIR BAND. JOHN FRUSCIANTE’S SOLO TURN SINGING THE FLEETWOOD MAC CLASSIC SONGBIRD WAS DELIVERED IN HIS SIGNATURE FALSETTO, WITH A SINGLE SPOTLIGHT LIGHTING UP THE MOMENT.

THE LIGHTING AND SET EFFECTS WERE BRILLIANT, WITH GIANT SCREENS ON THE STAGE VARIOUSLY SHOWING THE BAND CLOSE UP (VERY HANDY IN A VENUE THE SIZE OF THE MUSIC BOWL) AND THE PSYCHEDELIC IMAGES THE BAND HAS FAVOURED OVER THE YEARS.

DESPITE THE LINGERING BOUT OF BRONCHIAL PNEUMONIA, ANTHONY’S VOICE WAS STRONG AND CLEAR, BRILLIANT FROM THE OPENING NUMBER RIGHT THROUGH TO THE ALMOST ACAPELLA CLOSING OF BY THE WAY TO THE FUNKY RHYTHMS OF THE ENCORE’S GIVE IT AWAY ROLLING OFF HIS TONGUE IN A BRILLIANT WHITE BOY RAP.

TRUE TO STYLE, THERE WAS LITTLE INTERACTION WITH THE AUDIENCE; ECONOMICAL WITH WORDS AT THE BEST OF TIME, ANTHONY LIMITED HIS CONVERSATION TO TWO SENTENCES AND A THANK YOU FOR COMING. EVEN FLEA, USUALLY THE MOUTHPIECE FOR THE BAND, ONLY OFFERED UP A HAPPY EASTER AND A TONGUE IN CHEEK MISSIVE TO BE ‘GOOD AND KIND’. ANTHONY’S ILLNESS MAY HAVE ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE RELATIVE SHORTNESS OF THE SET, BUT SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR CARRYING ON WITH THE CONCERT. JOHN TOOK THE LAST MINUTE OF THE CONCERT TO PERFORM A SYNTHESISED TRIBUTE TO ‘SYNAESTHESIA’ A MELBOURNE RECORD SHOP WHICH IS CLOSING DOWN AND THAT ‘WE WILL MISS’, ACCORDING TO JOHN. FROM THE SOUND OF THE TRIBUTE, SO WILL THE ALIENS HE WAS TRYING TO CONTACT.

SORELY LACKING WAS THE CHILI’S CLASSIC NINETIES ANTHEM UNDER THE BRIDGE, ALONG WITH OTHER ENDURING STAPLES SUCH AS OTHERSIDE AND I COULD HAVE LIED. THE LACK OF THE LATTER TWO WAS IN NO WAY SWEETENED BY THE FACT THAT BOTH WERE IN THE SET LIST IN THE BAND’S SECOND MELBOURNE CONCERT!

WITH THEIR INSTANT CLASSIC BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIK PROVIDING THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY WONDERFULLY MISSPENT YOUTH, I HAVE A HUGE RESPECT FOR THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS AND IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN AN ILL SINGER, SLIGHTLY OFF KILTER CONCERT AND MISSING MASTERPIECES TO CHANGE MY VIEW NOW. EVEN AT A TAD UNDER THE STANDARD WHIRLWIND, THE CHILI’S DELIVERED A CONCERT THAT WILL LINGER IN MY MIND AND EARS FOR LONGER THAN THE TYPICAL ROCK CONCERT. DEVOTION ENDURES ALL THE HUMP DE BUMPS IN THE ROAD…

SET LIST

by Bethany Gazzara