Red Hot? Questionable. (Sophie)

Saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers last night, live in concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl for their 2nd Melbourne Show on their Stadium Arcadium Tour.

It was VERY disappointing. I expected so much more from what I believed to be a “world class” act. They didn’t deliver.

In comparison with other experienced lead singers such as The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl….Anthony Kiedis looked like a complete NOTHING compared with Dave’s incredible sense of humour, charisma and general ability to ENTERTAIN!

[I just re-read a blog I wrote on the Foo Fighter’s concert back in December 2005 as I was going to publish the exact words of something Dave said which had the crowd in hysterics….but I’ve now decided that its a bit too dirty for here!!!]

As for last night, laughter from the crowd was non-existent. There was absolutely zero crowd interaction. Not even a “hello Melbourne, how are you tonight?” The entire vibe was “pay us your money, we’ll play a few songs, then get the hell out”.

I can tell you everyone was in complete shock when it “ended”.
They just walked off stage, all the lights came on and basically signs were put up saying “NOW PISS OFF”.

I have never felt like such an under-valued fan in my life.
These guys get paid millions to play MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AS THEIR PASSION.
I don’t give a shit if supposedly they were having a bad night, or Anthony was recovering from being sick….this is still their JOB and they had an obligation to deliver.

And they didn’t.

Of course I will lay some blame on the venue. General Admission: Grass grass grass = not fun. Clearly the Myer Music Bowl was not suited to their kind of stage show. People struggled to see anything on the stage, the screens were poorly positions and the filming that ended up on the screens was not done well [they could have learned a lesson or two from the great job done at the Make Poverty History Concert back in November].

The amount of people smoking was a nightmare. And not just cigarettes. There were definitely a number of illegal substances being smoked and it did not make for an enjoyable experience. I felt like I was living inside a chimney. My best friend and I ended up with sore throats from it all, and I’m still not feeling well today from it.

The support act was the biggest loser in all of history. Though kudos for actually speaking to the crowd more than the main act! Still…he sucked plain and simple and thought he was top shit. He kept telling us how “f***in hot” he was, supposedly also abused the crowd [missed that part as tuned out after a while] and supposedly started stripping [missed that part too as couldn’t see stage – unfortunate as sounded like most exciting part of the night].

Last but not least, the Chili’s set list left out UNDER THE BRIDGE, and they did not even play Scar Tissue or Hump de Bump – new song which I like!

Anyways….you do get over these things, but I definitely feel like a punter who has been burned. Our tickets cost more than $100 each….if I ‘d know what it was going to be like, I would have stayed at home and studied – and kept my idealistic notion that the concert would have been amazing.

I can’t really fault their actual playing, Flea [bass], John Frusciante [guitar and backing] and Chad Smith [drums] were all incredibly talented musicians, and I was in awe at their performance and talent.

HOWEVER….ultimately I want to go to a concert to be ENTERTAINED, to forget reality and the stresses of life for a minute, to be overcome by the music and the larger than life figures in front of me – and that is what makes me prepared to pay big $$$.

But that just didn’t happen. Red Hot? I’d say they’re more of an exceedingly mild variety.

-Sophie