Red Hot Chili Peppers Review: Californian Kings Bring the House Down

Red Hot Chili Peppers and Post Malone performed at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, 29th January. David James Young reviews.

You’ve got to hand it to the Red Hot Chili Peppers: whenever they announce a tour, the phrase “with special guests” is always a Forrest Gump box of chocolates. From OFF! to Parliament Funkadelic, St. Vincent, The Strokes, A$AP Rocky and King Princess, you never know what you’re going to get. For this Australasian run, the band has enlisted the most commercially successful opener in their history of touring the region: Post Malone.

Post Malone – ‘Stay’

Despite having previously shown off his love of ‘90s rock by playing an entire Nirvana covers set and jamming with Slash on an Alice In Chains song, Malone’s brand of cloudy urban pop doesn’t exactly tessellate with the funk-oriented groove rock of the Chilis. But that doesn’t stop 50,000 Chili Peppers fans from singing, dancing and cheering for an hour’s worth of Posty hits.

With little more than a microphone and a dazzling light display, Malone – decked out in an AC/DC shirt for the occasion – grins from ear to ear as he bounds across the stage. With his knack for melodies and choruses befitting of the stadium setting, tracks like ‘Circles’ and ‘Sunflower’ elicit huge-singalongs and a sea of swaying fans atop shoulders. Even in musically darker moments like ‘I Fall Apart’ and the Ozzy Osbourne-collab ‘Take What You Want’, the conviction in Malone’s performance remains tangible.

Malone grabs caps, wigs and sunglasses from front-row devotees before literally grabbing a fan to join him onstage. Said fan, Victor, has apparently brought along a sign asking if he can play guitar for Malone’s acoustic ballad ‘Stay’ – a wish Malone happily grants, and Victor knocks it out of the park.

Red Hot Chili Peppers — *John Frusciante in Brisbane (by David Mushegain)*

The lights go down and the Chilis emerge to kick off their Australian tour with an opening jam session that feels both familiar and fresh. The former is care of Flea and Chad Smith, the steadfast rhythm section that have made the band’s body of work snap, crackle and pop for the majority of their 40-year run. The latter is thanks to the returning John Frusciante, who’s joining the band in Australia for the first time in 16 years. Now in his third tenure with the band, the prolific shredder is given a hero’s welcome, making the band feel complete again after a decade with Josh Klinghoffer.

The set’s first song proper is ‘Around the World’, the lead track from 1999’s Californication. Its shape-shifting passages encompass so much of what is beloved about the band: an active bassline, a sharp guitar groove, a steady backbeat and Anthony Kiedis spouting assorted nonsense at dizzying speed. It still has the same electricity running through it in the 2020s as it did at the turn of the century.

Red Hot Chili Peppers don’t mechanically recite the same selection of songs every single night, and even some of the band’s biggest hits are not exempt from being swapped out. Tonight, we’re treated to a rendition of Blood Sugar Sex Magik ballad ‘I Could Have Lied’. Its quiet, understated nature belies the band’s general bounciness, making it a highlight of the evening.

The band’s setlists do tend to favour newer material. Last year saw the release of two new studio albums, released within six months of each another. There’s fun to be had with cuts like ‘Tippa My Tongue’ and ‘Black Summer’, but you can rest assured that no-one is going to a Chili Peppers show with their fingers crossed for a performance of ‘Aquatic Mouth Dance’. If three’s a crowd, then seven new songs is a stampede.

These niggling issues subside when the classics are revisited, and fans young and old are reminded of what brought them here in the first place. ‘Scar Tissue’ and ‘Otherside’ elicit some of the loudest responses of the night, while Flea and Frusciante’s evergreen synchronicity on ‘Californication’ is extended to the nth degree via a lengthy, spellbinding intro. The home stretch seals the deal: ‘By The Way’ has bodies bouncing, ‘Soul to Squeeze’ remains a tender crowd-pleaser and a bounding ‘Give It Away’ finally lifts most of those in the Suncorp Stadium stands to their feet.