Freaky Styley

I have been a huge Red Hots fan for ages. Of all places I first heard them back in 1990 on a TV1 sports show when some savvy producer used their cover of the Stevie Wonder song, Higher Ground, as a backing track to some skiing footage they were showing. I then read an interview with Flea and Anthony Kiedis in Guitar Player magazine and was hooked. I listened to Mothers Milk on high rotation for ages, brought their back catalogue and every album since, and have seen them play live four times now…and I had literally just finished reading Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, Scar Tissue, when the current tour schedule was announced, so I was totally primed for it.

I tell you all that as context for my high expectations of last nights concert in Auckland. Unfortunately it wasn’t their finest hour. I think Anthony Kiedis said a total of about 12 words to the audience and really didn’t seem to be as present as I remember of previous concerts. To be fair Flea was his usual energetic self, Chad Smith rock solid (with an awesome drum solo), and John Frusciante played really well also…But, next to Flea, the most energetic guy on stage was the backing guitarist who was clearly stoked to be there and showed it by being totally present.

Of course every band has their good and bad nights so in the band’s defense I should also add that my personal expectations were probably also a bit too heavily based on my love of their old material so the new set list didn’t really blow my hair back…indeed the highlite for me was the scorching rendition of “Catholic School Girls” (from the 1985 album Freaky Styley), followed by “Give it away” (from 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik). I’m bummed I missed out on hearing “Nobody Weird Like Me” and “Higher Ground” (from Mothers Milk) and “Sir Physco Sexy” (From Blood Sugar Sex Magik) which they apparently played on Saturday night.

The other high point for me was realizing that Chad Smith and Will Ferrell could be long lost brothers…Will Ferrell as a wild funk rock drummer, there’s a movie I’d pay to see! Glad to see I’m not the only person to notice the similarity.