Scores of rock fans were treated to an amazing night of
rock and roll in the Motor City last week as the legendary Red Hot Chili Peppers brought their first-ever stadium headlining tour to Comerica Park along
with post-grunge new wavers, The Strokes, and the rising bass phenom, Thundercat,
who delivered a blistering opening set with his rock fusion trio. The tour for
RHCP’s latest LP, Unlimited Love, also marked the triumphant return of the
great John Frusciante on guitar and his first new music with the band since
2006. The not-quite sell-out crowd was treated essentially to a well-curated,
mini festival with a fun tone that ran through all three acts and culminated in
Chili Peppers drummer (and Michigan native), Chad Smith, bringing his
95-year-old mother on stage to a warm reception from the audience and the
reminder that, along with Anthony Kiedis’ roots in Grand Rapids and Flea’s reminiscence
of recording the band’s second LP in Detroit with George Clinton, this
classically California band has a lot of roots and connections to Michigan.
The unseasonably cool but dry summer evening began with a
tight set from Thundercat, including his incredible single, “Dragonball Durag,”
and the bassist genuinely seemed to be having a lot of fun jamming for those
who arrived early, some of whom were just hearing his music for the first time.
Both Chad Smith and Flea have recently praised Thundercat in interview
questions about the best new acts out there today. Second on the bill were the familiar
sounds of The Strokes, who performed a sampling of their many excellent songs
from the last 21 years, including hits like “Reptilia,” "Hard to Explain," “Last Nite,” and “Juicebox”
to set the mood leading up to the headliners. While the seats weren’t as packed
and the crowd not quite as engaged as The Rolling Stones’ performance at
Comerica in 2015, most who were not necessarily fans of the first two acts were
at least respectful and showed appreciation with applause (though Strokes
singer, Julian Casablancas took one brief opportunity to feign bored
distraction after a particularly disengaged response to a song about half-way
through their set). Overall, the openers sounded good and were well-mixed
though the echo within Comerica Park buried some of the nuance within certain
songs, especially regarding vocals and guitar leads.
As the house lights went down (around the same time as
the sun itself), the familiar sounds of the ‘70s instrumental classic, “Scorpio,”
by Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band announced Red Hot Chili Peppers
were finally about to take the stage. Beginning with their traditional intro
jam, Frusicante took his first of several extended solos and was a powerful
presence on both guitar and vocals throughout the entire show, much as he was
during his first two tenures in the band (’88-’92 and ’98-’09). RHCP, soon
celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band, are longtime veterans
of playing for big crowds in big venues, but it’s notable that only now did
they feel ready to take on the task of a tour exclusively of stadiums to both
promote their excellent latest LP from March as well as building up to the
release of Return of the Dream Canteen, another 75-minute LP of songs from the same sessions due out
in October. This time around, with Frusciante back in the fold, the band is
concentrating almost entirely on songs he helped write and record in his
previous stints in the group, including tracks from the current album, of course.
After the opening jam, Flea jumped into “Around the World”
(rather than the more common opener, “Can’t Stop,”) and momentum built and
carried through with little interruption until the very last notes of the
night. Radio hits like “Dani California,” “Snow,” and “Tell Me Baby” mixed with
deep cuts like “Universally Speaking” and “Don’t Forget Me,” from 2002’s By the Way, and fan-favorites like “Hard to Concentrate” and “I Like Dirt” with the
two main singles and a few other tracks from Unlimited Love, such as “Aquatic
Mouth Dance” and most-notably, “The Heavy Wing,” which featured Frusciante on
the chorus lead vocals. The band performed against a giant LED screen which
flashed colorful abstractions throughout, ranging from digital to traditional
psychedelia, and wrapped around the top and bottom of the stage. All four
players exhibited consistent stamina in spite of their continually improving
ages, and both Kiedis and Flea continued to engage the audience
during and between songs in their long-honed creative and entertaining styles, including Flea's hand stand walk across part of the stage at the start of the encore and his well-received shout out to Detroit Tigers legend, Sparky Anderson.
The only real slow-down occurred when the guitar audio
dropped out just as the Frusciante and Flea were about to transition from a jam
into the beginning of “Californication” near the end of the main set, so the
band laughed it off and re-started the song after a slightly stuttered misfire.
Notably, only two songs were included from the band’s most successful and best
LP, 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and with the exception of the mega-deep cut, “Nobody
Weird Like Me,” from 1989’s Mother’s Milk, all of the other songs were from the
last 23 years, leaving out the majority of the music that made the band famous
(and infamous) 30 or more years ago. Smith, Flea, Kiedis, and Frusciante all performed spectacularly
and reminded the crowd why they deserve to be considered among the very best to
be doing it, or to have ever done it, worthy inductees to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and nearly unparalleled in their successful and ongoing history
in spite of their humble beginnings. At this stage, it’s more appropriate to
compare them to Metallica, U2, or even The Rolling Stones in some respects than
most of their peers or others who came after them. While age shows on both the faces in the band as well as the faces in the crowd, Red Hot Chili Peppers still have
the power to command a stage and engage an audience with groove and soul, their
own unique brand of which they perfected in the early days of gunge. After a
rousing sing along of “Under the Bridge,” still the band’s most successful hit
single, and an energetic rendition of “By the Way,” the individual members
expressed their thanks and gratitude to the crowd and departed the stage one-at-a-time
as the stadium emptied into the storied city streets of Detroit.
Thundercat Set List:
Lost in Space/Great Scott/22-26
Innerstellar Love
How Sway
Overseas
Dragonball Durag
Funny Thing
----------------------------
The Strokes Set List:
Ize of the World
Evening Sun
Hard to Explain
Automatic Stop
Juicebox
Take It or Leave It
--------------------------------
Red Hot Chili Peppers Set List:
Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band-“Scorpio”
(intro tape)
--------------------------------
(Jam)
(drum solo)
Universally Speaking
(jam)
Aquatic Mouth Dance
(“I Feel Love” jam) (Donna Summer)
I Like Dirt
These Are the Ways
Hard to Concentrate
Nobody Weird Like Me
The Heavy Wing
Black Summer
(jam)
(jam)
----------------------------
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