I've got the sweatiest testicles in Brisbane right now."
The way they come together before each song grounds the whole set in camaraderie, while the riff-offs between Flea and John Frusciante build on a playful energy that culminates in shirts coming off. When the Red Hot Chili Peppers take the stage, the crowd is riled up and ready for a set full of riffs and brain-melting bass work courtesy of Flea – and the band delivers from the get-go. “There’s nothing you can’t do in this life”, he says, and after a performance like that, Brisbane is inclined to believe him.
Red Hot Chili Peppers kicked off the first of their Australian shows on the current 2022-2023 Global Tour with a completely different setlist to the first ...
You never know what songs you’ll get at a Chili Peppers gig but the formula has been consistent. Of the catalogue, 1991’s ‘Blood Sugar Sex Majik’ had two tracks, 1999’s ‘Californication’ had five. In 2022, Red Hot Chili Peppers released an abundance of new music, two double albums worth of songs with ‘Unlimited Love’ and ‘Return of the Dream Canteen’.
Red Hot Chili Peppers were joined by Post Malone on the first night of their 2023 Australian stadium tour. David James Young reviews.
‘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. It still has the same electricity running through it in the 2020s as it did at the turn of the century. 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. 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. For this Australasian run, the band has enlisted the most commercially successful opener in their history of touring the region: [Post Malone](https://musicfeeds.com.au/feeds/Post-Malone). [Red Hot Chili Peppers](https://musicfeeds.com.au/feeds/red-hot-chili-peppers/): whenever they announce a tour, the phrase “with special guests” is always a Forrest Gump box of chocolates.