A review of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Toronto
[Alex Lupol was dispatched to cover the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage. Feature image by Pavel Suslov. Photos by Clara Balzary- AC]
Red Hot Chili Peppers returned to Toronto for the first of two shows on July 15, bringing the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ “Unlimited Love” tour to Budweiser Stage.
The tour marks a particularly productive period for the prolific rock group, releasing two full length albums–”Unlimited Love” and “Return of the Dream Canteen”–in 2022, their first albums with longtime guitarist John Frusciante since his return to the group in 2019.
Spanning three years, 107 performances, 96 cities and 26 countries, the tour has boasted a wide array of strong opening acts, ranging from rock powerhouses in The Strokes, Iggy Pop, and The Mars Volta, to genre-defying acts like Anderson .Paak & Free Nationals, DOMi & JD Beck, and Post Malone.
The first night of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Toronto residency featured a Los Angeles double-bill, with the psych rock band Wand serving as the opening act.
Wand’s upcoming album “Vertigo” will be released on July 26. A press release described the recording process as: “Wand cut pieces from over 50 hours of live improvisations and writing from within their performances to reshape each track. Along the way, each member took on a new position in addition to the old one during the process — an intuitive, strangely ego-less approach that spun them into uncharted territory.”
Flanked by two towers of floor to ceiling light fixtures, the band showcased their dynamic approach to songwriting. Songs like 2017’s “Bee Karma” featured the fiery interplay of guitarists Cory Hanson and Robert Cody’s cascading guitar lines, while 2015’s “Melted Rope” illustrated the band’s love for improvisation and sprawling jams, with its subdued pace and spacey atmosphere.
After a quick changeover following Wand’s set, “Amériques”–a thunderous classical piece by the French composer Edgard Varèse–played as drummer Chad Smith, bassist Flea, and guitarist John Frusciante took to the stage. Cheers erupted as fans leapt to their feet, where they stayed for the entirety of the band’s career spanning performance.
Following some extended jamming between the three band members, Frusciante’s instantly recognizable chord progression to “Can’t Stop” signaled the arrival of the walking boot sporting Anthony Kiedis.
The iconic lineup behind such classic albums as 1999’s Californication bounded around the stage while delivering tight performances of tracks “Scar Tissue” and “Snow ((Hey Oh))” in front of a backdrop of psychedelic inspired visuals and blasts of light.
Credit: Pavel Suslov
During one of the band’s infrequent breaks between songs, Kiedis stopped to introduce the group; introducing them using the name of a Canadian musician rather than their own name (Flea as Gordon Lightfoot, Frusciante as Burton Cummings, etc.) Another short break provided Frusciante with the opportunity to perform a short solo cover of the classic David Bowie track “Soul Love” from the classic 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
A rousing rendition of “By the Way” ended the band’s set, but with an encore seemingly imminent the big screen at Budweiser Stage showed live videos of fans young and old. One such fan made the poor decision of wearing a Los Angeles Lakers jersey, receiving an outcry of boos from the Raptors faithful.
Credit: Pavel Suslov
With fans staying put in hopes of more music, the Red Hot Chili Peppers returned to the stage for a two song encore. The band started off with “I Could Have Lied,” from 1991’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik, before Flea climbed onto his perch at the top of his bass amplifiers to close out the evening with “Give It Away.”
Setlist:
- Can’t Stop
- Scar Tissue
- Here Ever After
- Snow ((Hey Oh)) (extended outro jam)
- Parallel Universe
- Eddie
- I Like Dirt
- Soul to Squeeze (with intro jam teasing “Venice Queen”)
- Me & My Friends
- Havana Affair (Ramones cover)
- Soul Love (David Bowie cover) (John solo)
- Tell Me Baby
- The Heavy Wing
- Californication (extended intro jam from Flea and John)
- Black Summer
- By the Way
Encore: - I Could Have Lied
- Give It Away
G When my daughter asked how I enjoyed the Pretenders concert, I replied, “They rocked my face off.”
Recently I saw the band’s second show in downtown Washington, D.C. at the Warner Theater. I’d waited more than forty years since Rolling Stone had rated their album as the #1 album of 1980. But the night began with an auspicious warning: as I prepared to enter security outside, a contemporary called me over, pointed to the digital ticket on my cell phone, and urged me not to use the device during the concert, telling me how Chrissy had grown cantankerous the previous night with the crowd’s persistent cellphone use.
No need to mention Chrissy’s last name. The group’s lead singer and songwriter Chrissy Hynde remained the Pretenders’ only original member. Two of that first set, guitarist James Honeyman Scott and bassist Pete Farnden died of overdoses in 1982 and 1983 respectively.
That message of love per cell phones was reiterated twice again before the show. A bartender told me to pocket my phone as “the diva was miffed.” Keith, a concert-goer in front of me who is featured in the band’s YouTube video last year in the Bowery, remarked how Hynde had “spazzed out about people on their phones.” Keith ended our discussion by praising the current band as the best since the original group.
In her memoir “Reckless,” Hynde barely mentions her romance with Kinks’ frontman Ray Davies. Nonetheless, the Pretenders mirror the Kinks in their great arsenal of hits, alternating between breakneck guitar rifts (Precious, Mystery Achievement, Hate for Sale) to hilarious numbers (Turf Accountant Daddy, Boots of Chinese Plastic, Don’t Cut Your Hair) to slower, poignant ballads (I’ll Stand by You, A Love).
Though Davies is often heralded for his wit, like the double entendre of Lola, Hynde deserves more kudos for her prowess as a lyricist. Each song shines like a diamond. Losing my Sense of Taste asserts in a rhyme that only the cognoscenti can read here, “A busy Rothko to the modernesque Klees/I’m not interested in art these days.” Last year’s release Let the Sun In opines, “We don’t have to get fat, we don’t have to get old/We don’t have information that we have to withhold.” If only that were true!
In concert, Hynde reflects on the death of her bandmates in Back on the Chain Gang, The Buzz, and Junkie Walk. The last ends abruptly with “Every junkie has to die.” Now in her seventies, Hynde sees death gaining. With Let the Sun In, she roars. “We don’t need to fade to black.” Invoking a Dylan Thomas-like stance: “Think big or think big things/It ain’t illegal/Open up and spread your wings/Fly like an eagle.” Time the Avenger has a nuanced meaning forty years after its release for both singer and audience.
Though the encore Back on the Chain Gang brought out numerous audience phones, Hynde overlooked the response. She was too busy spreading her wings and rocking.
Error in the last sentence: should say “Give it Away” but it says “By the Way”
I will fix!
This was more of a description than a review… There was no critique or opinion of the show provided. I can’t even tell if you enjoyed the show at all. Congratulations on not understanding what a review is.