Tuesday, November 20, 2012

YYC Adventures: Chili Peppers and Rebirth BB


Last night I experienced my second time ever witnessing a live performance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. For my birthday which was last week my dad got tickets so that the two of us could go and see the band. My father and I went to go see the peppers together about six years ago while they were touring for their album Stadium Arcadium. 



Last time when we saw them they mostly played songs of their then album and with so many hits it was a bit of a disappointment. So I was hoping that with their new guitarist that they would play all of the hits that we have all come to know and love. The Red Hot Chili Peppers has always been one of my favorite bands mostly because they are one of the few bands where the base guitarist is better than the guitarist.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are such a strange kind of band that finding a band to open for them is a bit of a challenge. This is mostly because the band itself breaks a lot of boundaries within the genre of Rock, combining the likes of Hip Hop, Jazz and Rock into a new entity. Back in 2006 when they came through Calgary the band that opened for them was “The Mars Volta Project” and experimental metal group. With all of that in mind I was very interested to see who would open up for them this time around.

The Band that wound up opening for the legendary Chili Peppers was a band called Rebirth Brass Band. It is a large brass style ensemble that has a sound that reminds me of what you should expect to hear when you go to Madre Gras. I think these guys would bring the house down in a smaller venue where there was room for some good old fashioned swing dancing.

Check them out


The Peppers brought a lot of enthusiasm to the stage and proved that even after 30 years they still got it. As always flea astounded the audience with his fantastic skill of slapping the base, I cannot think of anyone who can do it better. Every song was led into with an impressive instrumental interlude that showed of the skills of the drummer and flea.

The one down side to this show was even though they seem to have astounding light technicians and a well timed video to go along with everything, they left no room for audience interaction. One thing that I enjoy when going to a live show is how the performers interact with their audience. This is one attribute of showmanship that I found to be distinctly lacking with the Red Hot Chili Peppers show.

However with that being said they put on a fantastic show and there is a reason that I will always consider this band in my top five bands of all time. I hope to see them again in my life time if they are still touring, hopefully they don’t go the way of Mic Jager and the Rolling Stones.

Sincerely Urban Yeti

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