The Red Hot Chili Peppers are, as the song goes, addicted to the shindig. Between songs at their sold-out Toronto show, they seemed unable to sit still — drummer Chad Smith would begin tapping out a rhythm, or Flea would briefly slap an improvised bassline, filling the moments of silence until the next song began. They conveyed a restless energy that remains undiminished more than 40 years into their career.
The group's 2022 stadium tour was their grand return with classic-era guitarist John Frusciante, who rejoined the lineup for his third tenure as they released two double albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen. Now, two years later, it's more like business as usual: the venue is smaller, although the fact that they sold out two nights at the arena-sized Bud Stage shows that the excitement is still there.
It's hard to praise the Chili Peppers without being a little backhanded about their ages, since it involves doling out compliments that you might not for younger musicians. But here goes anyway — it's truly a marvel to see a 61-year-old Flea, wearing a long yellow skirt and Christmas-coloured socks, arrive on stage by walking on his hands. Swole singer Anthony Kiedis, also 61, wears an orthopaedic walking boot these days, but he doesn't let that stop him from rompin' and a-stompin' like he's in his prime. And Frusciante, a comparatively youthful 54, absolutely shredded the Van Halen tribute "Eddie" as if he didn't break his finger late last year.
The four piece arrived on stage with the funky one-two punch of "Around the World" and "Dani California" — a bold choice, since those are the two songs that most perfectly characterize the old punchline about the Chili Peppers, that they constantly sing nonsense songs about California wherein they simply list off a bunch of state names.
Those jokes might be true, but as a counterpoint: fuck you, the songs are great. Kiedis has never been the most technically talented singer around, but he's also the group's love-it-or-hate-it element — the charismatic curveball who sounds like absolutely no one else in rock music, ensuring that the Chili Peppers can never be mistaken for anyone else. The reason he's so easy to parody is that he's so distinctive.
The Chili Peppers have easily enough hits for the whole setlist to go on like those opening numbers, with back-to-back radio smashes and enormous singalongs. And yet they weren't content to do that, and instead dug into their catalogue for a surprisingly eclectic setlist that brazenly embraced the lulls. My wife found it hard to concentrate on "Hard to Concentrate," a romantic ballad from 2006's Stadium Arcadium, and fair enough! She wasn't the only one I saw sit down and start scrolling on her phone at that moment. It's a bold move to play deep cuts like "Strip My Mind" and "Throw Away Your Television" while omitting huge hits like "Can't Stop," "Scar Tissue" and "Snow (Hey Oh)" (all of which they played on Monday night, July 15, at the same venue, incidentally).
Of course, the fans' patience paid off in a big way, as the final section of the setlist was packed with hits, including a thrilling encore of '90s classics "Under the Bridge" and "Give It Away."
My favourite moment, however, was a quieter one: before "Californication," Flea and Frusciante stood face-to-face on stage for a delicate duo jam on a simple two-chord pattern, plucking out minor-key melodies before speeding up into a tenderly beautiful, drum-less crescendo. It was stylistically similar to "Pretty Little Ditty," the 1989 instrumental written during John and Flea's first-ever jam session, when the former initially joined the band as a teenager.
It was a powerful moment, seeing the musicians tap back into that old familiar energy, having survived their well-documented ups and downs and reemerging much the same as they ever were.