Last Night: Chili Peppers Stay Red Hot

Almost three decades later, the band still knows how to put on a show, no shirts necessary.

“We haven’t played this song in 29 years,” Red Hot Chili Peppers’s bass player Flea said to the sold-out audience in the New Orleans Arena last night, before the band broke into “Apache Rose Peacock.” He had reminded the crowd of how long the funk rock band has been together, and went on to remind the crowd of his “favorite place to be": New Orleans, as the song’s lyrics describe. “Mentally or physically, I want to be in New Orleans.”

The Red Hot Chili Peppers didn’t show their age last night. In fact, they outright refused to. The level of energy present on stage could’ve had anyone confusing these middle-aged men with a handful of college kids messing around. But their sound was the sound of a band founded in 1983, and tight musicianship that only comes with 29 years of experience. Guitar solos, drum solos, and bass solos all had their place in last night’s set, impressive without being overdone. Flea climbed on top of amps, and occasionally threw in high leg kicks while playing. Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer would stand directly facing him at times, a back-and-forth of rhythm and riffs that often took the two of them to their knees. During the encore, drummer Chad Smith dropped his drumsticks to grab ahold of the stage lights above him, treating them like monkey bars and swinging in the air. And not surprisingly, Flea and vocalist Anthony Kiedis were shirtless for almost the entirety of the set. Kids, all of them.