Alright so firstly the prices were abominable and I think put people off from the start. Initially, the cheapest tickets, GA, were $210. I got ours for $100 and they ended up as cheap as $79. $210 is a ludicrous amount to pay to see them, and how shit for the people who bought them at that price that they ended up less than half that in the days before the concert.
Stadium/big arena gigs are always better when artists make really good use of the staging, and RHCP’s setup left a bit to be desired. Three tall screens that had some good graphics at times but there was nothing special about the setup and the band had a conventional setup on stage. Pretty hard to see the band unless you were up close, although the screens did a good job of cycling through each of the band members.
They’ve copped pretty negative press on this tour so far, and from fans, all of it directed towards the setlist, and how they play “too many new songs” and “not enough hits” but I don’t think that’s the real issue with this show. The sound, the band’s talents and musicianship aren’t issues at all, they sound fucking fantastic. The first 20 or so minutes was absolutely electric. The way they come out and do an Intro Jam at the top is unmatched and still exciting as hell. Around the World fucking rules. I was losing my shit to Zephyr Song which I’ve always loved.
But it’s kind of here on that it begins to slide. From here it felt really formless and it really isn’t just because there’s a lot of new songs. It’s an issue of structure and song choice. The “classics” that they played on this night were Otherside and Californication and while both of them were hugely well-received, they both just kind of appeared out of nowhere, both surrounded by new songs with very little signposting.
There’s almost zero crowd interaction. What there is is left up to Flea, and he’s an absolute legend, but Kiedis says pretty much nothing for the entire show. So we get 7 new songs, and some of them are fucking great (Eddie, in particular, is outstanding) but a huge part of the reason they fall flat is they just meander from one song to the next, only occasionally punctuated by some instrumental work between Flea and Frusciante, or some solo Chad (which are an absolute highlight). So the whole set just feels kind of aimless, doesn’t feel like a narrative or like there’s any real thought been put into the song choices.
That first 20 minutes, and moments like Eddie, Right on Time, By the Way, the improv jams, prove that RHCP have absolutely still got it, they still sound great, they’re still fucking cool, but this show is so let down by a lack of thought, care, structure, better song choice (not just what they did/didn’t play, but where and how they played it too). It could have been a 10/10 show with some crowd interaction from Kiedis or any of them really telling us about what they’re playing. Imagine if instead of just wandering through with their heads down, tell us shit! They’ve just released two new albums, Frusciante is back for the first time in over a decade, some of these new songs have great stories, tell us about them, make us feel part of the show. Instead it felt like we were just being played to, not with. It also felt like they left 5-10 great songs in the sheds, and I think it went about 1hr40 mins, so it felt really short too. Give it Away is also a kind of shit song and an awful way to end the night.
tl;dr - some storytelling, more jams, more Flea/Chad/Frusciante time, longer set, better song choices and structure and it would have been a fucking fantastic show.
Also, I wasn't shattered about no Under the Bridge. It would have been awesome, but By the Way has always been my favourite record. Not getting Can't Stop was what really upset me.
