Red Hot Chili Peppers Fail to Give Much Away at Scottrade Center

The first time I heard of or saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers I was 14 and reading the latest issue of Bravo, a German teeny bopper magazine. Inside there was a small picture of some naked idiots onstage during their German tour wearing socks on their cocks. That was around 1988. 3 years later in 1991, my schoolmates and I were in our Europa Hotel room in The Hague and through a cloud of smoke we watched as "Give It Away" debuted on MTV Europe. I remember that one of my girlfriends instantly fell in love with Anthony Kiedis and would later claim from looking at the band's 1992 Rolling Stone cover that she could tell, based on the look of his torso, that he was "really tall". Right.

Despite never having been my favorite band, RHCP have been a constant peripheral presence in my life. In high school, you chose between Nirvana or Pearl Jam, but you always liked RHCP. If you didn't like them, you never admitted it. I did like them a lot, but for whatever reason I didn't love them. Perhaps that's why it has taken me over 15 years to finally see them live which I did at the Scottrade Center last Monday night. Like my feelings for the band, I liked the show a lot, but I didn't love it.

A seemingly apathetic Anthony wasn't on stage as much as I would have expected. Flea, a short-haired John Frusciante, and Chad Smith kept things going by peppering the set with instrumental jams that also opened and closed the show. I hate to say it, but Anthony came across as an aging rockstar trying to keep his signature energetic stage presence alive. Flea addressed the crowd a few times, but otherwise there wasn't much going on between the band and the audience- though I have to say the audience seemed to have a great time nonetheless.

Speaking of the audience, there was a lovely mix of 30-somethings, young kids, and periodic puffs of smoke. I guess I wasn't surprised that at some point instead of cell phones lighting the arena, a number of lighters provided the glow. I also wasn't really surprised that despite having wolfed down fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn before the show, towards the end I was fantasizing about the french fries stashed in my freezer waiting to be baked. Mmm-mmm, good!

The stage through a pinhole. This picture could not be smaller.

Along with my favorites such as Get On Top and Can't Stop, you heard a cover of The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog and Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing. I was surprised to not hear Under the Bridge, though I am as over that song as anyone could be. I would have loved to hear Soul to Squeeze and Scar Tissue. Give It Away was unmistakably the crowd favorite.

Although J and I had tons of fun hanging out Monday night, I have to give the show itself an Unmoving. While it was awesome to finally see the boys in person, the show wasn't as amazing as it could have been. -K