A beautiful Saturday night for a concert in the city of Philadelphia, PA. The Red Hot Chili Peppers took over the home of the Philies aka Citizens Bank Park with support from The Strokes and Thundercat.
Fans flocked in, parking lots were full, laughs were heard and fans took over the concourse buying merchandise or beers/food and getting ready for three insanely talented musicians for the next few hours.
Opening up the night was the super insanely talented Thundercat. If you have never seen Thundercat play, you are in for a treat. Nothing crazy came from his set but that’s a-okay because you literally cannot hate on the jams this guy bangs out on his bass. The greatest thing I must point out is the giant cat head that took up the stage, absolutely a great prop. Now Thundercat may have had a shorter set song wise but his songs are more so on the line of the sit back and relax/jam to. His six song setlist included a medley of Lost in Space/Great Scott/22-26, Dragonball Durag and ended his set with Them Changes.
Check out the full Thundercat setlist below:
Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26
How Sway
Overseas
Dragonball Durag
Lotus and the Jondy
Them Changes
After the stage was cleared it was time for The Strokes to take the stage. With their lighting being a little more focused on the LED board behind them, matching the songs to the movement of the light show The Strokes got the fans on another level, but not quite there yet to be on that level of energy for the RHCP. About midway through their set the fans were reaching that level of excitement for the main act of the night. The Strokes played a ten song setlist which consisted of a handful of fan favorites such as Evening Sun, Someday and Reptilia.
Check out The Strokes’ full setlist below:
Evening Sun
Bad Decisions
Barely Legal
Juicebox
Meet Me in the Bathroom
Under Cover of Darkness
Hard to Explain
The Adults Are Talking
Someday
Reptilia
FINALLY, the moment we all have been waiting for, it was time for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to take the stage. As the stage was set, the background music was amping people up, the lights then went out and Bassist, Flea ran across the stage to retrieve his bass, then Drummer Chad Smith took the stage waving and twirling his drum sticks around and after Smith took a seat (AND please note how ABSOLUTELY excited I was that John Frusciante is back with these guys) lead Guitarist John Frusciante took the stage and the fans grew even louder. This is the first tour Frusciante has been on with the RHCP in a good while, and the first tour since parting ways with former Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
Flea, Chad Smith and John Frusciante kicked things off by just simply jamming on their instruments together, before Frontman Anthony Keidis took the stage. After the intro jam, Keidis took the stage, jumping around as he held his mic stand as the band started to play the intro to Around the World.
I may be a little biased when writing this review because being able photograph this show meant absolutely the world to me. When I first started photographing shows, 8 years ago I made a “bucketlist” of whom I will photograph one day and number one was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So basically with that being said I was on cloud nine getting to stand right before my absolute favorite band and capture them in their element.
The production of this tour, especially for the RHCP, was absolutely top notch. The giant LED panels surrounded the stage top to bottom left to right. It was absolutely amazing and the light show was a photographers dream.
Now back to the show, the fans from the moment the guys took the stage to the very end they sang each song word for word. The fans in the crowd held up signs stating their love for John Frusciante rejoining the band, the amount of RHCP shows they have been too and some even just simply thanking them. Even though the Red Hot Chili Peppers are technically supporting their latest record, Unlimited Love, the guys still played a huge collection of the older hits for those fans who have been supporters for quite some time. The band played roughly eighteen songs and that’s not including the two song encore. To give you an idea of what songs the Philadelphia fans were treated to included Dani California, Snow ((Hey Oh)), Me & My Friends, Tell Me Baby, Californication and they ended their set with Give it Away. Then some of their newer material (Which by the way are just as amazing as their older material, I love it all) they included in their setlist included Aquatic Mouth Dance, Whatchu Thinkin’ and Black Summer.
Midway through the set after the performance of Pea, John Frusciante had a little solo and performed a cover of Elton John’s Your Song. Once the night came to an end and the band left the stage, fans waited, yelled and cheered for the band to perform a little longer. And of course their wish was the Red Hot Chili Peppers command, the guys took the stage and performed an two song encore which included Soul to Squeeze and By the Way.
From a fans perspective, this show is something you DO NOT WANT TO MISS. Yes have the guys gotten older? Sure we all have but I can guarantee these guys, these legends, will forever be young at heart and absolutely put on one of the best shows I have ever been to. And I have been to more concerts than I can count.
Check out the full Red Hot Chili Peppers setlist from Citizens Bank Park below:
Intro Jam
Around the World
Dani California
Universally Speaking
Aquatic Mouth Dance
Snow ((Hey Oh))
I Like Dirt
These Are the Ways
Hey
Me & My Friends
Pea
Your Song (Elton John cover)
Whatchu Thinkin’
Tell Me Baby
The Heavy Wing
Black Summer
Californication
Give It Away
Encore
Soul to Squeeze
By the Way