March 9, 2019

Concert Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Spark Arena March 8, 2019

Six years after their previous New Zealand headline tour, Red Hot Chili Peppers saturated the Spark Arena crowd on Friday with the same psychedelic rock-funk magic they’ve been sharing with the world for more than 35 years.

A restrained first minute of distorted bass slowly built to an arena-filling drum beat, bringing the crowd and Flea’s mesmerising bass into focus, as a near-capacity crowd screamed admiration toward the stage before RHCP dropped hard into Can’t Stop.

Hardly a single seated attendee could resist being yanked to their feet by the electric opening hit, with the floor crowd just as elevated into a rhythmic sea of funk-driven body movement.

RHCP are a truly age-defying band, performing with the same energy and charisma throughout a 90-minute set today as they did more than 20 years ago, and still delivering the musical quality and emotional crowd connection that packs out arenas wherever they perform. From the first minute to the last, we’re reminded of RHCP’s love for their fans with interjected appreciation – all of it as authentic as their ability to smash out hit after hit while displaying expert control of an arena crowd.

Fortune Faded intensified the visual display that accompanies each RHCP show, with flashing neon block lights cutting to crystal-clear images of lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, before the follow-up of Scar Tissue put the rest of the band on display in equally vivid quality. Seeing RHCP live is like watching a living, breathing music video, with every visual of their next song, Dark Necessities, capturing the irresistible psychedelic sound we’ve loved for so long.

Kiedis purposefully reduces the intensity for a few songs mid-set, and the crowd responds with slow-swaying arms and a calmer, measured groove. This set the tone for Californication, a slightly slower version to ensure fans relished in every second of the classic tune. Go Robot’s jaw-dropping bass solo and the pure, dirty rock-grit of a Higher Ground cover leave the crowd roaring, but it’s the closing By The Way that proves RHCP can perform with relentless energy and enthusiasm from start to finish.

Kiedis gave the crowd another heartfelt “this means the world to us and we love you”, with the camera cutting to shots of the crowd to make it clear there wasn’t a single attendee not smiling and screaming for more. The arena-shaking feet stomping and chanting of the crowd drew RHCP back to the stage for their encore, an ethereal piano performance leading into Dreams Of A Samurai and finally, the climactic musical trip of Give it Away.

It’s the mark of a timeless and unbelievably talented band that RHCP can perform their own hits and covers with the same level of crowd appreciation, and the final minute of their encore performance displayed just as much energy as they had 90 minutes earlier.

Each member of the band closed the night with a personal address to the audience, all of them reiterating one thing: Red Hot Chili Peppers love their audience, their energy, and their appreciation of great music – just as much as we love them in return.

Red Hot Chili Peppers will play one final show for their current tour, at Spark Arena, Saturday 9 March.

– Oxford Lamoureaux

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Red Hot Chili Peppers Set list: