I hope this isn't something that becomes permanent.
This is one of the most important bands in the ABME. Adam Baker Musical Experience. Everything they have ever released has made me happy. Everything. Sure, some albums are better than others, and some eras of the bands 25+ year history are better than others. But its all good to my ears.
Theres funk. Theres rock. Theres soul. Theres one of the 90's most amazing guitarists. And the lyrics. Fuck they rock. My favourite track of theirs is Soul To Squeeze from the Blood Sugar Sex Magik Era
The song has this power over me that I cant describe. Its the melody. Its the vibe. Its Mabo.
It's bitter baby,
And it's very sweet.
I'm on a rollercoaster,
but I'm on my feet.
Take me to the river,
Let me on your shore.
I'll be coming back baby,
I'll be coming back for more.
Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone
Ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gone bad
I could not forget
But I will not endeavor
Simple pleasures aren't as special
But I wont regret it never.
That last verse just amazes me.
Ive seen the band 6 times now, and each show had been amazing. The first 5 times they didn't play Soul To Squeeze. My favourite RHCP song. Actually, at the third show they did. You see, it was the Big Day Out in January 2000. Great lineup - Foo, Blink 182, Nine Inch Nails, RHCP, Chemical Brothers, etc. Red Hots were headlining. In my previous Big Day Out attendances id noticed that bands didn't do encores. They played then left and 5 minutes later the next band started on the opposite stage. So im watching the Chili Peppers show and the band are on fire. Its great to finally see John Frusciante play with them. So they finish their set and I rush out of the stadium to beat the crowd to the Big Day Out's dance/hip hop room - The Boiler Room, where Chemical Brothers were about to start their set. The Boiler Room only holds about 5,000 and I wanted to get in before the 45,000 people in the main stadium all tried to also get in.
I made it to the Boiler Room. And it was jam packed. I decided to leave after I discovered that the only place I could fit was right behind the mixing desk. No good as I wanted to see the band play. Id seen their set at 1999's Woodstock on TV and really wanted to experience them live.
So I left.
The next day at work my friend Kristina emailed me and we spent most of the day talking about the Big Day Out - the bands, the sound, the people, the setlists. One of her emails was about the Chili Peppers show - she managed to sneak backstage with a fake pass and sat on the side of the stage watching Foo and RHCP. Lucky duck. So she mentions how Soul To Squeeze was the highlight of the set. I was like "what the fuck????? they didn't play that" So I called her at work hoping that she had inhaled some substances illegal from her side of stage vantage point.
My hopes were wrong.
For the first time in Big Day Out history, Red Hot Chili Peppers came back on stage and played an encore. They played Soul To Squeeze.
I was devastated. It was like that scene in Ferris Beuller's Day Off when Cameron discovers the mileage in his dad's Ferrari wont roll back after him, Ferris and Sloan (my god she is cute) spend the day in Chicago (Tony K represent!).
She went on to tell me how it was unplanned and it rocked. I went in to shock. So i emailed a few other friends who confirmed that it did happen. I was floored. Non musical friends found it funny. Yvee felt bad for me when I told her that night. How fucking stupid was I????
I saw the band the next night at the Entertainment Centre but they didnt play it. They played one show here in Sydney at the Football Stadium for the By The Way tour. Yvee sent me a text hoping id get to see Soul To Squeeze as I hadn't shut up about it still - 3 years later. But nothing.
So you see people, this is the very reason why I do not ever leave a gig before the band has left the stage, the lights are on and I see roadies pulling apart the equipment on stage.
But then came the band's 2007 Australian tour. There was a bit of a ticket fiasco that ill go in to one of these days. But I ended up with a ticket to the third Sydney show. Last night of the Australian tour. I saw the first show and wasn't that impressed - Anthony was a bit flat (had the flu apparantley). The band were much better at the third show, and halfway through the set we freaks were totally blown away when they played Catholic School Girls Rule. It was the first time they had played it since 1989 and the first time ever outside of the USA. The 50 people in the crowd who actually knew the song were treated to two minutes of old school Red Hots funk rock. One of the highlights of my concert going resume.
And then the band came back on for the encore jam. No big surprise here. But the jam morphed into..........
Soul To Squeeze.
A little tear welled in my eye. I had wanted so much to finally hear this song live and it was finally happening. It was one of the best versions of the song id ever heard. Lucky for me i was recording the show and get to relive the magic over and over and over and over.
So today I was sent the below report from the bands official site and Rolling Stone.
Over the years ive been disappointed when these types of interviews/statements sometimes morph into an eventual band member leaving or the band breaking up. It happened with Metallica. It happened with Hole. It happened with Anthrax. It happened with Fear Factory. It happened with Guns N Roses. It happened with Helmet. It happened with Suicidal Tendencies. It happened with Korn. It happened with Ki$$. It happened with Sepultura. It happened with Rage Against The Machine. Actually, that last one has come good again, so if that happens - bring it on.
Red Hot Chili Peppers released one of their finest albums with 2006's Stadium Arcadium. It proved to the public - both us "crazies" and the casual fans that the band is still relevant and capable of making amazing music together. They still had the rock, the roll, the funk, the soul and the groove.
We need more.
Heres a video to one of my favourite tracks off Stadium Arcadium, Dessecration Smile
LINK
Rolling Stone: What's the status of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
Anthony Kiedis: We're disbanded for the moment. We actually took a very long time to make the Stadium Arcadium record, because we wrote a lot of songs and then got way too married to them and decided we need it to be a double album. Which was a great experience, but it took forever. It was really a grueling, long haul and it followed two other very long hauls, Californication and By the Way. So we kind of started in 1999 with the writing and the recording of Californication and we didn't really stop until the tour ended last year. We were all emotionally and mentally zapped at the end of that run. Cooler heads prevailed and the discussion at the end of our last tour was, "Let's not do anything Red Hot Chili Peppers-related for a minimum of one year, and just live and breathe and eat and learn new things." I was about to have a brand new son. Flea is very inspired to re-up his musical direction and ability and skill and he wants to learn new stuff. John [Frusciante] has been firing away on his own, making different solo projects. And Chad [Smith] joined a jazz band and went to Japan. I'm just home, hanging out with this really cool little kid, learning how to surf. But I'm starting to get just a little bit of a tingle that it would be nice to start thinking about songs and pieces of music. But just pieces.
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