Monday 27 June 2022

Saturday 25 June 2022 and Sunday 26 June 2022. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS play The London Stadium, Stratford, East London. Saturday special guests Anderson Paak & The Free Nationals and Thundercat. Sunday special guests ASAP Rocky and Thundercat. RHCP are on a European Tour of stadiums and outdoor venues. I have been to this stadium before.... 2016 - AC/DC with Axl Rose 2017 - GUNS N ROSES 2018 - The Rolling Stones (two shows) RHCP new album "Unlimited Love" went straight in at number one in the UK charts in April 2022. The album has been number one in sixteen countries. The reappearance of John Frusciante on guitar and producer Rick Rubin seems to have done the trick, for the band as these shows are their biggest London gigs in over a decade. All stadium gigs are always seem higher prices compared to normal venues...this show.. Gold circle standing is £150...general pitch standing is £95...seats are £125 , £95, £75 plus fees. Anderson Paak is a member of excellent Grammy Award winning Silk Sonic soul supergroup. I have seen RHCP around a dozen times before including the first time in 1999 when they headlined Reading Festival and two of their three massive Hyde Park shows in 2004, and intimate shows at The Roundhouse and The BBC Car Park , White City along with their Earls Court Arena shows in 2006. ------------------- I went to both the RHCP shows here. Must admit, i thought two stadium gigs by RHCP would be a bit ambitious , but I'm proved wrong as both shows are an incredible 80,000 tickets per night sold out. RHCP have sold more tickets in London than The Rolling Stones this summer. Saturday 25 June 2022. THUNDERCAT and his two band members arrived on at stage at 6pm for a 30 mins set. He was in thrash band Suicidal Tendencies before going solo. He is an amazing funky bass player who plays his six string bass, like a lead guitar. All acts had use of the three big screens, but for RHCP the middle screen was fully enlarged. ANDERSON PAAK & THE RADICALS arrived on stage at 7pm for their 45 mins set. Anderson Paak is a great funky drummer and mixes playing drums with vocals and being front of stage dancing like James Brown and vocals, along with a great 1970s funky soul sound. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS arrived on stage at 8.15pm for their 1 hour 45 mins set. The band start off with a huddled funky jam and then the packed floor standing dance madly for big hits "Can't Stop" and "Dani California". John Frusciante gets big cheers when he appears on the big screens. A few tracks from the new album played, but it was the big older classics that the crowd wanted. Flea did a nice 30 seconds bass snippet of PIL "Public Image". Flea is happy to ramble on, and sound a bit eccentric. It was pretty basic production for a stadium show, as there was no catwalk stage extension. Their tight funk-rock still sounds fab, and the band are thankful to their British fans. They were saying how excited they were , when they first came to London. A great show. Full RHCP setlist played tonight... Intro Jam Can't Stop Dani California Charlie These Are the Ways Scar Tissue Aquatic Mouth Dance Snow ((Hey Oh)) Emit Remmus (Tour debut) Whatchu Thinkin' Otherside The Heavy Wing Nobody Weird Like Me Californication Black Summero Give It Away Encore: Under the Bridge By the Way ------------------------------------------------- Sunday 26 June 2022. As it was a Sunday, all the acts came on stage 30 mins earlier than yesterday. THUNDERCAT arrived on stage at 5.30pm for their good 30 mins set. ASAP ROCKY arrived on stage at 6.30pm for his 40 mins set. American rapper had all his road crew in orange overalls as they blew up a huge orange I nflatable. He is very popular in his own right, and a lot of the crowd know the words to his tracks. There was a lot of swearing as he sang along to a backing tape, but not really my cup of tea, and i much preferred the Anderson Paak funky soul support set from yesterday. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS arrived on stage at 7.45pm for their 1 hour 45 mins set. Again Flea did his 30 seconds bass snippet of PIL "Public Image" and tonight they also played a 30 seconds snippet of The Clash "London Calling". A couple of tracks changed in the setlist , which like their Manchester show had "Soul to Squeeze" replace their big hit "Under the Bridge", during the encore. Another great show , but i think the first show here had the edge for me. Full RHCP setlist played tonight... Intro Jam Around the World Dani California I Like Dirt The Zephyr Song These Are the Ways Snow ((Hey Oh)) Right on Time Here Ever After Don't Forget Me She's a Lover Tell Me Baby Wet Sand (Tour debut) Californication Black Summer Give It Away Encore: Soul to Squeeze By the Way

Posted 27th June 2022