29 January 2023 – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane – review by Lucas Bell – pictures by David Mushegain
It might have been a hot summer night at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday night, but for one night, it was a hot Californian summer instead of Australian, as Californian rock and roll legends Red Hot Chili Peppers were in town. And as if a Chili Peppers tour couldn’t be big enough, tagging along on the support slot for this entire tour, is hip hop megastar Post Malone.
While on paper, Post and the Chili Peppers seems like an odd combination, the mix of crowds was something truly special. Like a tour de force, Post charged the stage playing ‘wow’, to an absolutely monstrous reception. Post then played through a set of some of his biggest classics, with a sprinkle of newer songs from his 2022 album ‘Twelve Carat Toothache’. A couple of the biggest moments of the show, included a massive singalong to his mega hit, ‘I Fall Apart’, and when he pulled a fan up on stage to play guitar for him during an acoustic performance of ‘Stay’.
The back half of the near 70 minute set was just as impressive, including a full pyro display for his Ozzy Osbourne collaboration ‘Take What You Want’, another couple massive singalong to ‘rockstar’ and ‘Sunflower’. Post closed out the set with ‘Congratulations’ and ‘White Iverson’ to honestly one of the biggest receptions I’ve ever seen for a support act. My personal favorite thing about Post’s set though, wasn’t the music, but how genuinely taken aback he was by just how loud and supportive the audience was. Every couple of songs, he just kept thanking everyone for the love. And you can tell there was an insane amount of love for Austin Post.
After a long 45 minute break, Suncorp was plunged into darkness, as one by one, Chad Smith, Flea, and John Frusciante from the Chili Peppers took to the stage and started the show with a really fun intro jam session, before vocalist Anthony Kiedis ripped onto the stage and ran through an entire set of both old songs that showcases what has made RHCP a must see band for the last 40+ years, we well as songs that encompass why all these years later, they are able to keep themselves relevant.
In quick succession, we got the set opener ‘Across the World’, massive crowd favourite ‘Dani California’, and one of my favorite RHCP songs ‘Scar Tissue’. Flea then got on the microphone and talked about how he woke up this morning to the news of Tom Verlaine passing away. Verlaine was a member of legendary New York punk band, Television. They then played some teases of ‘Marquee Moon’ by Television, before launching into a powerful rendition of ‘Otherside’.
Right before they played ‘The Drummer’, they teased ‘Higher Ground’, to sounds of joy, then sadness from our section of the venue. The rest of the set had a good mix of old and new, including newer songs like ‘Eddie’, ‘Reach Out’, and ‘The Heavy Wing’, through to classics like ‘Right on Time’ (which was played with the intro to ‘London Calling’ by The Clash), ‘Californication’, and set closer ‘By The Way’, which was one of the loudest crowd singalongs of the entire night.
After a quick break, and a lot of shots of the crowd to get everyone amped up, the Peppers returned for a two song encore, with ‘Soul to Squeeze’ opening the encore, and ‘Give It Away’ closing out the night. Overall the Peppers set was pretty good. And with a catalogue as large as theirs, sometimes it’s hard to pick the best set. While there were some songs on here I’d trade out for others like ‘Can’t Stop’, ‘Suck My Kiss’, and ‘Fortune Faded’, they did a pretty great balancing act of old and new.
