2016/ 09 Kerrang! (1636)

kerrang-1636-rhcp-reading-leeds-2016

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
STILL PUTTING THE JAM INTO EVERYONE’S MUSICAL SANDWICH

THERE’S AN idea in Hollywood that you do ‘one film for them [the studio] and one for you’, suggesting that giving people what they want provides you with the leverage to indulge in personal passion projects. It’s a philosophy that the Chills continue to adopt in their live shows, as the LA veterans gild their hits-strewn sets with the kind of funk work-outs that people negatively associate with them. Admittedly, tonight they exercise uncharacteristic restraint, but we still have to go through ‘jams’ before opener Can’t Stop. Such indulgences are made more palatable by the fact it’s all imbued with the kind of energy and vim that can’t be cultivated in a practice room — not to mention a little charm (“Make me a bed of mud, I’ll sleep next to you tonight,- purrs frontman Anthony Kiedis after Dark Necessities). Meanwhile, the unbeatable trio of Californication, Under The Bridge and By The Way provides some of the weekend’s most unifying moments. (JH)