Goodbye Angels Video

The video for Goodbye Angels has been released today:

It features brilliant live footage of a RHCP concert shot in Atlanta, Georgia interspersed with a story line of girl peeing in a flower bed, getting high, drinking, smoking, snogging & stripping in a toilet cubical and gatecrashing the concert just because apparently we all want to see that. Whatever.

Chili Weekend in Brum!

Warning: Sarcastic sense of humour alert! Don’t like my tongue- in-cheek style, read no further. Apparently some people think I’m actually serious when I write… Hahaha! Artistic licence anyone?!

 

RHCP Birmingham on Saturday 10th December, 2016.

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Tonight, I had seats as my daughter was too young for the arena and I was taking my monsters to their first EVAH concert. It to be RHCP as they’ve been surrounded by the band since birth and I had promised to take them on the next arena tour. Finally the tickets arrived with 48 hours to go- talk about cutting it fine! (Amazon had sent their tickets out in plenty of time but these were through the official site’s pre-sale and so many of us had everything crossed for them to arrive in time). We got there, got drenched in the torrential rain getting into the arena from the car park although thankfully the shuttle bus meant we got less wet than we initially feared, I spent a small fortune on merch (for my daughter as always!) and we made it to the seats with popcorn and drinks- I’ve never sat waiting for a rock band eating popcorn before but there is apparently a first time for everything!

A bit earlier than I expected and I think most other people did too as the arena was half-empty (I don’t think on purpose as people were still coming in when RHCP hit the stage although maybe it was! ), the lights went down, the Baby Metal sign illuminated and it was show time!

Baby Metal

Cue the start of a cringe worthy intro voiceover welcoming us the metal world of babies in a way that hasn’t been heard of since 1983…

If you don’t know this band, imagine Slipknot wrapped in torn bed sheets accompanied by three hyperactive toddler cheerleaders who sing after inhaling 1000 helium balloons EACH. Oh, and throw in a Simon Cowell style producer who threw this ensemble together to make money, sorry I mean for delectation of Japanese fetishists, and all this somehow ended up on a stage in the UK!

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Let’s go back six months or so when they were announced as the support act. My son walked past as I was reading the announcement and he started to laugh when he saw the name Baby Metal. I’d never heard of them so I asked why. I was told they were a joke band that became the butt of internet jokes six months previously and that the kids at school were shouting “Baby Metal” and parodying (my term; not his!) the band. “Trust you to be past it, Mum! Why are you asking about them now?” I explained they’d just been announced as the support act for the Chilis… Cue son literally rolling around the floor in laughter before telling me to watch a video. I said I would later but he insisted on then so he could watch my reaction. He selected a video and I started to watch. TBH, I couldn’t see the issue as I liked the music but son was watching me intently and instructing me to wait much to my puzzlement… And then I saw! The helium induced ‘singing’ started. Cue son rolling on floor again at my reaction… At this point in walked my daughter who saw the video playing and started to laugh saying Mum, “Why are you watching this now? So past it. Such a joke…”

Back to the concert. I can only say Baby Metal are worse in concert than I anticipated. Concert level speaker distortion and those vocals…. And as I imagine the proportion of the audience who speak Japanese was in the lower end of single figures, most of us couldn’t even attempt to decipher the lyrics making them sound even more like random noise. And irritating isn’t in it for the silly girlies. Two 12 year olds dressed to look six and

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an adult doing the same pretending to be rock stars while throwing devil horn signs and  wearing frilly skirts with their hair in bunchies. Not sure whether to feel sorry for the audience having this inflicted on them or the poor girls who looked so desperately miserable with their forced smiles.

Still, they performed some great tricks. Whatever the girls are on to race and jump around like they do, I seriously need some especially when they weren’t even the tiny bit breathless at the end of their set given how perfect the vocals sounded. It was almost as impressive as the bassist that played with one hand at one point (the other was under the torn bed sheet… Umm! ) and my absolute favourite bit was the drummer who stood up at one point, stepped back from the drum kit, held the drumsticks in the air and the drums still

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played… Umm again! No idea why everyone was screaming that they were miming! And as my 12 year old commented, the adult girl child had two mics and used one to speak to the audience (how many times can you say Birmingham in 30 minutes? I think we all knew where we were!) and another to sing into. Shame they didn’t just mime and turn off the sound.

By the time we got to the final track, ‘Gimme Chocolate’, when they compensated for the language issue by repeatedly saying the only word English words they knew other than ‘Birmingham’ which were somewhat unsurprisingly ‘gimme’ and ‘chocolate’, I seriously had to fight the urge to run down to Bournville and buy the largest bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk I could and ram it in their mouths to oblige and also give the rest of us some peace!

Considering the concert was held on almost Led Zeppelin land, Baby Metal went down faster than an actual lead version of the same. There were a line of Baby Metal devotees on the front row, a few scattered through the audience and some people clapping politely while most people were just mouthing WTF? Then they went off. Never has silence been so blessed!

Red Hot Chili Peppers!

 

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Again a little earlier than expected and to an arena that wasn’t full (people were coming in for about the first ten minutes- apparently there were issues at the doors) the strains of a trumpet were heard…

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Set List:
Around The World
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Otherside
Dark Necessities
Hey
Right On Time
She’s Only 18
Go Robot
Sick Love
Californication
Detroit
Suck My Kiss
Soul To Squeeze
By The Way
Encore:
Goodbye Angels
Give It Away

Around The World! I’d seen it cropping up on set lists as the opening song a few times recently and was really pleased to experience it as it’s such a brilliant song. I was also delighted to hear ‘Hey’. Love that song so much and again I’d seen it on set lists recently but never thought I’d ever hear it live! So happy! And my daughter was so happy to hear ‘Sick Love’ as she’s liked that song since first hearing it although that was pretty much a given at the moment.

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The new lights are amazing too! Videos really don’t show them to their full effect. Really happy to see them for real; they are even more stunning than anticipated.
There were issues with ‘Soul To Squeeze’… Collective audience holding of breath and mentally sending AK the lyrics as the whole of the first verse wasn’t right. There were issues with ‘Give It Away’ too and no end jam but the concert was still amazing even though Josh was ill and according to Chad at the Drum Clinic on Tuesday, there were human and technology issues. I was more than happy and had two very happy kids! Just watching their reactions during the show added another dimension. It was time for Give It Away all too soon but we have a whole load of new family memories <3

Notes:
I didn’t realise until I got home and looked at my photos but Flea now has a ‘stache.

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AK made Josh and Flea smile when he said he was going to play an instrument as he felt like doing so. He was saying “right now” and the other two were clearly wondering what was going on!

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Suddenly Anthony called out and everyone thought there was another problem as it was just after Soul To Squeeze but he just called the other musicians being called onto stage although it looked like a sudden change.

Flea sang a little song naming places in the area e.g. Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and the Black Country.

Sick Love live is accompanied by images from the video split across three screens.

AK started to sing ‘Goodbye Angels’ from a seated position.

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Chad was totally hamming it up when he gave out drumsticks at the end.

 

RHCP Birmingham on Sunday 11th December, 2016.

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Set List:

Can’t Stop
Dani California
Scar Tissue
Dark Necessities
Nobody Weird Like Me
Hard To Concentrate
Go Robot
Parallel Universe
Sick Love
Tell Me Baby
The Getaway
Did I Let You Know
Under The Bridge
Encore:
Dreams Of A Samurai
Give It Away

Back again! But this time without kids and with a standing ticket. Got there a little later than planned due to the motorway being stationary for a while and holding me up but I was still able to get a spot just back from the barrier.

Another great set list! I really wanted to hear ‘Dream of a Samurai’ live so my wish came true! Everyone and everything seemed totally on form with lyrics intact and no visible issues. Josh was totally on fire. Being under the new lights added another dimension to

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them – they are just amazing- and there was a short jam at the end of GIA tonight.

During the encore, Josh dived off stage and came back wearing a red beanie loosely perched on his head. At the end of the concert, he tossed several picks at the crowd and then took off the beanie and started to gesture intently at someone in the crowd – was clear he wanted someone specific to get it (I knew a friend of mine was roughly in that spot and that she’d got a sigh for Josh so I really hoped it was her. We met up at the end of the concert and it was 🙂 )

Chad made a lengthy and impassioned speech right at the very end when the rest of the band had left the stage talking about Birmingham and Black Country drummers and bands/musician such as Glenn Tipton, Ozzy & Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. and what an honour it was to play in Birmingham for that reason.

And I have another set list!

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Such an amazing weekend and then there was the Chad Smith’s drum clinic to follow on the Tuesday.
Photo Galleries

RHCP Saturday 10th December 2016

RHCP Sunday 11th December 2016

New RHCP Band Member Interviews

Several New Articles/Interview of the Red Hot Chili Peppers are out!

Anthony Kiedis Interview from Finland:

Updated: An English translation has been added

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There’s an interview with Anthony Kiedis from Finland on the national broadcasting website YLE.  He talks about taking his son on tour, RHCP working with Danger Mouse on the new album and the US presidential campaign.

English translation:

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Free time is the worst for ex-junkie

 

Anthony Kiedis has arrived to the ends of the Earth. That’s how Finland seems in the eyes of the world-famous rock star and Hollywood. The route here should be familiar, because this is the sixth time in Finland for one of the biggest rock bands in the Earth, Red Hot Chili Peppers. This time Kiedis’s eight-year-old son is with them.

It’s been almost 30 years since the first visit. The televised gig at Provinssirock drew attention not only with its energy but also because the only thing the band wore were tennis socks to cover the strategic parts.

 

– We were young, healthy boys from Hollywood. Maybe we were looking for the sexual vibes in our performance that are in our music. We did “sox on cox”-performance in special occasions, and the gig in Provinssirock was obviously one of them.

 

The death of one of the founding members of the band, the guitarist Hillel Slovak, cast a dark cloud over the first gig in Finland. He died of drug overdose not long after the tour.

 

-When we came back home to Los Angeles, Hillel was thinking about his future: Should I change my habits or should I stay the safe, dangerous road. We didn’t understand how deadly some drugs can be. In some cases trying once is enough.

 

– I still miss him. On the other hand the tour had gone well and it left a beautiful memory of him.

 

“Drugs are still part of my psyche”

 

Anthony Kiedis has a long history with drugs as well. He has been sober for years, but the drug background still affects his life.

 

– It is definitely a part of my psyche. I have been sober for a long time, but drugs are still a part of me.

 

The are numerous stories of the rambunctious tour-life of the rock bands. Maybe to somebody’s  surprise Anthony Kiedis thinks months-long tour is a safe environment.

 

– On tour I am at work. Focused. I have things to do. It’s harder after the tour, when you go home. Then I am isolated. And what’s even worse, I have free time. Then you have to be careful.

 

One motivation to making an effort is the fact that Kiedis is a father to an eight-year-old son. He is with him in Helsinki.

 

– I want him with us on tours. Of course sometimes he is at home and goes to school. But it is fun that we can do stuff together during long tours. I thought of showing him a bit of Helsinki, maybe we’ll make a short walk to the parks. It is important that he gets at least little influences from rest of the world.

 

Change from producer legend Rick Rubin 

 

Red hot Chili Peppers is one of the most popular bands in the world. The band has sold tens of millions of albums. A key influencer on the background has been Rick Rubin, the producer wizard, for over two decades. When Red Hot Chili Peppers started working on their latest album, they let him go, though.

 

– Maybe that’s just that, we had worked with him for so long. We had to challenge ourselves, to step out of our comfort zone. To do something, that forces us to change.

The producer on The Getaway -album which was released during the summer is Danger Mouse, who is better known in the electro music genre. He has worked with Beck and The Black Keys, who are heavily influenced by traditional rock’n’roll. Anthony Kiedis says Danger Mouse is nice, but firm guy.

 

– The way Danger Mouse works is completely unique. His creative work happens in the studio. It’s very spontaneous. Sometimes we would go to the studio in the morning with nothing, and at midnight when we went home, we’d have a finished song.

 

– He would tell our bassist Flea to play like James Brown. Or change it to something else if he didn’t like what he heard. He was actively involved in the song writing process.

 

The presidential candidates of USA are poison

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers is not know as very political band. Anthony Kiedis, who is in charge of lyrics, admits that the band has no political agenda. Despite of that he perks up when we start talking about the presidential campaign of USA.

 

– We were with democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. He was an exceptional candidate: Trustworthy, smart, empathetic.

 

-Last 130 years, ever since industrialism, the presidents of United States have been puppets of billionaires like Rockefeller. They have decided who will be the next president with their dollars. Bernie couldn’t be bought.

 

Kiedis’s favourite didn’t reach the final round. Two bad candidates were left.

 

– I have to pick one of two poisons. Maybe I will choose slower death aka Hillary. She just got sick though, which can have a surprising impact in the result. What is important is how fast she can recover and if she can give a strong impression on TV debates.

 

Kiedis thinks Republican candidate Donald Trump is a reality TV star who is not measured on the same scale with other politicians.

 

– We look at him like he’s an entertainer. If Trump lies or says something outrageous, we think, that that’s just the actor he is.

 

In the United States publicity is everything. That’s why musician who have searched stardom are a part of the political game. Anthony Kiedis doesn’t feel pressured to state his political opinion, though.

 

– I don’t think about fame. I just want to tell the truth. Also, I am not politically active artist. I make music because I want to create something beautiful and positive into this world. In the end, politics are quite depressing.

 

Many thanks to Linda for this!

 

 

 

MTV Finland Review and Flea Interview Video:

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There is also a review of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ recent concert in Helskini on MTV Finland‘s website- it translates through Google Translate pretty well for anyone interested. It’s titled: “Comment: Red Hot Chili Peppers – the world’s worst and best band?” and that sums up the nature of the article. The reviewer seems to to be saying he has been disappointed by RHCP’s live performances in Finland in the past however, the latest performance comes off more favourably and they do have some massive hits hence his “worst and best” comment.

However, right at the bottom of the article there’s a brief video interview (no embed code/direct link) with Flea talking about playing Finland in the past e.g. Provinssirock back in 1988 and how exciting it is to be in Helsinki both then and now.

 

Josh Klinghoffer Interview on Pirate Radio

Again no embed link, but you can listen to it on the Unofficial Josh Klinghoffer website. He talks about playing with RHCP and he specifically mentions ‘Encore’ as well as his influences.

RHCP on Tour 2016: Stockholm

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Date: 10th September, 2016

Location: Tele2 Arena; Stockholm Sweden.

Setlist:  

01 Can’t Stop
02 Dani California
03 Otherside
04 Dark Necessities
05 She’s Only 18
06 Search And Destroy
07 Blood Sugar Sex Magik
08 Go Robot
09 Californication
10 The Getaway
11 Look Around
12 Under The Bridge
13 Sick Love
14 By The Way
~~~~~~~~~~
15 Goodbye Angels
16 Give It Away

 

Notes: They covered Search and Destroy by Iggy Pop and The Stooges

Many thanks to Henrik Lewandowski for his set list information!

Videos:

Hungarian Interview with Flea

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Flea was interviewed recently while on tour in Hungary; you can read the original interview HERE. Besides some basic information about the band, the new album and the Budapest concert, the article is also contains an interview with Flea which has been translated into English for us:

Translation:
Flea says before the first Budapest show: “We arrived in Budapest earlier this week because this city is the first stop of the fall arena tour, so we had to rehearse the show, plus we have new visuals. Recently we had a festival tour in Asia, North America and Europe.”

Flea talks about his Hungarian roots, namely that his paternal grandfather emigrated from Hungary to Australia. “It was nice to walk the streets of Budapest with my ten year old daughter. I was truly touched by being here, and knowing that I am also the part of the Hungarian culture. However, I have never lived here, never spoken the language, and have no knowledge about relatives living here. My name does not really sounds like a Hungarian one either, however, I can imagine that when the immigrants of the first half of the century arrived to Australia their names were recorded by pronunciation, and the authorities might have misheard them, and recorded them incorrectly.”

Flea does not remember their 1996 show in Hungary. “However, I remember that we arrived three days before the show because I wanted to watch Dire Straits perform here.”

The band recently seems more cohesive than ever. When John Frusciante left the band in 2009, Flea thought that it might be over, however, Josh came and the band works with him perfectly. “I guess all the band members would give four different answers to what defines the band’s inner strength. We are different personalities, we think different, we have different musical taste and background. But I am sure we share the love for music which strengthens creativity. Anthony and I still share an intense relationship, we consider each other as brothers, at the same time we have this ongoing rivalry between us. When I go on stage my goal is to let the rhythm get through me and make people feel touched by the music.”

The new album The Getaway looks like it lacks the rebellion and anger which the albums from the 80s and 90s owned.
“Tell those people who say that that I’ll knock them out. Putting the jokes aside, if you know any band in the world that rocks more than us, you are wrong. The intense rock is still defines our music… The Red Hot Chili Peppers is only able to take a step forward if we introduce new elements to our music.”

Flea also remembers the Blood Sugar Sex Magik era. He says they were able to truly relax in the studio that time first. “It was a crazy time, we have just began to learn life.”

He talks about his bees too: “The balance of nature is very important to me. The death of the bees is a huge issue all around the world. It is also important to me to eat healthy food, and honey is one of those. Cooperation between the bees for a long-term goal can be a good role model for our band chemistry as well.”

 

Many thanks to Csenge H for the link and the translation- much appreciated!

Go Robot!

The new Red Hot Chili Peppers’ video to accompany the single ‘Go Robot’ directed by Tota Lee is now out!

You can view it HERE (sorry can’t find an embed code; only a link)

Screen Shots from the Video:

RHCP Tour 2016: Berlin

UPDATED: Full video added

Date: 6th September 2016

Location: Kraftwerk, Berlin, Germany

Set List:

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Photo Credit: Henrik Lewandowski

 

Can’t Stop

Dani California

Dark Necessities

Otherside

Tell Me Baby

The Getaway

Snow ((Hey Oh))

Go Robot

Californication

Look Around

Soul to Squeeze

Sick Love

By The Way

Encore

Cover: Part of Lust For Life (Iggy Pop)

Goodbye Angels

Give It Away

 

Notes: This was a private concert e.g. competition winners were able to attend. It was the first concert in Germany to be filmed in 360 degrees.

For those watching the live stream in Europe- it seemed that US IP addresses were blocked- there were mixed results. Some streams (with the 360 degree camera?) were giving really fuzzy results with lagging sound but other streams (traditional cameras?) were giving excellent quality- which is why my screen shots are from the latter half of the concert as initially I was battling with the poor quality stream until I found out about the other link. A couple of screen shots from the poorer live stream:

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Screen Shots from the Live Stream:

RHCP on Tour 2016: Prague

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Photo credit: Henrik Lewandowski

Message from Chad Smith:

Chad Czech @chadsmithofficial

A video posted by Red Hot Chili Peppers (@chilipeppers) on

Date: 4th September, 2016

Location: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic

Set List:

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Photo credit: Henrik Lewandowski

Can’t Stop

Suck My Kiss

Scar Tissue

Dark Necessities

Parallel Universe

Nobody Weird Like Me

Snow ((Hey Oh))

Go Robot

Californication

What is Soul? (Not listed on the set list)

Factory of Faith

Goodbye Angels

Under The Bridge

Sick Love

By The Way

Encore:

Dreams of a Samurai

Give It Away

Notes:

What is Soul? (Funkadelic) was not listed on the set list.

Many thanks once again to Henrik for all of this info!

RHCP on Tour 2016: Budapest 2

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Photo credit: Henrik Lewandowski

Date: 2nd September, 2016

Location: Pap László Budapest Sport Aréna, Budapest, Hungary

Set List:

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Photo credit: Henrik Lewandowski

By The Way

Dani California

Otherside

Dark Necessities

Universally Speaking

Right On Time

Snow ((Hey Oh))

Go Robot

Californication

We Turn Red

Look Around

Under The Bridge

The Getaway

Around The World

Encore:

Goodbye Angels

Give It Away

Notes:

By The Way was the opening song

And ‘The Getaway’ was replaced with ‘Sick Love’

 

Many thanks to Henrik once again!