Had a really good time on our trip to Grand Rapids to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I felt like I really did leave my problems (and I've had a few lately) behind, and came home to fewer of them than I remembered.
There's not much I can say about the show that would do it justice. Though they aren't my favorite band, the Peppers are one of the best live acts around, unquestionably. Having been a musician in a former life, (and having seen plenty of shows where bands just couldn't pull their stuff together), I appreciate seeing a group whose members can play tight as a fist even while they push their individual performances to the edge of their respective ledges. It helps when you've played together for the better part of 20 years (longer in the case of most of them), and, when you're among the best people on your instrument playing today. Whatever you think of their music, there's no denying their talent on the stage.
Highlights for me were their performances of "Blood Sugar Sex Magic," which I hadn't heard live before, and the soulfully beautiful "Snow," from their latest album. Anthony Kiedis, their singer, dedicated the latter on to his grandparents, who were at the show. Toward the end of it, several large blowers shot loads of white confetti up in the air--and although they surely didn't plan it that way, it felt like a natural extension of the snow that was falling outside, and that had fallen during most of our trip up. It was one of those coincidences that feels more like finding an unexpected coherence.
Of course, incoherence was on display as well, in the persons of some college-age ladies sitting just in front of us. At the start of the show, they danced with such abandon that they forgot entirely the cups of beer in their hand. Kristine escaped unscathed, though I ended up with beer on my shoes, jeans, and shirt. One of them should have spilled more. Having apparently had a bit more than her friends prior to the show, she tumbled back onto us, into the row in front of her, besides simply collapsing onto her friends several times. When she decided to continue her act standing on the tops of the seats, the ushers came and hauled her away. I couldn't help wondering if some of my students were up to similar things at the moment.
Anyway, it was a good night. I'd gladly do it again, though I'll have to settle for updating my CD collection. Whenever we go to a show anymore, I come away wanting to listen to more and more kinds of music. I used to follow the up-and-coming bands quite avidly back in the day, and was a bit of an indie music snob, to tell the truth. I don't have any real desire to be like that again, but I still often wish I did know a bit more about the music of the day.
Maybe a trip to Borders is in the cards tonight.
Tags: Red Hot Chili Peppers; Music
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