Red Hot Chili Peppers might be a stadium fixture, but they’re not into victory laps – as the first night of their European tour proved.
Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys was the setting for a storming set of highlights from four decades – though they still have all the urgency of a band with something to prove.
Flea, John Frusciante and an almost permanently grinning Chad Smith fill the 55,000 capacity stadium with a wall of noise before frontman Anthony Kiedis (yes, moustaches are cool again) bounds onto the stage to tear through a brilliantly frantic 'Don’t Stop'. What an opening riff that is, by the way.
Kiedis and Flea, both topless and leaping around the stage, look like the greatest WWE tag team there never was.
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That energy carries them through 'Dani California' and makes recent single 'Black Summer' sound like it’s been around forever.
'The Heavy Wing', 'Aquatic Mouth Dance', 'Watchu Thinkin’' and 'These Are The Ways' also get a run out from new album Unlimited Love, slotting neatly in to a greatest hits set that includes the bright and breezy 'Zephyr Song' and brooding 'Californication'.
The Chili Peppers are bass funking their way across Europe between now and mid-July – including shows in Manchester London and Glasgow – before embarking on a huge North American tour until October.
No sign of slowing down then, which is just as well, as Kiedis and co end the set with a riotous 'Give It Away' before returning for a swift encore of 'Under The Bridge' and 'By The Way', as Davis's thundering drums chop though the balmy Barca night sky.
Plenty of miles left in the tank for the Red Hot Chili Peppers then, and more than capable of beating bands half their age in a sprint finish.
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Setlist
Intro Jam
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Can't Stop
Dani California
Around the World
Black Summer
The Zephyr Song
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Aquatic Mouth Dance
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Right on Time
Whatchu Thinkin'
Otherside
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The Heavy Wing
Californication
These Are the Ways
I Could Have Lied
Give It Away
Under the Bridge
By the Way
Topics: Music
Simon Binns