Minute by Minute Account of RHCP

My knuckles turned white as they gripped the steering wheel. It never failed. Every single time I have to be somewhere, there's gridlock traffic in Boston. It never fails.

As the weather worsened, so went my mood. Eventually, after an hour and a half commute that's supposed to take a half-hour, I had arrived. My voice was course from screaming and left hand sore from punching my steering wheel, but I had arrived. I received a phone call from Timmy- the friend of mine who had been nice enough to get me a ticket to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers this past Friday at the Boston TD BankNorth Garden. As Timmy lives literally next door to the venue, I was determined to ride my bike over to his apartment rain or shine, disregarding entirely the fact that my bicycle was made 20 years ago from spare parts my uncle found at a dump. An hour earlier, when I was actually at the liquor store, Timmy didn't need any liquor. Now he had conveniently changed his mind.

So I packed up my beers, threw on my rain jacket, hopped on the ol' bike and started off down the street. In my haste I'd forgotten, in addition to the state of disrepair of the bike, that it's rotten tires were also racing tires (and thus provide zero traction in wet road conditions). Naturally, when I went to make the first left hand turn, those old racing tires spun out, leaving me sprawled out in a puddle in the middle of the street. Enraged, I re-mounted the bicycle and continued on. A brief visit to the liquor store for some Kettle One and an uneventful jaunt accross Charlestown to the North End later.....and I had really arrived....at Timmy's place.

Naturally Timmy, who's all business, indicated upon my arrival that we were to be joined by some of his stock-brokering friends. Naturally. Countless drinks and a couple of joints (I abstained) later, we decided it was time to make our way to the concert. I ignored Timmy and my new acquaintences' urges to wear a coat. It wasn't cold out......just rainy. A t-shirt would do me just fine, right?

Wrong. The temperature had dropped by what felt like 20 degrees and the wind had picked up to such a degree that it was extremely difficult to breath (like sticking your head out of a car window while driving on the Mass Pike in December). In my chemically enhanced stupor, I actually thought of recommending we turn back (please bear in mind that The Garden is literally next door). I'm not sure I even talked myself out it, probably just couldn't speak or breath because of the wind.

We continued on....eventually separating at the entrance. Timmy and I would be in the cheap seats. The others; corporate style up front. After running up countless flights of stairs, we were both nauseous. Timmy wanted a drink. I wanted to find our seats. Naturally, Timmy got an Orange Fanta, something we really got a kick out of once we reached our seats and realized what a stoner move Orange Fanta was. This is especially funny when you consider Timmy's 26 years-old.

As we took our seats we realized that we were far and away the oldest people in our section (not to be accompanied by the fruit of our loins). Actually, the perv in front of us had binoculars. We weren't sure if he was just reeeeaaaallly overprotective or a flamboyant child molester. Upon communicating this with one another and breaking out into hysterical laughter, naturally, the lady next to us told us we were in the wrong seats. Laughint all the way, we moved to our rightful perches on the other side of the section. As demographically out of place as we felt, we shared a similar state of mind with much of our section. No, I'm not bragging.

We started listening to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.....who I must say sounded a lot more experimental than usual.....and had added a few new musicians to their lineup. About ten minutes later, Timmy and I turned to one another simultaneously, as if sharing a brain, and mumbled in unison, "This isn't the Chilli Peppers."

Sure enough, the 6 peice melee playing out before our very eyes and ears was The Mars Volta. Having realized how much of a retard I was, I shook myself back to relative lucidity....at least enough to enjoy 3 songs, spanning about a half-hour, of really frenzied jamming. There was much more continuity live than is present throughout Frances the Mute (I have not heard their latest effort), and yet they were still ripping through extended insanity, copious time changes, and my ear drums in much the manner I had expected. I was sad to see them leave the stage.....

Especially because minutes later it was announced that they Peppers' flight had been delayed and they were sitting in traffic somewhere in Boston. It was during the subsequent delay/buzzkill that I realized and brought to Timmy's attention, the 15-ish year old hippie sitting next to me who was smoking his body weight in weed. Over the course of the next 2 and a half hours, a span of time during which this kid never took a breath of air that wasn't full of THC, he brought out all sorts of emotions in us. Guilt, jealousy, shame, exuberance, and awe to name a few....

Which was convenient because the music elicited much of the same. I have to say I did enjoy the Chilli Peppers set. While the reviews I have read claim their new material misses the addictive resonance of their previous two albums, I tend to disagree. It's decidedly less poppy but more resonant. What confused me was the juxtaposition of the song's structures and the constant need for Flea and John Frusciante to take the jams somewhere else entirely. Don't get me wrong. Both musicians are incredible and their ability to play off of one another was probably the best part of the show. Ultimately, I just couldn't help but feel Flea and Frusciante are somewhat bored with the constraints of the Chili Pepper framework. These two dudes want to do something different whether they're willing to admit it or not. Perhaps, out of loyalty to Chad Smith and Anthony Keidis, or out of loyalty to the almighty dollar (which they're surely making hand over fist with this tour), they stretched the music a little too thin....which left me satiated.....but a little lost......