TALLINN - Bands are like buses. You wait for ages for one to come, and then a bunch all come at once. The Baltic Times talks about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the latest in a line of bands and artists (including Manic Street Preachers and Lady Gaga) who have, or are due to play, in the Baltics during the summer.
As the Red Hot Chili Peppers prepare to play at Zalgiris Arena in Kaunas on July 28 and the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds on July 30, their history shows that they’ve been a band of survival, power and – with over 65 million albums sold – lots of love from across the world. It’s hard to believe that next year the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be celebrating their 30th anniversary. Whilst familiar to audiences across the world, there’s still freshness to their work that ensures they’re continually attracting new fans, whilst giving plenty for their dedicated fans to enjoy.
And their number of hits is voluminous. Amongst many, many others “Californication,” “Under The Bridge” (one of those songs that became a massive hit without many realizing that it was actually a bitter reflection on the nature of heroin addiction) and “Love Rollercoaster” (which famously first appeared on the soundtrack for “Beavis and Butthead Do America”) have all managed to become massive successes wherever in the world they’ve been released.
Headed by the charismatic Anthony Kiedis, RHCP (as they are affectionately known by acryonym fans everywhere), are made up by the likes of bass player Flea (who has also made a career of making cameos in a number of diverse and weird films, including “The Big Lebowski”), drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Together they create music redolent of America, speaking of life, love and loss mixing punk with funk, New Wave, ska and plenty of other musical forms to create something that is never less than dynamic.
The Tallinn and Kaunas gigs - part of their world tour in support of their latest album “I’m With You” - also promises to be one of their most spectacular yet. With support from British band The Vaccines, RHCP have expressed their desire that the tour offers some of the very best entertainment technology in use today. The stage design, done by United Visual Artists, who have worked with such famous artists as Massive Attack, Jay-Z, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and George Michael, promises video walls, special surprises and enough technology to make most NASA scientists green with envy.
It may seem a long way from the band’s simple ‘do-it-yourself’ beginnings on the LA scene. But the band has been equally at home embracing new technology as they have in keeping true to their origins, and one of their trademarks is high-energy performances that technology can only enhance, as opposed to shape.
Admittedly, with the band currently one of the biggest in the world, they are far from the struggling artists that they used to be. But there’s still a passion and honesty present that many of their peers have failed to preserve.
Their gigs in Estonia and Lithuania are undoubtedly going to be a musical highlight of the year for anyone in the Baltics, often starved of seeing some truly superb stadium rock. Yes, they’ve been going for a long time, but the Red Hot Chilies still manage to have the same effect as when you eat a whole lot of the vegetable that they’ve named themselves after.
Tickets for the gig in Kaunas are available at: www.ticketpro.lt
Tickets for the gig in Tallinn are available at: www.ticketpro.ee
Laurence Boyce
Comments