Jul 10

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS (A Parent's Perspective) Show Review Pittsburgh PA Starlake

Recently, legendary California rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers disembarked on their cross-country North-American "UNLIMITED LOVE TOUR" with Ice Cube, Ken Carson, Domi & JD Beck, Otoboke Beaver, Seun Kuti and Wand as support originally with acts IRONTOM and Kid Kudi on the bill, both dropping off due to illness and a broken foot, respectively.

The band has been pretty much on tour since guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the band and since the pandemic broke, even dropping two albums in 2022, the records Unlimited Love in April of that year, then Return of the Dream Canteen later in October of 2022 where this tour sorta of all kicked off back in 2022 with their "Global Stadium Tour" which featured The Strokes, Iggy Pop, The Roots and more and prior to that touring co-headlining international shows with Post Malone.

Which leads us to...

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS roll into Starlake Pavillion in Burgettstown PA, just outside of Pittsburgh. At a 23,000 capacity crowd, the outdoor venue was sold out on the hot summer PA evening.

Opening first was Domi & JD Beck, a jazz fusion duo comprised of a pianist and drummer whom frequently said throughout the night “we know we’re not what you were expecting”, referring to the fact that Kid Kudi was supposed to be the original opener for the show. The duo played around a 35 minute set of straight jazz instrumental music and was the only opener for the evening.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers took the stage with a instrumental jam from guitarist John Frusciante, drummer Chad Smith and bassist Flea, then being greeted by singer Anthony Kiedis as they kicked into “Around The World” from 1999’s Californication album.

From there, the entire night was one an explosion of Chili Peppers energy with the band even bringing out deep cuts like “Throw Away Your Television off of 2002’s By The Way record.

The band even threw in a couple of cover songs like David Bowie’s “Kooks” with a solo by Fruscinate, James Brown’s “Cold Sweats”, and part of The Clash’s “London Calling” in the middle of their track “Right On Time”.

There were plenty of new tracks to go around as well from both 2022’s Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen albums like tracks Eddie, Black Summer, and Aquatic Mouth Dance.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Red Hot Chili Peppers show without classic tracks like Californication, By The Way, Otherside, The Zepher Song, with the band closing the night out with “Give It Away” from 1991’s “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” album.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are and have always been one of those bands that have alluded my bucket list and I was so fortunate to have been able to see them. They are definitely an act that any avid concert goer should see once in their life, because let’s face it, we all like at least one RHCP song.

Check out the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS photo gallery and highlights below!

GALLERY