I recently went with my 16-year-old son to a movie theater broadcast of a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert from Köln, Germany.
"So what?" you might be thinking.
Well, it meant a lot to me.
I have actually been to Köln, so I was curious about the filming there.
I am a Chili Peppers fan, I listen to them while at the gym at least a couple of times a week.
They were playing new music, something that has not happened in five years.
My son was interested in going too, and since I was a fan through him, it seemed like the right thing to do !
You can argue about how lame it is to watch a rock concert in a movie theater. Of course it is better to hear the
music live and you can't quite capture the thrill of a live performance on film. At least in a theater I was guaranteed
a good view of the band, something a 5' 2" person is never sure of getting unless pressed up against the stage.
You can argue about the Chili Peppers themselves. With guitarist John Frusciante gone, are they still the Chili Peppers ?
They can't possible sound the same, how can that be good, and so on and so on.
Well, we went and we had fun!
We got into the theater about half an hour before the show was set to start, and to our delight they showed a little travelogue of he band driving into Köln. I recognized the majestic Cathedral, it brought back memories of climbing countless stairs to get to the top and enjoy the view of the city.
There was a interesting interview of band, discussing their new guitarist and their new music. So far, so good! It was worth it just to see bassist Flea's aqua hair and gap-toothed grin filling the entire movie screen.
The concert finally started, they were playing at an indoor theater called E-Werk. The German crowd was ready, many wearing RHCP tee-shirts and jumping along with the music. The band played all but one song off the new record being released that day, plus a couple hits as an encore.
Yes, they do sound different. Their former guitarist had a very distinctive sound, and the young replacement Josh Klinghoffer kept it very low key, perhaps a conscious effort to not try to copy the sound. The new songs emphasized drums and bass much more, plus the extra sound of a trumpet and curiously, a cowbell !
No matter, the music flowed and my son and I listened and watched. We took a couple snaps with our phones, just for documentation purposes, of course,
The only disappointing part was perhaps the very short encore, it would have been interesting to hear a few more of the old songs, but this was not intended to be a greatest hits concert.
After it was over, my son told me that he thought that the new guitarist was different but still very good.
The best part happened the next day. After I got home from work, my son told me that he had a good time seeing the concert with me. Just hearing that made me feel great, then It struck me that the music was mirroring life. I was the old Pepper and he was the young Pepper, and the music was bringing us together...
