By the Way: Red Hot Chili Peppers concert review

Some people are scared of aging; I am one of those people. Age is something everyone cannot escape; everyone except for the guys in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. These men are pushing 50 years old but are still rocking out as if they were the young fresh faced boys from the late 80’s.

 On Friday night I attended their first of two sold out shows at the Air Canada Centre. These men have been touring the world and making kick ass music for over thirty years so the crowd at the show was a mix of everyone of all ages and different backgrounds.

Their opening act was the dance-punk dou Sleigh Bells. We’ve all heard that song of theirs on MTV Live called Infinity Guitars. Their sound isn’t for everyone which is probably the reason why less than one quarter of the entire audience showed up for the opening. I would have enjoyed their set if I could actually hear the lead singer’s voice because other than that, the overwhelming eardrum popping crash of the bass for 30 minutes left me with a headache that turned me off from beer for the night.

Finally at around 9:15pm the Chilis took to the stage with the sold out crowd eagerly waiting. The energy from the crowd was a vibe that infected everyone. If the aisles weren’t as packed as a Japanese subway then I would have showcased my incredible air drum and air guitar skills with no shame. Anthony, Flea, Chad and newest member Josh performed an incredible show that made my six year wait for a concert worth every second. The men who could technically be my fathers, easily jumped around moshing and performing at studio calibre for an hour and a half. Whatever is in their water, I need some!

They performed new and old songs, crowd pleasers and nostalgic tunes. The set list is as follows:

·         Monarchy of Roses

·         Can’t Stop

·         Dani California

·         Otherside

·         Look Around

·         Throw Away Your Television

·         Hard to Concentrate

·         The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie

·         Right On Time

·         You Have To Ask

·         Factory of Faith

·         Under the Bridge

·         Higher Ground

·         Californication

·         By the Way

·         Around the World

·         Meet Me At the Corner

·         Give it Away

Some quick concert observation shout outs: the couple grinding on each other all concert; the drunk couple pretty much re-enacting a scene from the Notebook while blocking the stairway (YOLO); the drunk 15 year old girls chatting up older men in exchange for alcohol; the guy who came to the concert alone sat beside me quietly all show and then moshed the fuck out during Give It Away; all the people who provided the joints being passed around; and the guy wearing pants inspired by Flea in Higher Ground.

WE ARE BORN

image via wikipedia

A few weeks ago I gathered my finest fake id and metro pass and headed to Sherbourne to see Sia and Oh Land at the Phoenix.  Going into the show I was completely unaware of any of Oh Land's music and could vaguely remember some of Sia's work having heard it in the cinematic gem, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."  Despite the fact that the only song I was familiar with in the performance was the encore finale tune, "Breathe me," I was completely mesmerized and blown away by the entire show. I hadn't been to a concert in so long that didn't involve angsty pre-teens punching me in the stomach or starting shit in a sweaty mosh pit.  The entire concert was so mellow.  From start to finish Sia's flawless voice took over the entire Phoenix concert theatre as her loyal fans screamed for her to play their favourite tracks from her catalogue of albums spanning over a decade.  Having seen Adele perform live in the past, I have to say that Sia's performance was just as captivating and engaging. Although I wasn't one of the loyal Sia fanatics entering the Phoenix on that sweltering July night, I can honestly say that the concert made me want to go home and get the entire setlist.

Mac Miller on His Donald Trump Shit

If I wanted to go to an area surrounded by white teens I would have gone to my high school reunion. Unlike my high school, Mac Miller put on for an hour of nonstop ultra teenage swag which white rich kids from North Toronto never exuded. Similarities between North Toronto C.I. white boys and Miller?—they love their Canadian weed.

The night started off with a longer than expected wait in the blistering heat wave Toronto faced on that mid-July night. We knew the show was sold out but from when doors were supposed to open (8:00pm), it took us one hour to get in and that’s considering the fact that we joined the line at seven. Although the wait was unexpected it still went by smoothly thanks to the atmosphere drunk/high Miller fans made. A minivan drove by that noticed this crowd waiting to get into the Kool Haus and when the passenger asked a scalper what this line was waiting for, the scalper spoke with simple truth: “It’s for Mac Miller, a white rapper, he does white people rap”.

I don’t know if there is a prejudice against white people rapping or if that racial difference created segregation within a genre of music but by looking at the fans it was true; there was not a black kid in sight. With that said, inevitably this crowd had some drunk douche-bag bros.

Inside the Kool Haus the crowd was getting rowdy waiting for the show to start while a female DJ played popular tunes. Midori, Michelle and I found a sweet spot near the stage off-side and within minutes others did too. As soon as TFHouse kicked off his set of songs, the douche bags came out to play. These big boys decided it was “kewl” to push, shove and almost trample smaller teens (in my area this was mainly teen girls).  I swear I almost punched one of the kids; I couldn’t take his bullshit any longer.

Alas, by the time Mac Miller came onstage, all was well! Security had set these asses straight.

When you see Mac Miller perform, or even listen to his songs, you forget how young the kid is. He’s my age and he’s got full control of the audience. “Im Justin Bieber meets Jadakiss,” raps Miller in Get ‘Em Up. He’s a performer and better yet, he’s a leader. He started the whole “thumbs up” movement focusing on celebrating the positives of our young lives. His youth makes him that much more relatable to his audience. He could be a friend of mine, he could be a classmate, or he could have been an ex-boyfriend. But he’s not, he’s Mac Miller and he’s jumping around to his songs onstage showing this audience a good fucking time.

Miller takes a moment from the show to say he’s not always a party boy, he raps about other things too. This is where the vibe of the show tones down a bit as Miller dedicates the song “Poppy” to his late grandfather. A very touching speech about a time in his life when he decided he was going to pursue his dream; a time when he wanted to become the rapper from Pittsburgh we know as Mac Miller. Miller admits his family wasn’t 100% supportive; everyone except his grandfather of course. His grandfather supported him all the way but as would happen in a TV movie, Miller’s old man passed away before he could see his grandson’s success. So he dedicated this song and this moment to him and to anyone someone in the audience lost.

By the end of the show I had gone through mild-beatings, laughs, sweat, tears and I had lost my voice; as the result of a good concert should be.

The kid from Pittsburgh, now an international star, has more great things to come (BLUE SLIDE PARK coming out later this year) with the many-many years in this industry his future holds. On July 16^th, 2011 he made Pittsburgh proud, his fans from all over proud and my heart knows that his grandfather is looking down with two proud thumbs up.