Red Hot Chili Peppers
with Foo Fighters and Kool Keith
TD Waterhouse Arena, Orlando, FL • June 15, 2000
Jen Lato
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“Hot Tamales, and they are red hot.” Almost as hot as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who burned up the TD Waterhouse Arena on June 15th, putting on one of the most amazing shows that I’ve ever seen. I was actually fortunate enough to have seen them play in early May at the Pensacola Civic Center, first, though. The show in Pensacola was pretty bad, not to mention short, and to be honest, I left the concert disappointed. So instead of getting upset about this, I became determined to attend the Orlando show, knowing that it would be better, hell… it couldn’t get much worse.
Due to some unfortunate confusion over photo credentials, I missed Kool Keith. I really wanted to see him, because I had heard so many good things about him months beforehand. My partner in crime, however, did get to our seats in time, and was pretty happy with his set. His latest album is entitled Black Elvis/Lost in Space, so check it out for yourself.
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Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters were next up, and did a great job of revving up the crowd in preparation for the Chili Peppers. I’m not too fond of the Foo Fighters, but I enjoy the latest single, “Breakout,” and was pretty happy to hear them play it. The rest of their set sounded like an MTV Foo Fighters special. I’m not very familiar with their music, but I did recognize most of the songs, including “Learn To Fly.” It seemed as though their entire set consisted of overplayed MTV videos. I’m not one for bashing a hard working band, though, so I must admit that they put on a pretty exciting show. Grohl raced around the crowd while a spotlight struggled to follow him. I did not get to see the last couple of songs due to signing forms and such, but from what I heard, it had something to do with large bags of popcorn and some crazy pranks that the bands play on each for pure amusement.
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Like a ball of fire, the Red Hot Chili Peppers finally appeared on stage and burst into “Around the World,” their first release off of their latest album, Californication. Anthony Kiedis sang with power and emotion as Flea jumped around like a little bean, and John Fruciante stood his ground.
My three songs of picture taking quickly ended, and I immediately ran to my seat, trying not to miss too much. My best friend and I sat and stared in awe. Our jaws literally dropped at the sight of them on stage. Our reactions were not surprising when you know that we had been waiting since middle school to see the Chili Peppers play live.
The set was heavily dominated with songs from their 1991 release Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication, with a few surprising older hits. They played one of my favorites from the new one, “Parallel Universe,” along with “Scar Tissue,” “I Like Dirt,” and “Californication.” Other songs included past hits such as “Under The Bridge,” “Me and My Friends,” and “I Could Have Lied.”
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The crowd was even lucky enough to hear “Pea,” which is Flea’s little solo from One Hot Minute, their 1994 release which features Dave Navarro on guitar. The highlight of the show for me, personally, was when they came back out to perform “They’re Red Hot” and “Sir Psycho Sexy,” which is without a doubt my all time favorite.
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Although they played a long set, the show ended before I realized how long they had actually been on stage. Flea and John Fruciante kept on playing by themselves for quite a while, making for a dramatic ending. But sure enough, the Chili Peppers left the stage, as the lights finally came on and the audience slowly realized it was over.
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The only thing I have left to say now is that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are definitely an all time great band, making for a most memorable concert. I’m glad that I was determined to go see them a second time, because it proved to be a much better show down here. If you missed this one… well I hope you beat yourself up about it and continue doing so for the rest of the year. ◼
