So the other day I went to a concert for the first time in a while. I've been waiting a while for this one, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'm a fairly big fan of the band (not one of my all time favourites but I enjoy a lot of their hits) so it was nice to go and see them live.

First of all I have to say the support acts they chose were mediocre. For such a big band, the only support worth any time was the Wombats and I wasn't a huge fan. They also completely failed to get the crowd going. The idea of support acts is to warm people up but yeah.

We got stopped at the gate and told we weren't allowed to take alcohol in. It's a big outdoor concert set into a hill but the only drinks you can have are the ones they sell in the bar for twice the regular price. That was annoying but manageable so I was drinking flat lager for most of the day, standing in the rain watching sub-par bands. Then Dizzee Rascal came on which isn't my thing at all and played for way too long.

Finally the band came on and their performance was alright. They riffed a bit too long in between each song and it wasn't that interesting. They also screwed up the ordering, playing most of their hits at the start which was very strange. As we stood in the rain and watched we didn't even wait for an encore, dashing back to the car to avoid the queues.

They played just under 2 hours which was fairly shoddy for a band of that caliber. Then we got stuck in the car, not moving for a further 3 hours. The gig finished at 11 and we got home about 4:30. Considering it was a two hour drive, not that bad but still. I came away feeling like I could've enjoyed myself more at home. There was hordes of people and getting to the bar was nightmarish and the weather was frankly awful.

I woke up achy and a lot poorer. Am I just getting too old for this stuff?

wikey @ 26/6/2012 0:42

I fucking hate the wombats. I have always imagined RHCP to be good live. I love it when bands improvise and do riffs between songs. It usually gets the crowd going too if its good. Maybe it was a lazy performance lol.

They got the crowd going. I think it was just the weather and the awful support acts, plus the fact we were quite far back. I generally prefer outdoor gigs but I spent most of this one wanting to go home.

The sound quality wasn't amazing here but it wasn't terrible. Of all the gigs I've been to it was probably one of the worst. I generally much prefer outdoor gigs, the atmosphere is so much nicer but it helps to have good weather. Still I watched a few in the rain and they still held up.

I think it helps if there's good vibes in the air. I witnessed a fight earlier in the day and scuffling for drinks at the bar was an unpleasant experience. I've been through festivals in the rain and it's worth every second if the crowd is good. There are a lot of parts that make up the whole. I'd also been waiting for the gig since last year so I guess it was just a bit of an anti-climax. A slightly different set of circumstances may have made it a more enjoyable experience. They were pretty much on form with the performance.