On Monday night, I trekked down to the O2 with my galpal Caz to watch Red Hot Chili Peppers do their thing. This was a birthday treat which came around far quicker than expected – November seemed a long way off in July – and it was most strange for both of us to be out in the Big Smoke on our own without children or husbands and on a school night, no less.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the gig, although there were a few disappointments including a lack of meaningful interaction with the audience, Keidis messing up the lyrics to Under the Bridge and some less than slick performances – it was like they were out of practice, even though this gig was slap bang in the middle of a tour which started in July. We were a bit perturbed by Keidis’s ‘tache and hair do, too. Such a girlie thing to notice, but still.  This review of a much smaller gig back in September read as very familiar. ‘Hipster’ is so on the nose!

I also was a bit distracted by the lookalikieness of the band… first there is the obvious Chad Smith/Will Ferrell thang (I love the pic below which also shows Flea and John C Reilly)

but also the newish guitarist Josh Klinghoffer had an uncanny similarity to Robert Pattinson:

Back to the music, though and I was pleased that they struck a good balance for the set list between their new album and their greatest hits. I think they played all my favourite songs bar one Blood Sugar Sex Magik album track, I Could Have Lied, which is not exactly surprising in its absence.  Their new tracks sounded solid (again, I wrote this before reading that review!) and I definitely want the new album, I’m With You. And despite our seats in the gods (man, the O2 goes up high), we had an excellent view of the stage with it’s impressive screen rig and video / lighting effects.

And I really don’t want to sound ungrateful – I really did enjoy it but I suppose I am just a bit spoilt by the experience we have had seeing bands like the Foo Fighters who really know how to give you value for money. And whilst I didn’t pay, I was painfully aware of how expensive the tickets were (£49 after booking fees) for a gig which lasted an hour and a half.

One last thing, it was annoying to have people behind us get annoyed when we stood up because a) we had to since those in front of us were standing and we wanted to see the stage and b) we were at a god damned rock gig. Gahd.