by Matteo Cruccu, sent to Florence
After the appetizer of Green Day and Muse, the highlight is the Californian band after a five-year absence
FLORENCE Like the last bar on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, they start jamming wildly, improvising, telling us that rock is back. Yes, after a two-year absence, rock has returned to Firenze Rocks, the most important festival of its kind in Italy. After Green Day and the Muse appetizer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the highlight after a five-year absence. Florence’s 65,000 people are a truly diverse audience, the kids who discovered the Californians on Spotify and the forties-plus who fell in love with this funketone in the late ’80s (representing world champion Marco Materazzi, every die-hard fan in the first Place. ).
The jam begins and we understand that something has changed from previous Red Hot performances in Italy: John Frusciante is back in the group, paraphrasing a nineties generational novel. This is the great guitarist who left in 2009. And everyone benefits from it. Starting with Anthony Kiedis, who hasn’t always been irresistible to the voice in the past, obviously reassured by his presence. Which gets off to a great start with Can’t Stop by The Way and then Dani California’s beloved-mocked homeland. Also known is the tarantolato Flea on bass, who thanks John several times, while Chad Smith has his say on drums. And we forgive the band for perhaps overindulging in the rest of the lineup with five out of seventeen songs from current album Unlimited Love.
But the alchemy thanks to the return of the prodigal son John is perfect. And when you go back to the old register with Californication’s Otherside, the audience goes wild. an irresistible crescendo towards the end of Californication first and then Give it The Way, an epochal song. Which ushers in By the Way’s final apotheosis, although some will be disappointed if the anthem of despair “Under The Bridge” is missing. But whatever, curtain. We had never seen such beautiful, such perfect Red Hots in this latitude. Because John Frusciante returned to the group.
June 18, 2022 (change June 18, 2022 | 23:25)
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