It’s hard to image a band that loves the Forum more than the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who headlined the annual iHeartRadio ALTer EGO at the Inglewood venue on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Maybe the Eagles, who’ve had a long, storied connection with the building now known as the Kia Forum.
But then you’re never going to hear Don Henley wax poetic like Anthony Kiedis did in a shambling story about riding the city bus to the arena in ’80s — bassist Flea with his hair parted down the middle, dressed in baggy corduroy shorts — to sneak into a show “like little rats scattering in the night.”
“We watched the Who play a rock concert because that’s what we had to do,” Kiedis explained by way of introducing “By The Way,” which with its opening couplet — “Standing in line / To see the show tonight” — kinda-maybe links the story with the song.
By that point, almost midnight, fans in the sold-out arena had stood in line and sat in seats for more than five hours, in a show that included Jack White, Chvrches, Muse, Phoenix, Fall Out Boy, Beach Weather, and Rosa Linn.
How’s it all went down:
Hometown heroes: Sure, Randy Newman wrote “I Love LA,” but the Red Hot Chili Peppers really mean it, and their fans reciprocate in kind. This was the band the crowd came to see, and even though they surely didn’t get all the hits they hoped to hear they probably went home happy.
In a set of 10 songs there were exactly three hits: “Snow (Hey Oh),” “Californication,” and “By The Way.” No “Can’t Stop,” no “Give It Away,” no “Dani California,” no “Under The Bridge.”
Which is fine. A band can play what a band wants to play, and the Chili Peppers played five numbers off the two new albums they released in 2022, “Unlimited Love” and “Return of the Dream Canteen.” There are some very good songs on those records — “Black Summer,” for one — but three of them had apparently never been played live before, so some in the crowd might have been a little bit lost at times. (Of those, “The Drummer” was a standout.)
Why not ditch the instrumental jam between Flea, guitarist John Frusciante, and drummer Chad Smith, and add another classic? And while it was strangely cool to hear Frusciante do a solo cover of Loggins & Messina’s “Danny’s Song” — “Even though we ain’t got money / I’m still in love with you honey” — maybe that could be saved for a full show when there’s more room for the other hits.
Guitar rock rules: Both Jack White and Muse have headlined Coachella in the past, but Coachella is an eclectic pop festival now with these strains of aggressive blues and bombastic hard rock nearly eradicated. So thank you, ALTer EGO, for giving them the spotlight they deserve on Saturday.
White played just before the Red Hot Chili Peppers and like the biblical John delivered one revelation after another during his set. White, coincidentally, also released a pair of new albums last year, but here that didn’t quite matter as much. You go to see Jack White for the thrilling rush of whatever he plays — solo stuff or songs from from his past in the White Stripes and Raconteurs — more than to sing along with the hits.
He didn’t stop playing his guitar, singing, or skipping and hopping across the stage for his full 40-minute set, from the hard blues-rock opener “Taking Me Back” to the Stonesy “A Tip From You to Me.” And definitely not during the familiar stuff that wrapped it all up — White Stripes’ “Icky Thump” and the Raconteurs’ “Steady As She Goes — with a massive finale on the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
The British hard rock trio Muse had played a set or two earlier, delivering a good mix of hits such as “Hysteria” and “Supermassive Black Hole” and strong new material off their 2022 release “Will of the People.”
Singer-guitarist Matt Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard mixed thrilling anthemic songs such as “Uprising” with gentler fare such as “Starlight” in ways that make their upcoming world tour, which plays Los Angeles and Anaheim in April, a must-see for fans of heavy, melancholic rock.
Je t’aime Phoenix: The French electro-pop band Phoenix played a terrific set earlier in the night that used New Wave-esque synths and guitars to provide a lush bed for singer Thomas Mars’ vocals. The set opened with the band backlit in silhouette, Mars singing a spare backing arrangement before the full band kicked in and the crowd erupted with probably the most dancing of the night.
Other highlights including “Alpha Zulu,” the title track of Phoenix’s 2022 album, and “Loser,” a track from breakthrough album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.” The set closed with “1901” and Mars going into the crowd, as he always does, with his microphone attached to a few hundred feet of red mic cord. On Saturday, that was enough to get him through the fans on the floor to clamber up into the first level of seats to thank the crowd.
The undercard: Fall Out Boy opened the show even though the pop-punk band is big enough to have played later in the lineup. Radio shows often do this to get fans in the seats on time and kick off their livestreams with something good. And Fall Out Boy went down a banger with the not-yet-full house.
The band opened with “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and “Uma Thurman” with its “Munsters” theme-song-sampling guitar riff. Other highlights included “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” and “Thnks fr th Mmrs.”
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The Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches delivered one of the gentler sets of the night and singer Lauren Mayberry was one of just two women in the spotlight on Saturday.
Highlights included songs such as “Miracle” and especially “Asking For a Friend,” which placed Mayberry’s lovely vocal over a sheen of chilly synths. Mayberry also cheerfully shared things she’s learned from playing festivals — “Always bring your own toilet paper” among them — and sweetly dragged the guy singers for their lack of sartorial flair.
“Let’s be honest, the dudes dress really boring,” she told the crowd. “There’s no green sparkles. So thanks for letting me don my green sparkles.”