LITTLE ROCK — The Red Hot Chili Peppers might have cooled off a tad since their last visit to Little Rock, a Barton Coliseum show in 2000.
But this year the band made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after almost 30 years of hits, conflicts, drug problems, rehabilitation stints, injuries, band members departing and returning and other adventures, including the postponement of the band’s current tour, including their show tonight in North Little Rock.
The concert was originally announced in December and set for March 16, but on Jan. 11 Verizon Arena officials announced that the show had been rescheduled for tonight, saying the band regretted “… that they must postpone the start of their upcoming U.S. tour due to multiple foot injuries sustained by Anthony Kiedis. Anthony recently underwent surgery to remove a crushed sesamoid bone and correct a detached flexor tendon in his foot and is expected to make a full recovery.”
If any band could have been likely to self-destruct, rather than survive three decades, it would be the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who lost one original member (guitarist Hillel Slovak) to a drug overdose in 1988 and came close with several others among the current musicians and former ones.
The surviving original members are lead singer Kiedis and Michael “Flea” Balzary on bass, piano, trumpet and backing vocals. Drummer Chad Smith joined in 1988 and the newest member is Josh Klinghoffer on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals, who joined in 2009. Previous noted guitarists have included John Frusciante and Dave Navarro.
Formed in 1983, the Los Angeles area band was originally a blend of punk, funk, metal and rock sounds, with a gradual blend into melodic hard rock. Years passed before the public embraced the Chili Peppers, beginning with the 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the first of the Rick Rubin-produced studio albums, recorded in Rubin’s studio in the former mansion of famed magician Harry Houdini. Commercial success finally arrived in 1999 with the album Californication, which sold 15 million copies. It wasn’t until 2006 that one of the band’s albums, Stadium Arcadium, hit the No. 1 spot on the charts and a year later, won five Grammy Awards: Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song (“Dani California”), Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal (“Dani California”), Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package and Best Producer (Rubin).
The band’s hit singles include “Give It Away,” which won a Grammy Award in 1992 for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal; the 1992 ballad “Under the Bridge,” which reached No. 2; and another ballad, 1995’s “My Friends,” which reached No. 1.
Three of the band’s albums are on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication and By the Way (2002), ranked Nos. 310, 399 and 304.
Injuries continue to plague the band. On Aug. 14, Klinghoffer broke his foot during a show in Oakland, Calif., and began wearing a walking boot.
On April 15, the day after their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band performed a free concert in downtown Cleveland, with those admitted to the concert required to volunteer for the phone bank working to re-elect President Barack Obama.
The Chili Peppers’ opening act, Thundercat — also known as Stephen Bruner — has played bass on albums by Erykah Badu, SaRa and Flying Lotus. He was born and raised in Los Angeles in a musical family.
His father, Ronald Bruner Sr., was a drummer who played with Diana Ross, The Temptations and Gladys Knight. Brother Ronald Bruner Jr., a Grammy Awardwinning drummer, has played with Stanley Clarke and Kenny Garrett.
Red Hot Chili
Peppers
Opener: Thundercat
8 p.m. today, Verizon Arena, East Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock
Tickets: $37.50, $57.50
(800) 745-3000
ticketmaster.com
Weekend, Pages 34 on 10/25/2012