PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJThe Red Hot Chili Peppers have always between an intertwining theme throughout my radio career. The band emerged right as I began in college radio, in 1984. They headlined the very first concert I ever MC'ed. They made the transition from underground to way-above-ground rockstars right around when I started at my first full-time radio gig in 1991. And their 1999 "return to form" album,
Californication, was released as I was making the transition from being just a DJ to actually running a radio station.
post continues....So the announcement that the Chili Peppers were going to be playing two shows in the summer of 2000 at the PNC Bank Arts Center, about one month apart and with a different major opening act for each (the Foos and Stone Temple Pilots), was a very welcome one.
At the time, WHTG was in the process of being sold and that at some point, probably in the fall, we were all going to lose our jobs. So during that summer, I did my best to do whatever I could for the station staff--and I had a decent block of tickets for a bunch of us to have a good time at this show.
Which we sure did. The Peppers were at the top of their game, recalling their early years with fresh-cut mohawks but without the manic loopiness of their youth. There were several moments when Flea and John Frusciante faced each other about a foot or two apart and played their instruments like an exhilarating Blue Angels precision flying show.
RHCP setlist: "Around The World," "You're Gonna Get Yours" (intro)/"Give It Away," "Scar Tissue," "Suck My Kiss," "If You Have To Ask," "Skinny Sweaty Man," "Otherside," "I Could Have Lied," "Pea," jam, "Easily," "Forming" (John), "I Like Dirt," "Californication," "Good God," "London Calling" (intro)/"Right On Time," "Under The Bridge," "Me and My Friends," "Sir Psycho Sexy," "They're Red Hot," jam, "Power Of Equality"
The Chili Peppers would have been enough to make it an amazing show. But the Foo Fighters opened, and in all my years of show-going I don't think I've ever seen a better opening-act performance. Ever.
They played all of their radio hits, Grohl waded out into the crowd for a solo, they displayed all the light-hearted exhuberance that usually characterizes their shows, and left the audience, breathless, wanting more.
Before the show, I went backstage with some other WHTG DJs and a few contest winners for a quick meet & greet with Dave Grohl and to record a couple of IDs. Grohl was as friendly and charming as can be. I praised his comedy skills (especially in the "Learn to Fly" video and the There Is Nothing Left to Lose EPK when he feigns drunkenness and offers a slurred rockstar tantrum: "Do you know who I am? I was in NIRVANA, for chrissakes!"), but he was disarmingly self-depricating about his acting talents.
I also brought along an FM 106.3 keychain so that he could easily remember the station when he recorded the ID, and he asked to keep it afterwards. I don't know whether he was being genuine or merely working me like a politician, but it was a very cool thing no matter what. Even if it was mere gladhanding salesmanship, I'm impressed he even made the effort.
In the above photo, it's DJ Maggie Morgan at far left, DJ Tod Lewis in red, Grohl at center, and me in the black FM 106.3 t-shirt. I think that might be our Promotions Director Kara Keefe in the back with a hand in front of her face (sorry, Kara!).Labels: Foo Fighters, Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center, Red Hot Chili Peppers
