Jack Irons opened up the night with a 20-minute long drum performance over ambient background tones. As a founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a long-time industry icon, he needed little introduction, but he got a generous one anyway from Flea who came out and set him up for success with the audience. Irons played impressively and cleanly while psychedelic visuals of vintage films layered with acid tape effects played on the screen behind him. White rabbits and circus performances featured heavily in the reel while bursts of green and purple washed over them in liquid waves.

The stage crews took their time getting things organized between performances, so everyone had plenty of time to go to the bars for drinks and make it back to their seats in time. I’m not sure what Philips Arena’s policy on over-serving is, but it clearly isn’t rigidly defined, as I saw several people who were barely capable of standing up straight by the end of the night. The rows in front of me quickly filled in with groups who looked like business professionals tying one on for the night. One gentleman had to be guided back to his seat about a dozen times by security after he repeatedly kept trying to move up to the front of the section. A girl in a Braves shirt simply could not be convinced that she was dancing too wildly until she had to stop to puke and her boyfriend led her away in shame. I later found out that I was in the VIP section, so maybe this is just how VIPs behave.

The direct support for the Peppers was an amazing Japanese band called BabyMetal. They were a trash metal band with anime-style poppy vocals overtop. The band members all looked like Samara from The Ring, in long white robes and face paint. The singers were three tiny young women in black leather and lace outfits. They were the perfect definition of Kawaii, and layered against the speed and noise of the music, it was like a deep peek inside Japanese pop culture, a place of wonderful costume, cuteness, and sometimes emotional darkness. Several people in the crowd looked confused, but everyone looked entertained. They were weird and unexpected, but their performance was very fun to watch and got everyone paying attention, which was definitely necessary for the performance that The Red Hot Chili Peppers were about to deliver.