Red Hot Chili Peppers: John’s Back Again!
It was THE sensation for all Red Hot Chili Peppers’ fans: In July when the forefathers of crossover came to the “9:30” club in New York for a spontaneous surprise concert, no other than ex-pepper John Frusciante stood on stage with singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea and drummer Chad Smith. With that the secret about the replacement of guitarist Dave Navarro who left in April was finally disclosed. The 800 fans who only got to know about the gig two hours prior celebrated the rock-legend’s comeback.
In 1992 at the peak of the Peppers’ fame and during the worldwide celebrated BloodSugarSexMagik-tour John had left the band due to “disagreements”. It was stated that there were internal problems. Not a single sign of those were left now in New York. With his typical, powerful style John added the required spice to the groovy sound of the band, whose biggest hit „Under the Bridge“ has just been covered by the All Saints. Although he almost looks stiff now with his brown, shoulder-length hair in contrast to his previous colourful mane, John still stole peppers-leaders’ Anthony and Flea’s show with his solos.
After the gig John almost burst with joy: “It was great to be on stage again with the guys after six years. We talked about everything and put and end to our dispute. Now we’re pulling together again and making the Peppers the best band in the world!”
In late summer the band will be touring through South America for a couple of weeks. A downer for the German fans: this year the Peppers won’t be coming to Germany anymore and the next album – the first since One Hot Minute in 1995 – will not be released until spring 1999.
* The article got some things wrong, typical of BRAVO. This happened in June and 9:30 club is in Washington DC, not New York City.
