What a day, what a crowd, what a place for a gig. The Gods must certainly be smiling on the Chili Peppers at the moment, huge artistic and commercial success with concurrent albums and massive worldwide tours culminating in a triumphant headlining appearance at Slane last summer. Everything seemed set for the band to repeat that success today.

As we walked the hour long trek from the gates of the park to the concert site the lazy sunny strains of The Thrills pop/country rock amalgam carried on the breeze, putting the thousands ascending the hill in a light hearted mood. On reaching the concert area we flopped on the grass and rolled a fat one. The crowd in front of us was a site to behold, 110,000 people stretched out over a huge area that dipped down toward the stage, giving a good vantage point even from well back in the throng.

The Pixies came on and after watching for a bit, a beer run was deemed necessary. After two attempts at the bar queue and an hour later I managed to lay my hands on a couple of precious pints of Heneikin. You stand for an hour to get served and then you're only allowed to buy two drinks, what the fuck is all that about? Anyway it was Chili time! The band took to the stage at about 8:30, banks of big screens surrounding them. After a short intro jam they were straight into Can't Stop, quickly followed by Around the World and the crowd were up and at it. But the band lost the momentum slightly by following up with a solo song from John that no one recognised. They quickly redeemed themselves however with the brilliant Scar Tissue. The band were into their stride now and ripped out a selection of classics that thrilled the audience including By The Way, Parallel Universe, Otherside, Get On Top and the beautifully mellow funk of I Like Dirt. The band also played a superb sounding new track that went down well. Half way through I noticed Fruiscante had cut his hair off, although it didn't affect his playing. The man was excellent throughout and the band was well oiled and tighter than a pair of stag jeans off the market. The first set closed with Californication, the crowd singing along to every word. Only 9:40, an hour and ten minutes and the main set had ended! Chad was first out for the encore and treated us to some well-known drum intros, U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday eliciting the biggest reaction. Next out was Flea who played a bad trumpet solo for what seemed like eternity, John joining in by making strange equipment sounds. Finally Anthony returned to put an end to the silliness and a beautiful and heartfelt Under The Bridge emerged to silence the masses. This was followed by a cover version of a track by underground Californian punk band 40 Foot Grunts, which seemed like an unnecessary inclusion in the set to my ears. Give It Away closed things proper and the band were gone.

So the Red Hot Chili Peppers sold 110,000 tickets for this gig, breaking the Irish concert record and came and did what they do. But for such a huge show to only play for about an hour and a half, and to spend 15 minutes of that in the encore pissing about I would say there performance was acceptable rather than truly memorable. Don't get me wrong the great songs they did play were well received and delivered with exceptional musicianship and no little passion. But I just got the feeling the band made no attempt to do anything but run through a well-rehearsed set of songs and get off stage. A great band the Chilis undoubtedly are but they are at a juncture in regards to their live performances. They have grown to stadium size, but as yet don't really have the stadium show to go with it. Solo songs from John third number in and underground punk in the encore may be okay in a club where you have a small audience right there with your every move, but in a stadium situation it doesn't translate. Am I asking the band to compromise? Not at all! Just maybe watch AC/DC's Live At Donnington to see how a show like this should really be played

DUCK