Red Hot Chili Peppers to mix it up with set list for Australian shows on Global Stadium Tour

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are in Sydney tonight. Here’s your guide to the most-played songs on their Global Stadium Tour.

Red Hot Chili Peppers fans are well versed in playing setlist lottery with the enduring stadium rockers.

In the era of tightly choreographed concerts where the song order is dictated by the technical logistics of lighting and visuals, the Chili Peppers have rarely played the same set at consecutive gigs.

As they kicked off the 2023 leg of their World Stadium Tour last week, the alternative rock heroes played two distinct sets at their two New Zealand shows ahead of this week’s Australian dates.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers at Suncorp Stadium in Qld. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Their Australian audiences will be among the first in the world to hear live versions of songs from their surprise Return of the Dream Canteen album which was released in October, just six months after they dropped the No. 1 record Unlimited Love.

So far Tippa My Tongue, The Drummer, Eddie, Reach Out and Fake as Fu@k from Dream Canteen have been rotated through the setlists.

Unlimited Love tracks including Black Summer, Aquatic Mouth Dance, These Are The Ways, Here Ever After and The Heavy Wing have also been given their moment to shine at the 2023 shows.

Fan favourites which featured at both New Zealand concerts included By The Way, Soul To Squeeze, Californication and Give It Away.

The quartet featuring Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and John Frusciante will draw songs loved by their Australian fans from their 40 years of hits to perform at their six stadium shows here over the next two weeks.

As well as the new stuff, their setlists tend to draw democratically from their biggest albums Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), Californication (1999), By The Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006).

The day before they perform their final Australian concert in Perth on February 12, bassist Flea, born Michael Balzary in Melbourne, auctions his home of almost 30 years here on the NSW South Coast.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers on stage at Suncorp Stadium in Qld. Picture: Patrick Woods.

The stunning beachside property in Congo has a price guide of around $3 million and was the first property he bought when the Chili Peppers became global rock stars with their Blood Sugar Sex Magik album in the early 1990s.

“Because you’re Australian and I’m Australian, let me tell you this quick tale. The first thing I did, like 30 years ago when I first made money, was build a house in Australia,” Flea told News Corp Australia last year.

“There was a guy who lived there, in this little town, who was very eccentric, and I was playing trumpet one day and he came walking by – he might have been drunk or something – and he said ‘Mate, my favourite trumpet player is Al Herbert.’

“For a long time my music publishing company was called Al Herbert Music – that’s where that comes from.”

Flea and his designer partner Melody Ehsani welcomed their first child, a baby boy whose name they are yet to make public, in December, with the revered bassist becoming a father for the third time at 60.

He has two daughters, Clara, 34, – who photographs the band – and 17-year-old Sunny.

The most played songs on the Red Hot Chili Peppers 2022-23 Global Stadium Tour

1. Black Summer – 39

2. By the Way – 39

3. Californication – 39

4. Give It Away – 39

5. Intro Jam – 39

6. Snow ((Hey Oh)) – 38

7. Dani California – 37

8. These Are the Ways – 36

9. The Heavy Wing – 26

10. Soul to Squeeze – 24

11. Can’t Stop – 22

12. Aquatic Mouth Dance – 20

13. Around the World – 18

14. Here Ever After – 18

15. Tell Me Baby – 17

16. Nobody Weird Like Me – 16

17. Otherside – 16

18. Right on Time – 15

19. Scar Tissue – 14

20. The Zephyr Song – 14

21. Charlie – 13

22. I Could Have Lied – 13

23. Under the Bridge – 13

24. Whatchu Thinkin’ – 13

25. I Like Dirt – 11

26. Suck My Kiss – 11

27. Throw Away Your Television – 10

28. Universally Speaking – 10

* Tour statistics from setlist.fm