Clint Hale

210SA Staff Writer

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If you're the Red Hot Chili Peppers, how do you manage to both satisfy and pi** off several thousand San Antonians simultaneously?

Gnarls Barkley plays before the Chili Peppers. Clint Hale/210SA

The Red Hot Chili Peppers play to the crowd Tuesday night at the AT&T Center. View more Chili Pepper and event photos

Simple.

You play a two-hour, adrenaline-filled, hard-charging rock show, one full of funk and featuring a number of smash-hit singles.

And you do so with a Los Angeles Lakers jersey on.

That's exactly what Chili Peppers bassist Flea did on Tuesday night at the AT&T Center, taking the stage in -- of all things -- a Kobe Bryant No. 24 jersey. But luckily for the thousands in attendance -- and perhaps most importantly, Flea --  he removed the jersey soon after and played most of the show shirtless.

He was joined on stage by charismatic Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, superstar guitarist John Frusciante and perpetually underrated drummer Chad Smith. Together, the quartet spent the better part of the next two hours rocking a packed house with fan favorites like "Dani California," "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "By the Way," as well as non-radio tunes from their latest disc -- the smash double-album, Stadium Arcadium.

The Chili Peppers were playing the penultimate show of their recent U.S. tour, which concludes on Wednesday night in Houston (excluding a make-up date in Oklahoma City on March 12), and their timing reflected that of a band with a number of shows under its belt.

Frusciante, as usual, wowed the crowd with his -- some would say --  unrivaled guitar playing. Flea, even before shedding the jersey of his hometown Lakers, turned the crowd in his favor with a pounding bass arsenal. Smith, ever the doppelganger of actor Will Ferrell, was able to shine during a drum solo that took place just before the band performed an encore set of "I Could Have Lied" and "Give It Away."

And leading the charge was Kiedis, who displayed none of his age -- he is 44, after all -- while hopping around the stage as if someone had spiked his green tea. Whether performing funkadelic hits like "Can't Stop" and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" or ballads such as "Scar Tissue" and "Stadium Arcadium," Kiedis controlled the crowd from lyric one.

After resorting to mostly select cover songs and non-radio singles midway through their 18-song set, the Chili Peppers wrapped up their pre-encore performance with the crowd pleasers "Californication" and "By The Way." After exiting the stage for a few minutes, the band returned to play two more songs, after which Kiedis exited stage left.

Of course, that left his remaining three bandmates to shine for one final jam session. Upon the conclusion of the session, which lasted more than 10 minutes, Flea politely thanked the crowd before sneaking in a final "Go Lakers" over the microphone.

At that point, taken into account the megashow that had just concluded, he could have ripped down a Spurs championship banner and probably gotten away with it.

Well, maybe not.

OPENING BAND OBSERVATIONS

Platinum-selling group Gnarls Barkley opened the show, and did an admirable job warming up the crowd for the headlining Chili Peppers. Gnarls Barkley, featuring singer Cee-Lo and DJ Danger Mouse, was not at a loss for musical accompaniment. The duo did, after all, feature a string quartet, a bassist, a guitarist, a drummer and a keyboardist in a cape. Yes, they played the radio smash "Crazy." And yes, it was by far the crowd's favorite non-Chili Peppers tune of the night.