What better way to ring in the New Year (decade, century, millennium, …) than rockin’ with a great band? Yes, yours truly and a few special friends decided to brave the Y2K hysteria and step out on what was supposed to be the last night of civilization to share it with one of the seminal acts of alternative music, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Though the end of the world proved to be naught but a gleam in a media producer’s eye, the Peppers provided an evening of solid entertainment, ushering in a new era of funk and feelin’ groovy.

Bicycle Thief and 311 opened the show. We arrived late in Thief’s set, so I can’t really say much about them. 311 pumped out their reggae-hip hop hybrid with aplomb, and really got things moving. Nick Hexum kept shouting "This is the Big Night!" working the crowd into a heightened state of anticipation for both the midnight countdown and the Red Hots. 311 played a very tight set, full of tunes from their major releases as well as a few early numbers, and gave me a new appreciation for their "Hip-Pop" heaviness. I look forward to another show very soon.

Then the Peppers took the stage. They came out swinging, striding across a stage strewn with lit-up shadow boxes covered in mystic symbols to play an ultra-packed set. Songs like "Around the World," "Scar Tissue," "Give it Away," and "Suck My Kiss" had the crowd in a frenzy, showing off the band’s tremendous gift for creating full-ahead funk-rock mayhem. While the pits were a-moshin’, the band was even more animated, if that is possible. The hyperkinetic headbangers never stopped moving until they played "Under the Bridge." Then all movement came to a stop, as Anthony crooned the number, and the entire room sang along like a choir on Sunday. This was a truly powerful moment in the show, and at the close of the song, Flea asked everyone to remember that "Love is everything. Love is all that matters."

There was certainly no shortage of love for the Chili Peppers on the part of the audience, and they showed their love by once more breaking into a mosh as the band funked it up again, getting ever-closer to the midnight hour. At about 11:30 the excitement became too much for Flea, and he destroyed his bass, slamming into the ground in Punk-rock grandeur. Anthony quipped that Flea always celebrates 30 minutes early. Then Flea picked up a second bass, and they played a few more tunes.

At about five minutes to midnight, the band stopped. They played a bit of filler to take them up to midnight. Flea played and sang the tune "Pea" from One Hot Minute (the only tune played from the Dave Navarro days), and John Frusciante surprised everyone with a few verses of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer" which he played and sang beautifully. When the big moment came, the projection screens began a countdown from 30 seconds ‘til. At the stroke of midnight tons of confetti and gold balloons were released over the room and the crowd went wild. Everyone, including the band was hugging their significant others and expressing their elation (and probably a bit of relief that the lights were still on after all!). The first song played after midnight was "Savior," a fine choice. The finale of the evening was the band’s cover of Hendrix’s "Fire" from their "Mother’s Milk" CD. They ripped it up and got the crowd going one last time, as the screen behind flickered with images of a fifty foot wall of flames – a perfect image to end the night, and begin a Red Hot millennium!