Sizzling Chili Peppers bring the fire, but not the raunch

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| Saturday, May 10, 2003 12:00 AM CDT | () comments

Sean Moeller

It wasn't so much the heat the Red Hot Chili Peppers delivered Friday night at The Mark of the Quad-Cities, it was the humidity.

Disrobed of their younger-day crotch argyles, but heavily layered with a cloak of freshly cultivated pop awareness, the Peppers set off a natural round of sweat sprinklers as a near-capacity crowd mimicked lead singer Anthony Kiedis' hyperactivity.

You got the sense that the Los Angeles-based band likes the cleaner, less raunchy version of itself with the bulk of the 21-song setlist being plucked from the last three albums excluding the stale 1995 offering "One Hot Minute."

Bassist Flea's stooping Mr. Peepers parading and guitarist John Frusciante's slip-and-slide backup vocals provided the necessary accomplices to Kiedis and his lispy rap-rock leads.

The band opened with the title track off its latest disc, "By the Way," in front of a PVC pipe backdrop that transformed into four long rectangular video screens that showed psychedelic swirlings, real-time footage and swaying, topless go-go dancers at different times throughout the show.

A tripwire flick of belching distortion punctuated a handful of songs, surging the lights brighter and Kiedis' Deion Sanders high-knees even higher.

They clicked off one hit after another, running through their past six singles, minus their newest one, "Can't Stop," in the first eight songs they played. Two of the better renditions came on "This is the Place," an unreleased track, and "Parallel Universe," which was prefaced with a Fugazi intro blast of popping bass and Chad Smith beating.

A spur-of-the-moment truncated version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and a cover of The Ramones' "Havana Affair" also shined.

Queens of the Stone Age took the stage like conquering war heroes and tore through five songs off their album "Songs for the Deaf" before derailing with three songs sung by the Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan. They were the only brown notes in an otherwise electrifying set. Josh Homme's eerie crooning through radio hits "Go with the Flow" and "No One Knows" was sound, and touring drummer Joey Castillo pelted his snare as if his kit just had stolen his best girl.

First opener The Mars Volta, on the verge of releasing "Deloused in the Comatorium" on Universal, showed they haven't lost their El Paso chip since relocating to Los Angeles a couple of years ago. Lead vocalist Cedric Bixler Zavala belted and jigged with twitches of conviction, winning over a slow-arriving crowd. The remains of "At the Drive-in" threw a tantrum that was well-received thanks to a back-dropping potency and a piercing rush of amp. Lead guitarist Omar Alfredo Rodriguez-Lopez's shaky James Brown strut and cycling guitar-work mesmerized in the half-hour performance.

Sean Moeller can be contacted at (563) 383-2288 or at smoeller@qctimes.com.