Red Hot Chili Peppers at Rogers Arena

Grizzled old subscribers to Flipside are more than a little incredulous with where the Red Hot Chili Peppers find themselves today. Back in the Hillel Slovak early days, the Los Angeles punk-funkers had a bunch of pretty great gimmicks and songs that weren’t exactly studded with hooks. The fun of seeing the band live wasn’t getting the chance to mosh to “True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes” but instead to marvel at the sight of four full-blown freaks taking the stage smeared in Day-Glo makeup, white tube socks affixed to their dongs. Somewhere along the line—1989’s Mother’s Milk, if you must know—the Peppers got pretty good at writing songs. Not only that, they’ve been one of the few bands of the ’90s alt-rock boom to have never lost their mojo, which explains why they play Rogers Arena this Saturday (November 17), and Ugly Kid Joe isn’t playing anywhere. The only downside to the band’s longevity? You’ll be getting a shitload of hits instead of cocks and tube socks.