Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers' and Strokes' fire fizzled by Vikings stadium's acoustics

Maybe recruiting a band led by a bassist to headline Minneapolis' most echoey venue wasn't such a good idea after all.

Saturday night's Red Hot Chili Peppers concert was yet another good one stymied by the bad acoustics at U.S. Bank Stadium. Especially because it was unusually gorgeous outside for this rare spring stadium concert in Minnesota, the high-ceilinged, plexiglass-covered $1 billion NFL stadium seemed inadequate compared with the better-sounding outdoor stadiums in town.

Worsening the situation was the Chili Peppers' famously bass-heavy, thump-thump-thumping sound. The funky Los Angeles punks' punchy rhythmic parts bounced around as wildly and randomly inside the venue as Flea himself, the hyperactive bassist behind the wheel.

Another culprit: Even with ticket prices slashed drastically in the days leading up to the concert — the encore finale "Give It Away" sounded a tad ironic Saturday — there were still a lot of empty seats among the 35,000 or so concertgoers. Less bodies means more empty wall space from which the sounds bounce.

In the second of two opening slots, the Strokes' sound engineer barely had time to make sense of the acoustic scheme.

With just nine songs clocking in at 45 minutes, the New York bad boys' set — which followed a witty and dramatic if sadly under-attended opening performance by King Princess — was as short as the Strokes' local debut at 7^th St. Entry in 2001, when all they had to play were the songs on their debut LP. What a waste, considering this was the quintet's first time in Minnesota since 2006.

Still, the sometimes-wasted Strokes of old sounded tight and focused from the get-go in the fast-driving opening oldie "The Modern Age." Even better were more recent tunes with slower, new-wavey '80s flavor, such as "The Adults Are Talking" and "Bad Decisions."

Those were brightened further by a kaleidoscopically lit video backdrop and Julian Casablancas' similarly colorful antics. The frontman threw the mic stand in "You Only Live Once" and tried to convince the audience he was actually King Princess (they do sort of look and act alike).

There was no mistaking Flea, as the wiry bassist excitedly took the stage shirtless in Vikings purple (or Lakers purple?) shorts. He proceeded to lead St. Paul-born drummer Chad Smith and newly returned guitarist John Frusciante through a five-minute instrumental jam, a nice blast of classically chaotic Chili Peppers funk to start the show.

Once singer Anthony Kiedis strutted out to the tune of "Around the World," the band then showed off its melodic side via "Dani California" and "Scar Tissue." The latter was one of several tunes extended and heightened by Frusciante's fiery guitar work. It really was exciting to have him back.

As usual, the Peppers dropped in a handful of new tunes off their newest record. Unusual, though: They actually put out two albums last year, "Unlimited Love" and "Return of the Dream Canteen." So there was double the new material Saturday, starting with "Aquatic Mouth Dance" — as gibberish-y as the title suggests.

Better new tunes included the playful "Tippa My Tongue," but things really got bogged down around the three-quarters mark with the plodding "Carry Me Home" and sappy "Black Summer." At least an extra-intense "Californication" was dropped in to break up the new stuff.

The band members themselves never seemed to slow down, especially Flea and Smith, both now in their 60s but as exuberant as ever. Kiedis was more solid on vocals than at other recent shows. And having Frusciante back seemed to reinvigorate the brotherly camaraderie always at the heart of the band.

All that resiliency on display by the aging veterans, however, made the continued roughness of Minneapolis' newish stadium all the more disappointing.