It's hard to remember that when the Red Hot Chili Peppers emerged in the early 1980s, they were prodigiously exciting. Not only were the Californian quartet prone to frequent on-stage nudity, but their attitudinal fusion of funk, metal and hip-hop appeared groundbreaking.
Three decades and 65m record sales later, they have released a distinctly underwhelming 10th studio album, I'm With You, which the even most generous reviews have been forced to call "solid" and "business as usual". Taking a break from their usual arena tour, they launch in this rare club gig for 1,400 competition winners, recorded for broadcast on Radio 1.
There's an inevitable initial frisson at seeing an A-list band, who usually pack out arenas, perform within touching distance, but it is remarkable how quickly this feeling dissipates. As an intimate show, it's an aloof and detached affair, with the group offering little by way of communication as they slickly dispatch the new material.
Singer Anthony Kiedis has had an image revamp, sprouting a hipster moustache beneath his newly jet-black mop of hair, but more pertinent is the man on guitar. Long-time Chilis guitarist John Frusciante has quit the band for the second time, and while replacement Josh Klinghoffer is a solid riff merchant, he lacks Frusciante's quicksilver brilliance.
This puts more weight than ever on Flea's muscular bass guitar, and while he is certainly up to it (he has always played his instrument as a lead), the new songs are not. Meet Me at the Corner is a plodding ballad, while the fractured and staccato Factory of Faith is not so much a song as an unwieldy clump of funk-metal just about held together by Flea's chivvying bass.
The problem is that, while the Chilis have always been predicated on the idea of unpredictability and danger, they now look and sound like a band firmly entrenched in their comfort zone. The night's few thrills arrive only when they reach deep into their history, to the seductive yearning of Californication, the urgent throb of By the Way, and the explosive encore, Give It Away. The thrill has gone, and it is hard to see it returning.
• This article was amended on 6 September 2011. The original referred to John Frusciante as the original Chilis guitarist. This has been corrected.
