Guitarist John Frusciante rejoins the Red Hot Chili Peppers

He’s in the band, he’s out of the band, he’s in the band, he’s out of the band, he’s in the band again. After first joining the Californian alt funk punk rock monsters, the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1988, following the death of original guitarist Hillel Slovak, John Frusciante will be rejoining the sock swaying, high energy groove masters for a third tour of duty.

This was announced in a Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) Instagram post on Sunday. The ‘Chilis’ said they have parted ways with guitarist Josh Klinghoofer who had been a ‘Pepper’ for a decade making two albums with the band

“Josh is a beautiful musician who we respect and love,” one of the members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers shared on Instagram. “We are deeply grateful for our time with him, and the countless gifts he shared with us.”

The band went on to say, “We also announce, with great excitement and full hearts, that John Frusciante is rejoining our group.”

Although the announcement received close to a million likes, hundreds of thousands of fans were also lamenting the departure of Klinghoofer who was often viewed as the most talented amongst their great talents.

Frusciante played an integral role on the band’s two big early albums 1989’s LP Mother’s Milk and 1991’s hugely successful masterpiece, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The success of the latter became so overwhelming that Frusciante left the band mid-tour, only to return in 1999 as an important cog in the recordings and tours for Californication in 1999, By The Way in 2002 and Stadium Arcadium in 2006. He then quit the band again in 2009 and was replaced by Klinghoffer (the band’s backup touring guitarist).

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have played Toronto no fewer than 15 times including a Cabin Party hosted by 102.1 The Edge, in the Kawartha Region a few hours north of the city in 2002. Their first visit to Toronto was for a gig at Lee’s Palace on their Freaky Styley tour in December of 1986.

In 1989, they played the Diamond (now known as The Phoenix Concert Theatre) on their Mother’s Milk tour followed by two shows at the Concert Hall in October of 1991 in support of their masterpiece, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The following summer (August 1992) they played Edgefest at Molson Park in Barrie, before having to cancel a show at Maple Leaf Gardens in November of 1995 when drummer Chad Smith broke his wrist playing baseball. They made up for it with a colossal show at the Skydome in March of 1996. They returned with their Californication tour a the Blue Line and Edge 102.1 in August of 1999 before playing the Molson Amphitheatre with Stone Temple Pilots in August 2000, a tour which also took them to Quebec City an Montreal afterwards. They didn’t return until the Cabin Party in 2002 but brought their By The Way Tour to the Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in May of 2003, which also saw them make stops in Ottawa and Montreal. 2006 saw the Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium tour touch down at the Air Canada Centre for two nights in September. They played two nights at the ACC in Toronto in April 2012 and most recently in 2017 when they played Hamilton as well as Ottawa and Montreal.

The band’s first two shows with John Frusciante will be on May 15, 2020 at the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, AL, and May 22-24 at the Boston Calling Music in Boston, MA.

by Terry Lankstead

with notes from concertarchives.org

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