Twenty minutes after the Red Hot Chili Peppers were supposed to be appear, the crowd started getting antsy. They’ve gone from chanting “Chili!” to chanting “Boo!”
Passed out backstage? Actually, the delay seemed more technical than human. And if you believe them, the Chili Peppers don’t do that anymore. They may be telling the truth, but their cover choices suggest otherwise: Guitarist John Frusciante belted out karaoke-worthy versions of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “Tiny Dancer.”
The Chili Peppers sounded much more sober when they stuck to their own material. Hits like “Can’t Stop,” “By the Way,” and, of course, “Californication” were predictable, but crowd-pleasing. And to show they were as devoted as the huge crowd, the band stayed on an extra half hour after their set (and the festival) was supposed to end.
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Fans of all sorts of psychedelia had a hard time choosing between the Chili Peppers and the Flaming Lips, who were playing across the racetrack at the same time. Some people chose neither. About 150 festival-goers preferred to hang out with Carl Cox in the Dance Tent, a smoky, sweaty swamp inside V Fest.
Did the dance fiends feel any regret about missing the last acts of the night to hear more of Cox’s nearly three hour long set? Not at all. Carl Cox is “fabulous,” said Daniel Gagewski. His friend Ben Singleton concurred, and affirmed that they spent pretty much the entire day there. Why? “Because the tent is where it’s at.” Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, they swore they weren’t on anything. RACHEL WEINER / PHOTOS BY MARC SHAPIRO
