The little boy is wearing a new playsuit. Large dots in blue, red and green, yellow, purple and orange shine on the snow-white fabric. They look like colourful balloons. He is happily jumping over a meadow of flowers. He wears his cap cool as a big man with the front turned to the back, the purple knee socks under his shorts haven't slipped a bit yet. Cute elves buzz around him, a lively brook babbles and - stop. Full Stop. Wrong film. And also stolen. From the beginning of "Lemony Snicket - Mysterious Events" (2004).

In fact, we are in an arena. In which there are neither cute elves nor babbling brooks. The little boy is not a little boy, but a man closer to his 60th birthday than away from it. But when Anthony Kiedis bowls onto the stage at just before 8.30 p.m., in just this playsuit and just this exuberance, one or the other of the 40,000 fans can get funny ideas. Regardless of the fact that bassist Flea Balzary, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante left no doubt in the first five minutes, still without Kiedis, what it's all about on Tuesday in the RheinEnergieStadion: Rock. And that's where the Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) come out on top.

The band from California proved why this is still the case, even after almost 40 years, with a breathtaking, emotionally charged concert. About 110 minutes, so impressive and full of images that one can even get over, well, kinda over, the fact that Cologne had to do without "Under The Bridge". In view of the stage, over which, from top to bottom, runs a ribbon that, like a gigantic mangle or a loom for giants, lets psychedelic patterns, waves or flames in pop colours trickle, roll and flow from the roof from the back of the stage to the edge of the stage in constant rotation. In parallel, the bodies and faces of Kiedis, Balzary, Smith and Frusciante are shown on large screens as if encased in burning celluloid. Dissected into tendons and cells, with skin scraping away from the bones. Because of the 3D effect of the rolling tape that fools the eyes, this has something of a graphic novel about it. In which, with tracks like "Nobody Weird Like Me", "Can't Stop" or "The Heavy Wing", the story of the band is told, whose founding members have fought many a battle against the drug that begins with H. Kiedis and Balzary wear their tattoos like scars.

In front of them, on three podiums, three cameramen, motionless, dressed almost identically in black, in exactly the same pose. For a moment you ask yourself: are they real? Or just part of the show?

The show is so furious that at 9 p.m. Balzary, apparently exhausted, asks: "I'm tired, slow down, slow down. Yet the bassist and record high jumper in a purple net shirt over a black skirt is still "Fresh like a Fish". Which is the slogan on the T-shirt that appears under Kiedi's playsuit top. Before he gets rid of that too and presents his well-defined upper body. While he and Balzary are the showmen of the troupe, Frusciante, meanwhile, attracts no fewer stares. The 52-year-old has only been back on board since 2019.

It is an experience to be there, to see the witching speed with which he works his guitar, fully concentrated, almost absorbed, how he lets it howl, wail and whine with the vibrato lever. In a dark blue polo shirt with white stripes and bulging jeans, he almost has the air of a well-behaved student next to his Bird of Paradise colleagues.

Drummer Smith also follows the general dress code in his neon-coloured, blotchy overalls. His powerful drums give the fusion of rock and funk an excellent foundation. Right at the beginning he is allowed to show what he can do with a solo. With "Californication" a temporary climax is reached at 9.24 p.m., before "Ist's Only Natural" from the current album begins, as if detached at the beginning, almost floating and seductively ingratiating. Again and again, the quartet consults with each other in between, so one is not surprised why the setlists, unlike those of other bands, are not always identical. But, also because of this, you can safely assume that everything here is really played live and nothing is canned.

When it's time for "Give It Away", the Red Hot Chili Peppers conjure up the magic of the melange of blood, sugar and sex once again with their last track before the encore section - and wild cheers in the audience. Can you top that? Yes. You can. With "By The Way" as the apotheosis of this, in its entirety, so magical mixture. And with Balzary walking across the stage on his hands. And thus answering the (indiscreet) question you've asked yourself before about his high jumps. Is he wearing something under his skirt? Yes. He wears. Plain black pants.

(Original text: Susanne Schramm; Translation: Mareike Graepel)