The Red Hot Chili Peppers play live in HK and dedicate a song to Pinoys!

MANILA, Philippines - A trip out of the country to watch a foreign act goes as expected. The plane ride was full of SaGuijo mainstays (SaGuijo is a bar where you can catch bands that are up-and-coming, alongside other established acts. It’s kind of like your local CBCG, a popular gig hub in the East Village, NY). We were all going to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert hoping to bring home an experience. Here’s mine:

Traveling to watch concerts has always been a yearly affair with my closest friends who just so happen to be my band mates. It started with The Cure in Hong Kong back in ‘08, to Broken Social Scene at the Esplanade in ‘09, and continued with the Laneway Music Festival at Fort Canning early this year.

This time around was different as I went with fellow drummers, like Mike Dizon of Pedicab/Sandwich, and once upon time, Teeth; Raymund Marasigan, formerly of the Eraserheads and now the guitarist/vocalist of Sandwich; and Shinji Tanaka of Gaijin, also known as the Shinji from Pedicab’s sophomore album, "Shinji, Ilabas Mo Na Ang Helicopter."

To be honest, I am not the world’s biggest RHCP fan. Let me put it this way: the thought of watching Chad Smith, the RHCP’s drummer, perform live was the cake, the whole band was the icing, and seeing Flea’s crazy energetic onstage antics was the cherry on top (so I guess that makes it a Black Forest cake, but I digress).

The first to step out onstage was Smith and as soon as he sat down and did his first drum roll (a habit among most, if not all drummers), Shinji Tanaka looked at me and blurted out “P-------AAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

If you want to get a souvenir, hang out by the sound booth which is usually situated in the middle of any venue. Myrene Academia of Imago and Sandwich along with Mike Dizon asked the tech guys for copies of the set list. Also pictured: Raymund Marasigan and Shinji Tanaka.

(This becomes funnier if you know Shinji who is a full-blooded Japanese man, born and bred in Tokyo. He learned to speak and cuss in suprisingly fluent Japanese-accented Tagalog since he decided to move here in ’89.)

As Josh Klinghoffer, Red Hot’s replacement for John Frusciante strummed the opening chords F-F/E-Am to 'By The Way,' you could hear the crowd go wild in eager anticipation for the octane filled pre-chorus. As soon as the chorus hit, the whole arena sang along to the words “Standing in line to see the show tonight and there’s a light on… heavy glow.” You can’t get more appropriate than that.

Anthony Keidis went on to dedicate their third song, 'Can’t Stop' to all the Filipinos and more than half of the whole arena cheered. That was just a testament to how much our country loves music.

RHCP went on to play hit after hit along with a few new songs including their new single, 'The Adventures Rain Dance Maggie.' Before they did the obligatory pre-encore intermission, the band played 'Under The Bridge,' which brought back a lot of memories from my high school days.

I spoke to Rico Blanco after the show and we both agreed that Chad Smith was definitely the star.

As the crowd cheered for more, Smith came out and worked down a funky drum solo with a fellow percussionist. As the solo was about to end, Flea went out and rendered a dance solo replete with a hand stand walk across the stage. That’s crazy for someone who’s 47 years of age, and his antics garnered the applause not only from the audience, but from Smith himself.

The band ended with 'Give It Away,' which left the audience stunned and wanting for more.

In comparison to other shows I have seen, I won’t count this concert as the best, but seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the flesh is really one for the books.

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Bryan Kong is the drummer of Taken by Cars. He was also nominated for Drummer of the Year in the NURock Awards in 2008. Taken by Cars has played numerous shows out of the country and received an award in Malaysia for Junk Sound’s Regional Music Awards for Album of the Year and was named as one of the Asian bands to watch out for this year by Time magazine.