John Frusciante & Flea Rock The Troubadour

My improv-jam-god wish list just got shorter Thursday evening when Jon Frusciante and Flea spontaneously announced a secret show at the Troubadour.

The first act of the night, Weave, seemed to be riding on the "So bad we're good" coattails of No Age. I'm not buying it. They belonged in a high-school quad.

The middle-child though, was of another school entirely. Warpaint is one of the freshest acts I've seen in a while. Fronted by three beautiful girls (not that that matters, right?), their music was complex, ethereal, and grooving all in one. I was captivated and can't wait to see them again.

Warpaint


Flea and Frusc were in the house from early in the evening. Between Weave and Warpaint, Flea attempted to get himself a beer walking through the floor and was immediately mobbed by fans looking to update their myspace (facebook) defaults with cell-phone pictures of them and their favorite Chili. Needless to say, Flea went thirsty for a little while.

When the jammers finally took the stage (as if the Troubadour wasn't always on schedule-another reason why I love them), the venue was sold out to it's 300 person capacity. Frusciante was donning a full Jesus beard and grandpa pants hiked up to his belly button. But more importantly, he had his beautiful vintage Strat. He and Flea gave each other a count-off and the jam was on.

The first song lasted nearly 7 minutes and set the tone with a complex rhythm that was trademarkedly groovy at the same time. The amazing Stella Mozgawa of Mink provided the drums alongside Josh Klinghoffer who was primed to give us some spaced out sounds. Sadly, Stella's thumping ruptured her bass drum about 25 minutes into the set. Her tech swapped out her drum with Josh's but that left a noticeable void coming from his kit. Then, sadly, his effects seemed to not work for the rest of the evening either.

Once these technical difficulties presented themselves, John seemed to become a bit distracted but still managed to fill all our heads with his sweet sounds. The entire set was around 50 minutes and like all great bands, no encore was provided-though that could be more to do with half of the musicians performing with broken instruments.

Tickets were readily available at the door thanks to the Troub only allowing fax or cash orders. THAT is how secret shows should be done.

John and Frusciante - Intro Jam