Festivals offer further treats for Red Hot Chili Peppers fans

The US rock veterans have three more UK dates lined up for 2016, the handiest for Scots being their set at the Leeds Festival in West Yorkshire on Sunday, August 28, it being just 140 or so miles south of the border at Carter Bar.

Their others are in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Thursday, August 25, and at the Leeds Festival’s sister event at Reading in Berkshire on Saturday, August 27.

The Californians’ Leeds show will be their third headlining appearance there in the event’s 18-year-history, following previous sets there in 1999 and 2007.

It’s their first date in the North of England since their show at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light in June 2012 as part of a worldwide tour to promote their 2011 album I’m With You, and their T in the Park set, at Strathallan Castle, near Auchterarder in Perthshire, was their first since their 2011 show at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow.

The Chili Peppers, formed in Los Angeles in 1983, are currently promoting their 11th album, The Getaway.

Having had to settle for a peak position of No 2 following its release in June, The Getaway was their first LP since 1999’s Californication to fail to top the album chart here – 2002’s By the Way, 2006’s Stadium Arcadium and 2011’s I’m With You all having made it to No 1, along with 2004’s Live in Hyde Park.

It was also their first album since 1989’s Mother’s Milk not to be produced by regular collaborator Rick Rubin, production duties this time round having been overseen by Brian Burton, alias Danger Mouse.

Leeds Festival-goers can expect to hear a sizeable chunk of The Getaway if the band’s T in the Park show is anything to go by as they played no fewer than five of its 13 tracks during their 16-song set – Dark Necessities, Detroit, Go Robot, Goodbye Angels and its title track.

Besides their four No 1s, the Chili Peppers have hit the UK top 10 albums chart three times, with 1995’s One Hot Minute, a No 2; 1999’s Californication, a No 5; and 2003’s Greatest Hits, a No 4.

They’ve also made it into the singles chart’s top 10 four times, with Give It Away, a No 9 in 1991; a cover of the Ohio Players’ 1976 US chart-topper Love Rollercoaster, a No 7 in 1996; By the Way, a No 2 in 2002; and Dani California, a No 2 in 2006.

The Chili Peppers – consisting these days of frontman Anthony Kiedis, bassist Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer – are the only main-stage headliner at this year’s Leeds Festival not to be sharing top billing with anyone else as Biffy Clyro and Fall Out Boy will be sharing the honours on the Friday night, August 26, and Foals and Disclosure will be doing likewise the night after.

Event organiser Melvin Benn said: “I’m thrilled to be able to announce Red Hot Chili Peppers as the first headliner for Reading and Leeds 2016 as a festival exclusive.

“Their incredible live show will be an unforgettable headline performance at the UK’s biggest music festival.

“It’s going to be our best year yet.”

Indie rock act Foals, formed in Oxfordshire in 2005, are returning after playing a surprise set last year and also appearing in 2010 and 2013, but this will be their debut headline performance at Leeds.

Joining Foals to round off the Saturday’s proceedings are electronic dance music duo Disclosure, formed in Surrey in 2010. Also on the bill at T in the Park last month and at Leeds in 2013 and 2014, this is their first major UK festival headlining set too.

Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro’s set will be their ninth appearance at the festival. The band, formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, in 1995, have previously been seen there in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2013. They’re currently plugging their seventh album, Ellipsis, a chart-topper following its release last month.

Their co-headliners, US pop-rock act Fall Out Boy, founded in Illinois in 2001 and reunited in 2013 after splitting up in 2009, are also regulars at Leeds, having played there before in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2013.

Benn added: “This year really is a big one for Reading and Leeds.

“Five headliners across three days – it’s a first for us and the UK festival scene.

“We’re always looking to give Reading and Leeds fans something new, and this year isn’t going to disappoint.

“Biffy Clyro and Fall Out Boy are going to be incredible.”

Also on the bill for the festival, at Bramham Park, five miles south of Wetherby, are Jack Ü, Five Finger Death Punch, the Vaccines, Imagine Dragons, Maximo Park, Two Door Cinema Club, Crystal Castles, Brian Fallon and the Crowes, Good Charlotte, Nothing But Thieves, the 1975, Courteeners, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, Twenty One Pilots, Eagles of Death Metal, Grandmaster Flash, the Wombats, Jack Garratt, Blossoms, Slaves, Hinds, Netsky, Asking Alexandria and Mastodon.

A host of comedians will be on hand too, including Bill Bailey, Russell Howard, Marcus Brigstocke, Sara Pascoe and Lee Nelson.

Tickets are on sale now. Weekend tickets, with camping, are £213, and day passes are £66.50.

For further details, go to www.leedsfestival.com