Red Hot Chili Peppers returning to Scotland in December

The US rock veterans will be following up their headlining slot at Perthshire’s T in the Park festival in July with a return to Glasgow in December.

Their visit to the 13,000-capacity SSE Hydro on Thursday, December 8, is part of a seven-date UK tour also taking in London’s O2 Arena on Monday and Tuesday, December 5 and 6; Birmingham’s Genting Arena on Saturday and Sunday, December 10 and 11; and the Manchester Arena on Wednesday and Thursday, December 14 and 15.

They’ll also be playing an Irish date at the 3Arena in Dublin on Tuesday, Dececember 20.

Tickets for their UK dates go on sale to fan club members next Tuesday, August 30, and on general release next Friday, September 2.

Babymetal, a Japanese hard rock act formed in 2010, will be supporting them.

Tickets for their Glasgow concert, at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre site, cost £56.75 or £79.45.

For details, go to www.thessehydro.com or redhotchilipeppers.com

The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ upcoming appearance at the SSE Hydro, opened in 2013, is their first there, though they have played at the SECC three times before, in 2011 and twice in 2003,

It’s only the Californians’ 12th Scottish date ever, their previous ones, other than those at the SECC, being at Glasgow’s Hampden Park football ground in 2007, T in the Park’s old Kinross home the year before, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in 2004, Glasgow Green in 2003, Glasgow’s Barrowland in 1992 and Edinburgh’s Network and Glasgow’s Queen Margaret Union, both in 1990.

The Chili Peppers, formed in Los Angeles in 1983, are currently promoting their 11th album, The Getaway, a No 2 hit following its release in June.

It 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 – but it’s still in the top 100, at No 37, along with Greatest Hits, at No 51.

Besides their four No 1s, the band 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.

Prior to their December tour, the Chili Peppers – consisting nowadays of vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer – can be seen headlining tonight, August 27, at the Reading Festival in Berkshire and tomorrow, August 28, at the Leeds Festival, its sister event. Day passes for tonight’s show have sold out, but ones for tomorrow, priced £66.50, are available at www.leedsfestival.com/tickets