Red Hot Chili Peppers – Return of the Dream Canteen, Album Review

It’s always quite a shock when a band announces they are going to drop two full-length album in the same year. I felt not less shocked when the Red Hot Chili Peppers announced Return of the Dream Canteen was going to drop just a couple of days before I was due to see them live at Austin City Limits.

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Awards Season Continued: 2019 Grammy Awards

Full disclosure, I have not watched all of the Grammys yet, so you may see some updates here.

All in all, I didn’t think there were too many surprises with who took home trophies last night, but Top 40 isn’t totally my jam, so I can’t say for sure. I was a little disappointed that Underoath didn’t take home the Metal Performance award, and I was also a little bummed that Chris Cornell posthumously took home the Rock Performance (obviously he would, just like Bowie in 2016), only because the other nominees were great, too! In all my pre-Grammy research, the consensus was that Kacey Musgraves would take home the top honors because she was essentially the only country artist nominated; everyone else would be splitting hairs, and she did. Despite me not being a country fan, I have seen her perform live and she’s quite impressive, so kudos to her. Even though others deserved what they won, I was surprised that Post Malone got no love.

Speaking of Post Malone, let’s talk live performances of the night. I watched Post Malone “collaborate” with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Let’s be real. Those were two separate performances, except Post played guitar when the Chili Peppers were on. Eh. And as much as I love RHCP, why weren’t any of the other rock nominees out there performing with him?? Like Greta Van Fleet! That would be something to see! Lady Gaga was fine. A bit much for a soppy ballad. I read and accurate Twitter comment this morning: “If I muted Lady Gaga’s performance, I would have thought she was singing a metal song.” I also managed to catch Cardi B’s performance was very cabaret, but I enjoyed it!

In other controversial news, was Drake’s acceptance speech getting muted and then cut to commercial! Scandal! It seems to me like he got his point across, and I feel like the Grammys only aided him in his message. But to recap, he basically said that the awards don’t matter, that if you have people paying money to see you live or know the words to your songs than you are already succeeding. And I totally agree with that! I feel like the Grammys are just a Top 40 popularity contest/showcase, but it’s also not bad to get one either. Good for you, Drake!

Of all the major awards shows out there, this is one of my least favorite, so take this review with a grain of salt. For all award winners, check the link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/10/entertainment/grammy-winners-2019-list/index.html