The 310-person crowd was cheering on The Red Hot Chili Peppers following another successful show more than 15 years ago at Rick's American Café in East Lansing. As the Californian funk-rock band came out to please its fans and perform an encore, something was missing.
Their clothing.
With each member draped only in a strategically placed sock, the band started jamming one wild, spring evening.
Joe Goodsir, the current operating owner of Rick's, was general manager at the time of the performance and said the Chili Peppers always put on a good show. Making things even wilder that night was that it was a sort of homecoming for Grand Rapids-born lead vocalist Anthony Kiedis.
"It was packed," Goodsir said, adding that buses and people were lined up around the block that night. "They were starting to hit it big. It was on that first go-around of Black Flag and Henry Rollins' music - they were the next generation of that music."
Goodsir said that Rick's gets a lot of bands either on their way up the musical hierarchy, such as matchbox twenty and Kid Rock, or on their way down, and hosting the Chili Peppers was a "feather in our cap."
Since the show at Rick's, the Chili Peppers have undergone many changes. The image is cleaner, the lineup is different and the band has successfully plowed through several personal troubles, such as drug addiction.
Flash forward to 2003 and the Chili Peppers boast a popular CD in "By the Way" and the quintet now plays to crowded arenas and stadiums.
Tonight it brings its high-octane show to Breslin Center. A Breslin Center employee said many tickets were still available as of noon Tuesday but would not specify the exact amount.
Advertising junior Rory Wheeler will not be buying tickets at the last second - he plans on attending the event with a friend and bought his tickets the weekend they went on sale
Wheeler has followed the Chili Peppers since its 1991 release, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik."
"When I heard they were coming, I was like, 'Wow, I got to go,'" Wheeler said. "I've always liked their music and their sound. The sound varies from CD to CD - they can have something hard-rock and something chill."
Throughout the '90s, many music critics and several of the band's long-time fans said it was that shift in music which led the Chili Peppers from original funk-rock to mainstream pop.
One former fan, criminal justice sophomore Aaron Smith, will not be at the show. Smith followed the Peppers in the early '90s but soon became intrigued by punk music and found the Chili Peppers' sound was transforming too much.
"They were hard-rock in the beginning and now they're into mainstream pop," Smith said. "It was kind of a turnoff."
Smith still says the band is great, but its sound is not for him. He added he does like that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are starting to churn out songs more reminiscent of the band's roots and early days and he might become a fan again - but it will have to win him over.
Meanwhile, Wheeler has high expectations for the show.
"I just hope it's not all new stuff," he commented. "They've been around for a while, so I hope they play some old stuff."
The price tag for tickets, where the cheapest seats will cost fans upwards of $50, might seem a little pricey to some, but Wheeler said he has no regrets - yet.
"I guess it all depends on the concert. If they put on a good show, then I'll have no regrets. It should be a good time."
