The Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour was a concert tour by the Americanrock band Red Hot Chili Peppers in support of their highly successful 1991 breakthrough album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The tour had been the band's biggest in their career at the time. Uncomfortable with the group's growing fame, guitarist John Frusciante decided to quit in May 1992. Arik Marshall would replace Frusciante and continue out the remainder of the tour.
Background
After many years of hardcore touring and building up a loyal following, the band finally started to generate more attention with Mother's Milk in 1989. The album brought more television and radio exposure, helping them break through to a much wider audience and garner awareness from major labels. The band was involved in a major bidding war with labels but ultimately decided to sign with Warner Bros. in 1991 to record Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The band and management knew they had a very successful album in their hands and it was evident from the album's first single, "Give It Away" and the even bigger follow-up single, "Under the Bridge". Both singles received heavy airplay on television and radio. Due to the success of these singles, the group began to sell out the majority of their shows. For opening acts at the start of the tour, the Chili Peppers invited up and coming groups such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. These tour dates were landmarks for not only the groups but also for alternative rock. By year's end all three bands were headlining their own shows and dominating television and radio. At the time the band was riding an all-time high; however, behind the scenes, problems between Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante were starting to escalate. The band was invited to perform on Saturday Night Live but after the show, Kiedis accused Frusciante of trying to sabotage the performance by playing different notes and singing off key. Frusciante completely denied this but troubles continued to follow the band for the next few months. Frusciante was also now refusing to support the opening acts such as Nirvana, which at one point he claimed to be a fan of, but due to Frusciante's attitude and stubbornness he felt the band wasn't worth his time. Years later Frusciante admitted that he was being immature at the time and regretted how selfish he was towards his band and the opening acts. By the time the band began the Japan leg, tension had started to manifest itself and stress on the group's relationship with each other had grown incredibly. Things had gotten so bad that Frusciante was isolating himself from everyone, beginning the road towards his 6-year period of living as a virtual recluse. While on tour, Frusciante secluded himself with his then-girlfriend, mainly staying backstage. It was in this period that he began his problems with drugs, specifically heroin and cocaine, which were unknown to the band at the time. On May 7, 1992, Frusciante informed the band's long-time manager, Lindy Goetz, that Frusciante was quitting the band. Goetz informed the rest of the group and they urged Frusciante to play the show that night, which they later called one of their worst ever. The band was forced to cancel the rest of their Japanese leg. The band quickly scrambled and put out calls to various guitarists including Dave Navarro, who was going through the breakup of Jane's Addiction and major drug problems. Navarro turned down the band's offer, though he would eventually join the band a year later. The band flew guitarist Zander Schloss out to Australia to audition however after a few days of practicing, the band felt the chemistry just wasn't there and decided to cancel the Australian leg of the tour. In June, the band hired Arik Marshall to replace Frusciante. Marshall performed his first show with the band on July 4, 1992, and the entire summer was spent with the band headlining the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, which further gave a boost to album sales and only made the band bigger. Marshall finished out the remainder of the tour, which included various awards shows and European dates in 1993. Following the tour, the band regrouped and attempted to begin writing for the next album. However, Marshall was fired due to chemistry problems with the other three members. He was briefly replaced by Jesse Tobias, but his tenure did not last long. Finally, he was replaced with Dave Navarro in 1993.
Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour was the band's biggest tour at the time, and took them across the entire world. Although the loss of Frusciante in 1992 nearly halted the band's tour, Arik Marshall filled the position of lead guitarist. The tour saw them playing bigger venues than ever before and became one of the most important tours of the Alternative rock era, especially due to the opening acts the tour featured, like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins who all would eventually be headlining their own arena tours within the next year. Arguably the tour's highlight came with a headlining slot on the 1992 Lollapalooza tour which was one of the biggest tours of the summer. The band's setlists featured a heavy dose of the band's first five albums with songs like "Catholic School Girls Rule" getting a one time performance and vanishing from the band's setlist until fourteen years later on the Stadium Arcadium World Tour. Out of the seventeen songs on the album, "Apache Rose Peacock", "The Greeting Song", "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" and "The Righteous & The Wicked" are the only songs to never be performed. "Naked in the Rain" was performed only twice with it being performed once during the 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour'. "Funky Monks" has been performed three times and only once on the Blood Sugar Sex Magik Tour. It would not return to the setlist for another fourteen years on the Stadium Arcadium World Tour when a fan requested it during a radio contest. The band performed it once more the following night. This tour marked the last time "Get Up and Jump", "Fight Like a Brave", "Magic Johnson", "Naked in the Rain", "Party on Your Pussy", "Subway to Venus" and "Thirty Dirty Birds" have been performed live.
