RHCP played pre-recorded

[Romo]

he also posted on the RHCP page confirming it

Dear everybody,

When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded. I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it. The last time we did it (or tried to) was in the late 80's, we were thrown off of 'The Top Of the Pops' television program in the U.K. during rehearsals because we refused to mime properly, I played bass with my shoe, John played guitar atop Anthony's shoulders, and we basically had a wrestling match onstage, making a mockery of the idea that it was a real live performance.

We mimed on one or two weird MTV shows before that and it always was a drag. We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for us, and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at the Barclays Center), knows that we play from our heart, we improvise spontaneously, take musical risks, and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.

So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it, but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell. Plus, we the RHCP all love football too and that played a big part in our decision. We decided that, with Anthony singing live, that we could still bring the spirit and freedom of what we do into the performance, and of course we played every note in the recording specially for the gig. I met and spoke with Bruno, who was a beautiful dude, a real talented musician, and we worked out something that seemed like it would be fun.

We recorded a track for the day, just banged one out from our hearts that was very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years with our beloved Josh on guitar.

For the actual performance, Josh, Chad, and I were playing along with the pre recorded track so there was no need to plug in our guitars, so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people, except with live vocals, and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.

I am grateful to the NFL for having us. And I am grateful to Bruno, who is a super talented young man for inviting us to be a part of his gig. I would do it all the same way again.

We, as a band, aspire to grow as musicians and songwriters, and to continue to play our guts out live onstage for anyone who wants to get their brains blown out.

Sincerely,

Flea

Shame, they're one of the best live acts out there. I can understand where the NFL are coming from but when you're a band doing shit like this for a living for many many years I'd find this rather disrespectful to be asked to pre-record your music.

[Everlong]

That was a pretty classy letter from the band there, they didn't need to write anything like that to justify it but it was really cool of them to do that. I honestly don't really care all that much if the instruments were pre-recorded because they're right, there's so much that can go wrong on one of the world's biggest live television broadcasts, but yeah, it's definitely something that a lot of people would probably flip their shit about.

[Westcoastvibes]

I honestly don't know what the big fucking deal is and why people are getting so bent out of shape by this. Its all over social media and radio stations, its starting to piss me off.

I don't know why its acceptable for artists like miley, Beyonce, spears, thicke, Bruno and more to all do the same exact fucking thing for live performances but the second an iconic rock bad gets forced to do it (although logical and understandable, still forced) the whole fucking nation starts throwing a fit and bitching up a storm, WHY?

[JPG619]

However people paid money to see them. I can see why they pre-record for the super bowl however they could always have sound checks before the show so they know what it sounds like and adjust accordingly. However for concerts where people pay to hear them is just wrong it like paying 200+ dollars to listen to a CD. I for one would never pay to hear someone pre-recorded unless someone else is paying for me. I think it the lazy way out so mistakes don't happen.

I was a local band concert a few weeks ago where the lead singer forgot his own song and ask for fans to sing the song for him. I rather have that happen then have them play pre-recorded.

[Westcoastvibes]

However people paid money to see them. I can see why they pre-record for the super bowl however they could always have sound checks before the show so they know what it sounds like and adjust accordingly. However for concerts where people pay to hear them is just wrong it like paying 200+ dollars to listen to a CD. I for one would never pay to hear someone pre-recorded unless someone else is paying for me. I think it the lazy way out so mistakes don't happen.

I was a local band concert a few weeks ago where the lead singer forgot his own song and ask for fans to sing the song for him. I rather have that happen then have them play pre-recorded.

The big reason was logistics, with the limited time frame and being live the Superbowl sound people did not think they could efficiently get everything online for them to play live. They concentrated on vocal and drums but everything else including mars' band was pretty recorded

[DanielsonTHAGOAT]

I don't blame them for doing what they did considering the circumstances. Makes sense and it's a classy move by the band.

[Westcoastvibes]

I don't blame them for doing what they did considering the circumstances. Makes sense and it's a classy move by the band.

The funny thing is they could have still plunged in the wireless transmitters into the instruments and just not turned them on and this all would have been avoided

[Kyle]

I understand the situation and the need for pre-recorded music and it was classy for the band to write that.