Red Hot Chili Peppers faked Super Bowl performance
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have admitted to miming their performance during the Super Bowl 48 halftime show with Bruno Mars in New Jersey on Sunday.On Tuesday, Peppers bassist Flea posted a lengthy explanation about the band’s decision to mime to their own backing tracks while frontman Anthony Kiedis sang live.
Here’s Flea’s full statement:
"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."
Aceptan Red Hot Chili Peppers que hicieron playback en Super Bowl
Ante la polémica generada por el "playback" , que realizó Red Hot Chili Peppers en el medio tiempo del Super Bowl, Flea, el bajista de la agrupación, subrayó que lo hizo por los tiempos que la final de futbol americano asigna al espectáculo.
"Cuando nos preguntaron por la NFL y que Bruno (Mars) tocaría nuestra canción ´Give it away´ en el Super Bowl, se hizo evidente para nosotros que las voces serían en vivo, pero el bajo, la batería y la guitarra se pre-grabaron" , subrayó el bajista en un comunicado publicado en el portal de la agrupación."Entiendo la postura de la NFL en esto, dado que sólo tiene unos minutos para montar el escenario, hay un millón de cosas que podrían salir mal y arruinar el sonido para la gente viendo en el estadio y los telespectadores.
"No había lugar para la discusión sobre este tema, la NFL no quiere correr el riesgo de que su ´show´ esté frustrado por el mal sonido, y punto" .
Flea subrayó que la postura de la banda, respecto a que hace sólo mímica, siempre ha sido rechazada al recordar la última vez que lo hicieron, cuando grabaron una sesión para un programa británico de televisión en la década de los 80.
"Yo tocaba el bajo con mi zapato, John, la guitarra encima de los hombros de Anthony, y básicamente tuvimos un combate de lucha libre en el escenario, haciendo una burla de la idea de que se trataba de una actuación real en vivo.
"Tomamos nuestra música en serio, es una cosa sagrada para nosotros, y todo el que nos ha visto en un concierto, sabe que tocamos desde nuestro corazón, improvisamos espontáneamente, asumimos riesgos musicales y sudamos sangre en cada ´show´. Lo he estado haciendo por 31 años" , agregó.
Indicó que cuando la invitación a participar en el Super Bowl llegó a sus manos, a banda entró en mucha confusión sobre si debían o no hacerlo, pero finalmente decidieron que era una oportunidad "surrealista" , como una locura que se presenta una vez en la vida.
"Decidimos que, con Anthony cantando en vivo, aún podíamos llevar el espíritu y la libertad de lo que hacemos en el rendimiento, y por supuesto que tocamos cada nota en la grabación especialmente para el concierto. Conocí y hablé con Bruno, quien es un gran tipo, un verdadero músico con talento, salió algo que parecía, iba a ser divertido" .
Flea apuntó que grabaron en un día la pista y para el desempeño del domingo, Josh, Chad y él estaban tocando junto con la pista grabada previamente, así que no había necesidad de conectar sus instrumentos.
El músico agregó que pudieron hacerlo, y así no herir susceptibilidades de quienes veían el espectáculo, pero pensaron que sería mejor no crear una mentira y fue como hacer un video musical.
"Estoy muy agradecido a la NFL por recibirnos. Y agradezco a Bruno, que es un joven muy talentoso por invitarnos a ser parte de su concierto. Yo lo haría todo de la misma manera otra vez. Nosotros, como banda, aspiramos a crecer como músicos y compositores, y de seguir sacando nuestras tripas en vivo" , finalizó Flea.
Xtreme Rock Radio Monterrey
