Many football (and music) fans were disappointed after the Big Game when photos came out of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who played their 1991 hit single “Give it away” along side main performer Bruno Mars, disconnected from their amps during the half time show. Bassist Flea came out with an open letter, saying “We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for (the band), and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at Barclay Center), knows that we play from our heart…”
Despite Flea’s letter, adoring fans were still outraged by the performance, but his reasoning was fair enough to be accepted by the Chili Pepper following.
Flea commented on the obvious mimicry, stating “Could we have plugged (the instruments) in and avoid[ed] bumming people out…of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend.”
Disappointed fanatics slowly simmered down, appreciating that the band did not try to deceive them.
Even in the always-heated debate of lip-syncing or playing along with recorded music, honesty can sometimes overrule the disappointment. The lead singer of the band, Anthony Kiedis, still sang live, as did Bruno Mars, but his band did in fact play along with a recorded track. “I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up stage, there are a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the T.V. viewers”
Whether or not everyone is in agreement that this was in fact an acceptable time to play pre-record, to avoid the integrity of the sound being ruined, the show ran smoothly. Mars and Kiedis sang their hearts out, and the always talented artists made an exciting spectacle for game-day viewers. With the 111.5 million spectators, the performance was well executed, but in reality, who wasn’t more worried about Denver?
