Eagle-eyed Super Bowl watchers noted the Red Hot Chili Peppers appeared to be faking their halftime performance.
Photos posted online reveal Flea and Josh Klinghoffer’s guitars weren’t plugged into amps during their high-energy rendition of “Give It Away” with Bruno Mars.
Additionally, we’re told by insiders that they recorded the whole performance days ahead.
“The band had never planned to play live, and they had planned to pantomime days in advance,” a source told Page Six.
Flea posted a lengthy explanation on the RHCP fan page Tuesday, confirming that when they were invited to the Super Bowl, “It was made clear to us the vocals would be live but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded,” given the complexity of the event and the fact that the crew would have mere minutes to set up.
“For the actual performance, [we] 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? . . . We thought it better to not pretend.”
We’re told that Mars sang, but his band also used a pre-recorded track. The NFL had no comment.