Ah yes, Superbowl Sunday. A classic American tradition that has been worshipped for the past 48 years. The beer, the hotdogs, the oversized jerseys… everything about this “holiday” is completely American. Even if you’re not a football fan, you can enjoy the commercials that marketing teams all across the globe have been slaving over for the past few months. You can also be like me and anxiously await the (drumroll please)… HALFTIME SHOW!
The halftime show of the Superbowl is known for being over the top entertaining. From seeing Janet Jackson’s boob to watching Paul McCartney bring tears of happiness across the country, every single halftime is an epic SHOW. The Superbowl halftime show is a difficult one to book because literally every age demographic is tuned in. Meaning your grandmother and thirteen year old cousin will be watching the same performance. Different generations agreeing on the same performer is no easy task, which is why one year The Who played but The Black Eyed Peas took the stage the following year.
However I found this year’s lineup to be quite relevant to my age demographic with pop sensation Bruno Mars being paired up with one of my all time favorite rock bands, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Bruno Mars has the voice of God himself, while Anthony Kiedis and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers are two musicians I would sell my soul to have lunch with. Needless to say, I was very very very excited to see these two come together.
The show was amazing with Bruno Mars opening up and then coming together to play “Give It Away’ with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. There were tons of lights and energy coming from both musicians. The show was great and left me pleasantly satisfied… that is until the morning after when photos starting popping up all over the internet of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s bassist, Flea, not exactly plugged in.
What does it mean for Flea to not be plugged in? It’s the same as if a singer’s microphone was off. It’s lip syncing but for bassists. I first found photos of Flea’s bass guitar unplugged on a pop culture website called Vulture and decided to look a little deeper. Now, I have seen The Red Hot Chili Peppers perform many times before this and never once questioned if they were pre-recorded or if they were actually playing live, so these photos were a bit surprising. As I dug deeper I found that on February 4th, Flea published a letter to the public of over 900 words explaining why he was in fact not plugged in.
The letter can be found at http://redhotchilipeppers.com/news but Flea basically explains that the NFL didn’t want to risk the band having bad sound quality. They only had a few minutes to set up for the halftime show and the NFL knew it would be risky. In my opinion, a completely fair reason to not be plugged in. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a dedicated band who destroy stages everywhere with their live music. Fans should understand that sound is everything especially when playing in front of 115 million viewers. The letter is heartfelt and real and I honestly suggest reading it before forming any uneducated opinions of the band. Would fans rather give RHCP the unfair advantage of not being set up and playing a show with bad sound quality, or would we rather rock on without asking questions? It’s no doubt a controversial topic, but hey it’s the freaking Red Hot Chili Peppers… this ain’t no Ashley Simpson.
