Watch John Frusciante Perform With Red Hot Chili Peppers For First Time In 13 Years
At the end of last year, John Frusciante announced his return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers lineup after a decade-plus absence. Frusciante officially left the group in 2009, though he hadn’t performed with the group live since the 2007 Stadium Arcadium tour. But Frusciante joined RHCP on stage for the first time in almost 13 years on Saturday for a performance at the Tony Hawk Foundation’s memorial for Andrew Burkle. It wasn’t a full RHCP reunion, though: drummer Chad Smith wasn’t there, Stephen Perkins replaced him.
As Rolling Stone reports, the band did a brief set that included their own “Give It Away,” a cover of the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” and a cover of Gang Of Four’s “Not Great Men” in honor of the late Andy Gill.
In an Instagram post last week, Flea said he had recently been in contact with Gill — who produced RHCP’s 1984 debut album — about recording a track for a Gang Of Four tribute album. He recorded it with Frusciante and the Silverlake Conservatory Of Music youth choir.
Watch Frusciante join RHCP below.
Thank you to the Burkle family for including us in your celebration of Andrew. His passion for life was contagious & his spirit lives on through our work at @THF.
A good example of Andrew’s magnetism was on display when this all-star lineup came together to play Iggy Pop #acbrox pic.twitter.com/8F3WjGT8K7— Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) February 9, 2020
Frusciante also joined Dave Navarro to play a Jane’s Addiction song at the same event: