Instruments weren’t plugged in, they didn’t play live

Feb 4, 2014 16:17 GMT  ·  By

Bruno Mars’ performance with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Hooligans at the Halftime Super Bowl XLVIII was deemed one of the best ever, combining in equal measure energy and rock‘n’roll attitude with raw emotion. However, it seems that the rockers from RHCP sort of faked their way through the performance.

First off all, above is a video of the Halftime gig in full. Even if Flea and Josh Klinghoffer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers did, indeed, only pretend to play their instruments, it was still a spectacular and very entertaining moment.

The Guardian notes that buzz started picking up online during the show, when fans noticed that both rockers were strumming guitars that were plugged into absolutely nothing.

“The Chili Peppers' unplugged moment was observed by two different eagle-eyed musicians, whose tweets were caught by New York Magazine,” says the publication. Photos popped up online apparently confirming this theory.

Fans also rushed online to defend the rockers, offering footage and images of Flea apparently playing the same bass, equipped with a wireless pack. Perhaps the pack simply wasn’t visible at Sunday’s televised performance.

Or perhaps the singing was live but the track was pre-recorded, just in case. That’s probably most likely to have happened.