--- title: Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Guitars Unplugged During Halftime Show description: The NFL didn't want live instruments as part of the show, in case something went wrong with the audio canonical: https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/ author: Alex Fitzpatrick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-05T02:48:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:18:12.407Z article:section: World og:title: Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Guitars Unplugged During Halftime Show og:description: The NFL didn't want live instruments as part of the show, in case something went wrong with the audio og:url: https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Guitars Unplugged During Halftime Show twitter:description: The NFL didn't want live instruments as part of the show, in case something went wrong with the audio twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Their Guitars Were Unplugged During the Super Bowl Halftime Show ## Video: Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl Halftime Show [Watch (HLS stream): Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl Halftime Show](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nk22mKJL.m3u8) (1:59)  _Published 2014-02-03. Whether you watched the Super Bowl or not, here's a quick recap of the best moments from Bruno Mars' halftime show—from rocking out behind a drum set to doing the splits—all while wearing a now iconic gold jacket and some very durable pants._  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Feb 5, 2014 2:48 AM CUT  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Feb 5, 2014 2:48 AM CUT The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been in hot water this week after [careful analysis](http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/flea-played-air-bass-at-the-super-bowl.html "undefined") of the [Su](http://topics.time.com/super-bowl/ "undefined")p[er Bowl](http://topics.time.com/super-bowl/ "undefined") XLVIII halftime show footage revealed that the band’s instruments weren’t plugged in to anything. Flea, the Peppers’ zany bassist, took to the band’s blog Tuesday evening to explain why they were essentially playing air guitar alongside headliner Bruno Mars. Flea’s explanation: The NFL didn’t want live instruments as part of the show, lest something go wrong with the audio. Instead, the NFL told the Red Hot Chili Peppers they’d have to pre-record the guitar, bass and drum tracks to play behind live vocals from frontman Anthony Kiedis. “When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song ‘Give It Away ‘ at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded,” Flea wrote. “I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.” Here’s Flea’s [blog post](http://redhotchilipeppers.com/news/454-a-message-from-flea "undefined") in full: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/"},"headline":"Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Their Guitars Were Unplugged During the Super Bowl Halftime Show","datePublished":"2014-02-05T02:48:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:18:12.407Z","description":"The NFL didn't want live instruments as part of the show, in case something went wrong with the audio","url":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/","name":"Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Their Guitars Were Unplugged During the Super Bowl Halftime Show"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl Halftime Show","description":"Whether you watched the Super Bowl or not, here's a quick recap of the best moments from Bruno Mars' halftime show—from rocking out behind a drum set to doing the splits—all while wearing a now iconic gold jacket and some very durable pants.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nk22mKJL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-03T05:16:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nk22mKJL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/","duration":"PT1M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4501/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-halftime-show-super-bowl/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```