The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and especially the band’s bassist Flea, have been very up front about their love for David Bowie. Flea even got a tattoo in honor of the music icon to prove how much the artist meant to him and his music career. So, it should come as no surprise that they’ve continued to incorporate Bowie’s influence and hits into their public appearances. As their first public performance of 2016, the band played a fundraiser in support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in which they added in a Bowie hit to their set. According to Rolling Stone, about halfway through their set they took a break from their own hits to perform “Cracked Actor” from Bowie’s Aladdin Sane.
The band really went all out for the performance, as evidenced by a photo of their modified drum set that RHCP drummer Chad Smith posted on Instagram. Apologies in advance for the nightmares you are going to have by looking at this picture for too long. Bernie Sanders as Bowie is not something the world needs to be exposed to.
https://twitter.com/RHCPchad/status/695724710370287616/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Chili Peppers have been exceedingly vocal in their support for Sanders, who is currently locked into a tight battle for delegates with Hillary Clinton. Flea wrote an op-ed about how much he loves the politician, and they even offered to pay for the fundraiser venue themselves (but ended up not being able to do it based on political donation guidelines). Pair Flea’s support of Bernie with his disdain of Donald Trump, and it becomes clear that stars really are just like us!
Watch the full video of the Chili Peppers’ Bowie cover below, and see whether it makes you want to Feel the Bern any more than you did before.
