Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers performs to 17 people at surprise Australian pub set

9 February, 2023

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith performed to an audience of under 20 people, as part of a surprise gig in Melbourne, Australia. 

The impromptu show took place yesterday (February 8) at the city’s Cherry Bar venue. According to reports, just 17 people were in the audience when Smith performed a two-song set of the AC/DC songs ‘If You Want Blood’ and ‘Up to My Neck in You’. Smith was joined on the tracks by local vocalist AC Dan and guitarist Josh May.

Speaking of the performance, which took place as part of the venue’s Cherry Jam open mic night, Cherry Bar manager James Young said “Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is a legend.”

According to Young – who has overseen sets from previous Cherry Bar performers like Axl Rose, Lady Gaga and Arctic Monkeys – Smith was “rewarded” for his set with a drink voucher courtesy of Dan and May. Watch footage of Smith’s Cherry Bar set below:

According to Herald Sun, Smith also watched on as fellow participants in the open mic night played their sets, including Melbourne drummer Seth O’Donnell.

“Words can’t describe this,” O’Donnell wrote on Instagram. “Got to play drums in front of my idol [Smith]…. then he played them with my sticks (and broke them), and then I got to hang with him.”

O’Donnell shared an image of the damaged drum sticks, alongside snippets of Smith using them. Smith’s surprise appearance at Cherry Bar came a day after Red Hot Chili Peppers’ performance at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, where they were supported by Post Malone. The band will take to the arena again for an additional show tonight (February 9), before rounding out the tour’s Australian leg in Brisbane on Sunday.

After that, the band will perform in Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka towards the latter end of this month. The tour comes in support of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 12th and 13th studio albums, ‘Unlimited Love’ and ‘Return of the Dream Canteen’, which landed in April and October of last year respectively.

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