Watch Red Hot Chili Peppers Perform On ‘Howard Stern’

Red Hot Chili Peppers made their The Howard Stern Show debut on Tuesday. The band performed three songs and spoke with host Howard Stern remotely from the SiriusXM Garage in Los Angeles.

Frontman Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist John Frusciante appeared on Stern in support of Unlimited Love, a new studio album releaed this past Friday. Unlimited Love marked the group’s first LP with Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.

Frusciante began his third stint as a member of Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2019. Howard asked the band about bringing the guitarist back into the fold. “It’s a certain amount of soul searching that I’d done. It seemed like I had changed and grown enough as a person to where it felt like it would be a beautiful thing to have another chance to do it right,” Frusciante explained.

“There was definitely something in the air because without knowing John wanted to come back and without knowing Flea had interactions with John musically, suddenly I felt overwhelmed with the feeling: ‘How do we get John back?’” Kiedis added of the circumstances that led to Frusciante’s return. “I was shocked when Flea told me that John was interested, and he had been playing with John.”

Red Hot Chili Peppers went on to discuss how they still love performing “Give It Away” before tackling the Blood Sugar Sex Magik classic. Kiedis also recalled the genesis of “Under The Bridge” ahead of a take on the song. Additionally, the quartet looked to Unlimited Love for “These Are The Ways.

Check out all three performances and the discussion about Frusciante’s return below: