Post Malone teamed up with the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a fiery renditions of some of their hits for a medley at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night. First up was Post Malone’s “Stay” and “Rockstar.” They finished with the Chilis’ “Dark Necessities,” a single off their 2016 LP The Getaway.
Malone kicked off the performance solo, playing an acoustic guitar and sitting on a stool as he sang “Stay” into a gold-tipped mic. Then the stage went dark, and he emerged again from a smokey tunnel singing “Rockstar.” Then the Chilis kicked things off with a chill version of “Dark Necessities” with Malone chipping in on vocals and guitar. During the song, Malone rushed Chad Smiths drum riser and mugged at Flea who wiggled his way in the rapper’s direction. Kiedis ditched his shirt and flung himself about the stage during Josh Klinghoffer’s feedbacky guitar solo, eventually giving a hug to Malone at the end.
Post Malone recently teamed with another veteran rock crew when he performed “Toys in the Attic” and “Dream On” with Aerosmith at last year’s MTV VMAs.
The rapper was up for four awards this year. His track “Rockstar” is up for both Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance, Beerbongs & Bentleys is up for Album of the Year and his song “Better Now” is up for Best Pop Solo Performance. Prior to the broadcast, though, “Better Now” lost to Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson’s “(Joanne) Where Do You Think You’re Goin?” and “Rockstar” lost the Best Rap/Sung Performance trophy to Childish Gambino for “This Is America.”
Post Malone was also slated to perform with 21 Savage at the Grammys, in a separate performance from the one with the Chilis, but the Savage was arrested by ICE. Post Malone’s most recent release was a video for “Sunflower,” his collaboration with Swae Lee for the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack.
Red Hot Chili Peppers have been nominated 12 times for Grammys and won three over the course of their career. In 1992, they took home the trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal for “Give It Away.” In 2006, they won Grammys for their album Stadium Arcadium (Best Rock Album and for the song “Dani California” (Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal). The group’s last album, The Getaway, came out in 2016.
Last month, the band performed at a special benefit show in Los Angeles to raise money for victims of the fire that overtook Malibu last year. “Red Hot Chili Peppers put on a no-nonsense show of material mostly culled from their last five albums, complete with wild psych solos from Josh Klinghoffer and drummer Chad Smith bursting with fireworks,” Rolling Stone wrote in a review. “Though the band relies heavily on gentler hits like ‘By the Way’ and ‘Scar Tissue,’ there were some true moments of adrenaline.”