Red Hot Chili Peppers: 'NFL told band not to play live during Super Bowl'

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has admitted that the NFL told the band not to play live during their Super Bowl half-time performance with Bruno Mars.

While frontman Anthony Kiedis sang live alongside Mars, the band were told to fake their performance during the Seattle Seahawks' victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

In an open letter on the group's official website, Flea said: "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.

"I understand the NFL's stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there are a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the TV 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."

The band took to the stage with their unplugged instruments after Bruno Mars sang his hits 'Locked Out Of Heaven', 'Treasure' and 'Runaway Baby'.