Why Dave Grohl and Red Hot Chili Peppers Brought Rare Songs to Flea’s Music School Anniversary Show

A benefit concert for Flea’s Silverlake Conservatory of Music turned into something much bigger than a typical charity night. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Grohl both dipped into less expected material, while students and alumni from the school were placed at the center of the celebration.

At the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday, Silverlake Conservatory of Music marked its 25th anniversary with a benefit show that mixed major names with the school’s own students. The lineup featured Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Vince Staples and young musicians connected to the conservatory, with the evening built around the idea that music education can shape a community.

The event replaced the conservatory’s usual private benefit dinner with a concert. In the clip below, the scale of the night comes through, but the story behind it matters just as much: the school, founded in 2001 by Michael "Flea" Balzary, Keith "Tree" Barry and Peter Weiss, says it fills gaps in music education across Los Angeles public schools. A handwritten sign onstage noted that it serves 1,000 students each week, and its scholarship program supports more than 200 students whose families could not otherwise afford lessons, instruments, supplies, ensemble classes and events.

Students were not a side note. They opened the night

Before the headliners, the conservatory’s students set the tone. The SCM All Stars and the Hollywood Highsteppers brass band opened the event, putting the school’s mission in front of the crowd before any of the celebrity sets began.

The All Stars performed songs including the Ohio Players classic "Love Rollercoaster" and Madness’ "Our House." The night also happened during Flea’s birthday weekend, and the Hollywood Highsteppers marked it by playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" as he was given a birthday cake onstage.

One of the student performers, Anahit, described music as an emotional outlet and said she had been with the conservatory since she was 6. She said she performed with the school 10 years later as part of the All Stars and also sang in an SCM choir. Her mother said Anahit had received a scholarship for her first four years there, and later paid for lessons once she was able to as a way of giving back. Anahit said the conservatory feels like more than a music school, calling it both a learning environment and a place where people discover more about themselves.

Vince Staples and Dave Grohl each added their own surprise

The show’s community theme carried into Vince Staples’ set. Introduced by emcee Marc Maron, Staples performed material from his rock album "Cry Baby" and singled out guitarist Jennifer Haack and bassist Chloe Haack, who were part of his band and are Silverlake Conservatory alumni. Staples opened with "Blackberry Marmalade" and later introduced "The Running Man" as a song about America and how hard it is to live there.

Dave Grohl followed with a set that mixed familiar Foo Fighters songs with a few turns that longtime fans would not have expected. He started alone with "Times Like These" and moved into "My Hero," with his Foo Fighters bandmates joining him onstage during the song. Grohl told the crowd that there was a lot of history in the room and in his band, and said Foo Fighters owed a lot to Red Hot Chili Peppers because they were the first act to take them on an arena tour in 2000. He also said the last time Foo Fighters opened for the Chili Peppers was about 25 years ago.

Another family connection arrived when Grohl’s daughter Violet joined the band for versions of X’s "Nausea" and the Nerves’ "Hanging on the Telephone," which she noted was famously covered by Blondie. Grohl also introduced a rarer choice, saying Foo Fighters had not played it in 20 years, before the band launched into Gerry Rafferty’s "Baker Street."

Then the Chili Peppers reached deep into their catalog

Red Hot Chili Peppers closed the evening with an 11 song set that balanced a crowd-pleaser like "Give It Away" with songs that reached much further back. They began with an instrumental jam and "Can’t Stop," then made room for material from the 1980s that had not been heard live from them in a long time.

Anthony Kiedis set up one of those turns by telling the audience, "You want to talk about old school," before the band played "Organic Anti-Beat Box Band" from 1987’s "The Uplift Mofo Party Plan." Later came "Blackeyed Blonde" from 1985’s "Freaky Styley." According to the set’s billing, both songs had not been performed live since 2000.

There were more deep cuts still. The band played "Nevermind," a song guitarist John Frusciante had not performed live with them since 1992. Frusciante also stepped out alone for a solo performance of Carole King’s "Will You Love Me Tomorrow."

By the time the night ended with "Give It Away," the concert had tied together several different stories at once: a benefit for a music school, a showcase for students and alumni, a birthday moment for Flea and a set of reminders that artists known for huge hits can still surprise people by revisiting the corners of their catalogs.