Watch Anthony Kiedis & Dave Navarro Reunite for Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” at an LA Benefit Concert

On Monday night, a number of rock and roll icons joined together at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood for Above Ground 3, a benefit concert event founded by guitarists Dave Navarro (of Jane’s Addiction and, for one album cycle, the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Billy Morrison (of Billy Idol fame).

The night was typically stacked to the rafters with talent from the rock realm, gathered in part to raise awareness and funds for the treatment of mental health.

Among the evening’s festivities included full-album performances of Lou Reed’s Transformer (1972) and Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols (1977). Two of the night’s primary participants, Billy Idol and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, were unable to appear due to illness, but Navarro and Morrison had some other surprises in store instead.

Namely, singer Anthony Kiedis of the Chili Peppers, who joined with Navarro onstage for the first time in more than 20 years to sing the Lou Reed classic “Walk on the Wild Side”:

This is an unexpected collaboration, at least in terms of how long it’s been since the two performed live together in public. It was Navarro, of course, who replaced John Frusciante in the Chili Peppers when Frusciante left the band for the first time in the mid-1990s, recording the album One Hot Minute with the band before he was fired and Frusciante rejoined in 1998.

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Other listed special guests in the show included Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), Jason Aalon Butler (Fever333), OTEP, Mickey Avalon, Josh Freese (The Offspring, A Perfect Circle, Danny Elfman), Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction, Miley Cyrus), Piggy D (Rob Zombie), Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver, Sons of Anarchy) and Donovan Leitch, Perry Farrell, Etty Lau Farrell, Corey Taylor, Mark McGrath, Steve Stevens, and Franky Perez.

Dexter Holland of the Offspring also appeared onstage to do his best Sex Pistols impression:

This is the first we’ve seen from Kiedis in public in a while, at least in such a high-profile appearance. He and his band will head out on a huge global stadium tour in 2022, as detailed in early October, with Frusciante officially back in the mix alongside Kiedis, Chad Smith and Flea.