Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is a longtime Detroit Red Wings fan

To say that Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is a Red Wings fan would be an understatement.

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Published 2 years ago
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is a longtime Detroit Red Wings fan
Drummers Zone

As one of the most historic and popular NHL franchises, the Detroit Red Wings certainly have their share of fans around the world. And more than a few of those fans just so happen to be mainstays of popular culture. 

And one such fan just happens to be Chad Smith, best known as the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

Smith spent most of his childhood growing up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. And to say he took part in one of the greatest moments in Red Wings history would be an understatement! 

Smith was in attendance for Game 4 of the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals in which the Red Wings earned their first Stanley Cup victory in 42 years. So why not make the night complete by drinking out of the Cup itself? He was able to get into the team locker room, and took part in the celebration: 

"All the photographers were thinking, 'He's not a player,' so they didn't take any pictures. I was yelling, 'Please, please take a picture.' This one guy took a picture and he said, 'Give me your information and I'll get you the picture.' I never heard from him," Smith said. "Three years go by and I'm playing in a charity game in Boston and he was the ref. He came up to me and said, 'Hey, I have a picture of you drinking from the Cup.' I grabbed him and yelled, 'Give me your information right now!' Finally, he sent the picture. It's now at home prominently displayed."

Smith also went against advice of the band's producers of playing a show at Joe Louis Arena in 2013 when the more modern Palace of Auburn Hills was available. 

“Our agents said, ‘Oh, you’re getting a better offer from the Palace (of Auburn Hills), blah, blah, blah,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t care about the money. It’s got to be Joe Louis,'” Smith revealed. “It’s a great, obviously storied place. As a kid I went to so many concerts and so many hockey games there. It means a lot to me. I’ll be very happy to do one last show in that place.”

Smith, who was wearing a Red Wings baseball cap throughout the concert, dressed the crowd immediately after the show: 

(NSFW language)


“This is a dream come true for a kid from Detroit, to play one last show here at Joe Louis Arena. I’m humbled, privileged… I go to a lot of places, and I’m so proud to say I’m from motherf*****g Detroit, Michigan. You guys are the best.”

Source: NME