When was the last time you saw The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, and Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg on the same beach?
Never?
Leave it to the Olympics to bring these global superstars together to perform a song each during the closing ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It was a passing of the torch in a way. In France they had local heroes Air, Phoenix and Kavinsky perform in front of 71,000 fans, dignitaries and athletes at the Stade de France in Paris.
Across the sea in California the American musicians rocked out to a much smaller set of lucky attendees (and beach volleyball players) in Snoop Dog's hometown of Long Beach.
Rosie's Dog Beach to be specific.
Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas came the furthest, geographically. The Highland Park natives performed on an extra wide lifeguard station with a backing band and knocked out two songs from Hit Me Hard And Soft that have only been played once before.
The beautiful "Birds of a Feather" got its live debut in July at a special for Amazon Music. And "The Greatest" had only been heard on the Late Show with Steven Colbert in May.
Billie wore, a Ralph Lauren polo shirt "emblazoned with blue and red stripes and an American flag patch," according to Women's Wear Daily.
"The singer also added on a pair of khaki cargo shorts, accessorizing with Nike sneakers, argyle socks and a striped denim cap. A silver Chrome Hearts dog tag necklace and rimless frames completed Eilish’s ensemble."
Flea and Anthony Kiedis of the Chili Peppers met in high school in the Fairfax district near Hollywood. That's about half way between Highland Park and the Ocean.
The full band played "Can't Stop" as Flea danced around topless and Anthony sported the fishnet white top and long shorts. If those two are the epitome of what it looks like to be 61 year-old Angelenos, then pass some more chili peppers.
Speaking of not being able to stop... the band had just wrapped up 27 dates of their Unlimited Love Tour on July 30, which means they didn't even give themselves two weeks off before they were to play Sunday afternoon for a world wide TV audience soaking in the last moments of the Olympic games.
But the star of the show was probably The Dogg Father.
Nearly every day of the Olympics he was somehow in the mix from hanging with the basketball teams to inspiring the women's gymnastics team to dance at him, to swimming with Michael Phelps.
Someone called him Team USA's emotional support dogg.
So if there was going to be a world wide iconic musical figure from LA to accept the passing of the peace from Paris to the Pacific, who better than the d-o-double g?
And since he and his mentor and collaborator Dr. Dre are still in the midst of a marketing push for their alcoholic seltzer, Gin & Juice, they teamed up for a quartet of hits, but only two made it into the segment.
After seeing him nearly every day in the City of Lights it was a little shocking to suddenly see him sauntering out on the sand of Iowa by the Sea for "Drop It Like It's Hot," a tune he live debuted almost exactly 20 years ago.
Then out came the good doctor, Andre Young, who "discovered" Snoop after leaving N.W.A and creating one of the greatest solo albums ever, The Chronic.
Together they performed "The Next Episode," the third single from Dre's second solo album, The Chronic 2001. You may remember that one gave us "Still D.R.E." and "Forgot About Dre."
Long Beach and Compton did two more classics for the kids and hopefully we'll all get to see those surface someday before 2028, let's hope. Unless NBC was making a time capsule for the future.
Speaking of the future, the only ones in this group with tour dates locked in are the siblings. Billie's world tour begins at the end of next month in Canada, get your tickets on her website.
