John Frusciante rejoins RHCP's Flea and Anthony Kiedis live onstage

John Frusciante reunited with his RHCP bandmates at an Andrew Burkle memorial. Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins took Chad Smith’s place for a three song performance.

Red Hot Chili Peppers announced Frusciante’s return to the band in mid-December. It meant Josh Klinghoffer, who’d taken Frusciante’s place in 2009, was on the way out. Frusciante’s first official shows as a fully reinstated band member are coming in May, but he joined Flea and Anthony Kiedis at a Tony Hawk Foundation event over the weekend.

The setlist consisted of ‘Give it Away’ and covers of Gang of Four’s ‘Not Great Men’ and The Stooges’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’. It was an outdoor gig in front of a tame and fairly sparse audience. Though, there were a lot of phone cameras rolling. The relaxed situation might be just what Frusciante desired after more than a decade out of action.

Watch: RHCP w/ John Frusciante – Give it Away

The band’s Gang of Four cover is not a case of bandwagon jumping in the wake of lead guitarist Andy Gill’s death. Gill produced RHCP’s debut album way back in 1984. Flea posted a heartfelt remembrance last week, describing Gill as one of his “heroes, a man who inspired the shit out of Hillel [Slovak], Anthony [Kiedis] and I as youngsters.”

Flea had been in touch with Gill recently, too. Gill was fashioning a Gang of Four tribute album in the months prior to his death, which put Flea and Frusciante back in the studio together.

“Andy and I had spoken recently, and communicated a lot of over the last several months about a Gang Of Four tribute album he was putting together,” said Flea. “Myself, John Frusciante, and the youth choir from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music just finished recording a track for it, and sent in to Andy on Monday.”