Chad Smith rejoined Chickenfoot tonight (May 16) at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre, appearing with them in concert for the first time on the tour in support of their latest album, ‘Chickenfoot III.’ While Smith is an official member of Chickenfoot, Kenny Aronoff has been handling drums throughout this tour due to Smith’s involvement with the Red Hot Chili Peppers current road trek.

Earlier in the evening, during the main set, Sammy Hagar made a passing reference to Chad, joking that, “if Chad was here, I’d kick his ass.” Hagar, characteristically, said it with a knowing wink, foreshadowing the events to come before a crowd that thought it seemed like a random thing to say.

Shortly after the band left the stage following the main set, a man in a Kiss t-shirt and backwards baseball cap sat down behind Aronoff’s drums. Many thought at first that this was Aronoff’s drum tech but the complexity of what he was playing (and the stage lights coming on) caused the fans to realize that it was Smith, and went nuts.

The other three members of the band came back onstage and launched into ‘Oh Yeah’ from the first Chickenfoot album. Hagar then turned to the drummer and said, “Chad, you haven’t had this much fun all year and you know it.” The band then broke into a cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s ‘Foxey Lady’ with a bit of ‘Manic Depression’ thrown in.

Chickenfoot closed out the show with their new single, ‘Different Devil,’ followed by a tribute to the late Ronnie Montrose with a cover of ’Rock Candy,’ during which Aronoff came back on stage and helped on humorously on the cymbols. Hagar said that Smith was only the second drummer to get the beat on ‘Rock Candy’ right (the first being Montrose’s Denny Carmassi). All five musicians took a bow at the end of the night, during which time our reporter on the scene took the historic, if somewhat blurry, picture above.

Watch Chad Smith Rejoin Chickenfoot Onstage in Boston

More From KOOL 101.7