Kevin Parker of Tame Impala Joins Forces with The Wiggles to Perform 'Hot Potato' at Australia Concert (original) (raw)

During the children's musical group's concert at Perth, Australia's RAC Arena, Parker hopped onstage with The Wiggles to perform "Hot Potato" and Tame Impala's "Elephant"

Published on April 11, 2022 01:25PM EDT

Photo: Don Arnold/WireImage; Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Australian musicians Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and The Wiggles have teamed up for an unexpected collaboration.

On Saturday, during the legendary children's musical group's concert at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, the 36-year-old Tame Impala frontman hopped onstage with The Wiggles to perform a cover of "Hot Potato."

"When I got the invitation I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so it was an obvious yes," Parker told Australian radio station Triple J, per NME, of the performance. "The Wiggles are the real rockstars in this world. I was pretty nervous!"

The Wiggles repaid the favor to Parker by also performing a cover of Tame Impala's 2012 hit "Elephant" mashed up with "Fruit Salad" during the concert, appropriately bringing out a group of animal-dressed dancers including one donning an elephant costume.

"This next song we're gonna sing together — and do a dance together — is all about an elephant. Yeah, that's right! This is a song about an elephant, and it's by Tame Impala," The Wiggles member Simon Pryce, 50, told concertgoers onstage. "Now, something extra special is happening today. We have the one and only Kevin Parker from Tame Impala joining us!"

"Thank you for this wonderful song, 'Elephant.' We've had such a great time with it," continued Pryce, referencing The Wiggles' first performance of the mash-up in March for Triple J's 'Like A Version' cover series, which reached No. 1 on the radio station's Hottest 100 of 2021 countdown.

Speaking to Triple J in January, Parker reacted in disbelief toward The Wiggles' chart-topping take on the track. "If someone had told me back when we released 'Elephant' that, in 10 years' time, The Wiggles were gonna cover it and it would get Top 10 Hottest 100, I would've told you that you were out of your mind," said the "Let It Happen" musician.

"I would've told you that that's a ridiculous idea and I wouldn't have believed you," continued Parker. "If a fortune-teller told me that was going to happen, I would've asked for my money back."

After expressing his initial shock, Parker praised The Wiggles' "Elephant" cover. "They made it their own, which showcases the genius of The Wiggles," he said. They really gave it a new personality, a new animal personality."

The Wiggles is currently touring Australian arenas through May. Meanwhile, fresh off the release of 2022's The Slow Rush B-Sides & Remixes, Tame Impala's ongoing Slow Rush Tour is hitting venues worldwide through October.