Jane’s Addiction recently launched a reunion tour with their classic lineup — Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery — with support from Love & Rockets. It’s already yielded their first new music together since 1990. Navarro has said an album is “more than likely.” But last night in Boston, their show ended early with band members fighting onstage. This is going to ruin the tour?
In fan videos of the end of “Ocean Size” at Leader Bank Pavillion, Farrell can be seen grunting, then shouting “fuck you” at and body checking Navarro, who tries to keep him away. Farrell throws a punch before multiple crew members and bassist Avery restrain him, and everyone exits the stage. They had a few songs left to go, including their biggest hits “Stop!” and “Been Caught Stealing,” but the concert ended early. It was Perkins’ birthday too.
Tensions between the members of Jane’s Addiction had been building in recent weeks. At Tuesday night’s show at the Rooftop At Pier 17 — the band’s first NYC gig in 15 years — Farrell struggled throughout the night and eventually told the audience, “I have to be honest with you. Something’s wrong with my voice… I just can’t get the notes out all of a sudden.”
— Mr. Howard (@MrHoward) September 11, 2024
Post by @aliceteeple
View on Threads
His performance was eviscerated online by fans, who also expressed concern for his well-being. Before night two at the venue, bassist Eric Avery addressed the situation on Instagram, writing “I’m optimistic we will be better.” And they reportedly were, though ironically Farrell stopped the show at one point to stop a fight in the audience.
In Tampa a few weeks ago, Creative Loafing documented the “odd” vibes:
Farrell launched into many nonsensical rants about cow pastures, mushrooms, surfing, living in Florida, and arguing with his brother about politics, among other undecipherable topics. Chugging from a full bottle of wine throughout the performance, one almost got the feeling that this wasn’t the first bottle he’d uncorked for the night.
At one point, during one of his ramblings, Navarro deliberately cranked out a loud, piercing chord on his guitar, as almost to silence Farrell and get the show back on track.
Jane’s Addiction have not commented on last night’s debacle, but Farrell’s wife Etty offered an explanation on Instagram alongside a video of the altercation. She also writes that, after the lights came down, “Eric walked up to Perry, upstage, in the dark, behind Dan, put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”:
Rather than speculating, I thought to post a first person account of what happened on stage with @janesaddiction last night at the @lenderpavilion in Boston.
WHO: Perry Farrell & Dave Navarro
HOW: Clearly there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members.. the magic that made the band so dynamic. Well, the dynamite was lit. Perry got up in Dave’s face and body checked him.
WHY: Perry’s frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band. Perry had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.
WHEN: The band started the song Ocean before Perry was ready and did the count off.. The stage volume was so loud at that point, that Perry couldn’t hear pass the boom and the vibration of the instruments and by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just be to be heard.
SO WHO WON THE FIGHT:
Why, Eric Avery of course. While Dave was keeping Perry at arm’s length to de-escalate the situation. Dan rushed over to de-escalate as well by holding Perry back. Dave walked away to take his guitar off. Eric walked up to Perry, upstage, in the dark, behind Dan, put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times. Kevin, crewmember with a long hair with long hair pulled Eric away. Then Eric nonchalant walked off to the front of the stage to apologize to audience for the show ended early.
WHAT WAS THE AFTERMATH?
Dave still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight. Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour – he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried. Eric, well he either didn’t understand what descalation meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry.
Well, that’s is my first person account narrative of what happened. Take a look at the video yourself. #Janesaddiction #amancanonlybepushedsofar #davetookthehighroad #Cheapshot #leaderbankpavilion #mothereagle
Farrell’s former Porno For Pyros bandmate Martyn LeNoble also weighed in on the situation, commenting on an Instagram post by Jane’s Addiction guitar/bass tech Dan Clearly. “The calm AFTER the storm,” Clearly captioned a photo of the empty venue. “Thank you Boston. Sorry Boston.” LeNoble, who was replaced by Mike Watt on P4P’s recent reunion tour, commented: “Fuck Perry. He’s been a sad shell of a human being for most of his life. No spine. Just a preacher without any capacity for growth.”
The tour is scheduled to resume in Bridgeport, CT on Sunday. In the meantime, Liam Gallagher gets the last word…
There attitude stinks
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) September 14, 2024
