One of the most elusive alternative rock reunions imploded this past weekend as Jane’s Addiction cancelled the remaining dates of their North American tour following an onstage scuffle between frontman Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. The group, which also features drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery, had been plagued by a series of patchy performances by Farrell since returning from Europe in mid-summer.
Best known for hits like “Been Caught Stealing,” “Jane Says” and “Mountain Song,” the Los Angeles-based band are credited with leading the alternative revolution in the early 90s and the rise of grunge but were unable to reap the rewards of the movement after breaking up in 1991. Their farewell tour that year was conceived by Farrell as Lollapalooza, which became the premier touring festival of the decade.
Since that first breakup, Jane’s Addiction reconvened on numerous occasions, some lasting longer than others, but always with a revolving door of bass players, including Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses. Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor was able to bring the classic lineup back together for a co-headlining tour in 2009, but old tensions boiled to the surface and in early 2010, Avery announced his departure on social media.
“That’s it,” he said. “With equal parts regret and relief, the Jane’s Addiction experiment is at an end.”
It was quite the surprise then when Avery’s return was revealed ahead of a tour with Smashing Pumpkins in 2022. The news was bittersweet, however, as Navarro said he would be unable to take part as he was battling long Covid.
Finally, at a show in London back in May, all four original members of Jane’s Addiction took the stage together, subsequently lighting up venues across Europe with glowing reviews from fans and critics alike. A new song, “Imminent Redemption,” came out in July and was the first to feature Avery in 34 years. Unsurprisingly, expectations were high for the subsequent Stateside dates, which commenced early last month.
***
While the rest of the band were on fire, quite possibly the best they’ve ever been, Farrell’s singing and stage presence had begun to deteriorate. Usually drinking straight from a bottle of wine, he was often hoarse, forgetting lyrics, repeating verses, and missing cues on when to come into a song. Perhaps most frustrating was how uneven his performances were. A show in New York last week was so off the rails, many considered it to be worst of the group’s career. But the following night, in the exact same location, they killed it.
Hopes were that Farrell had, with the support of his bandmates, turned a corner between those New York gigs and pulled it together. After all, this was an outfit who had their share of infighting and substance abuse issues through the years and managed to come back from it.
Unfortunately, at the very next show in Boston, it all fell apart. Farrell was clearly struggling while the others were noticeably perturbed at his behavior. Late in the set, during “Ocean Size,” Farrell went over and shoved Navarro and appeared to take a swing at him before the road crew jumped in and separated them. As the melee unfolded, Avery came over and delivered a number of gut punches to the singer. The show came to an immediate halt with a dozen or so dates left on the docket up in the air.
The next day, Farrell’s wife, Etty, took to Instagram to give her perspective, claiming Perry, “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.”
Monday, Jane’s finally released a statement aimed directly at the fans which read: “The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be canceling the remainder of the tour.”
Navarro, Avery and Perkins then put out a separate statement which was more pointed in directing blame at their frontman and directly contrasted his wife.
“Due to a continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to discontinue the current U.S. tour,” it read. “Our concern for his personal health and safety as well as our own has left us no alternative. We hope that he will find the help he needs.”
“We deeply regret that we are not able to come through for all our fans who have already bought tickets,” the statement continued. “We can see no solution that would either ensure a safe environment on stage or reliably allow us to deliver a great performance on a nightly basis. Our hearts are broken.”
To his credit, Farrell accepted responsibility for the disastrous turn of events.
“This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show,” Farrell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
It’s unclear what’s next for Jane’s Addiction – if anything. Regionally, the past is checkered, to say the least. A two-night stand in 1989 at The TLA was interrupted after Navarro allegedly got into an altercation at a Philly restaurant after the first night, leading to the second to be postponed. Then there was the infamous Tower Theater show in 1990 where the band, unhappy with the response they were receiving from the crowd, walked off mid-set. A riot ensued on the streets of Upper Darby resulting in the arrest of 22 people.
Luckily, the Atlantic City show earlier this month at the Hard Rock Hotel was a solid one to go out on if it is indeed the end of the road. And for those who got a less-than-stellar concert, a small consolation came this week with the release of another new Jane’s Addiction song that had been scheduled prior to the tour cancellation. Somewhat ironically, it’s titled “True Love.”
A version of this article appears in this week’s print and online editions of my syndicated Rock Music Menu column under the title “Jane’s Addiction latest reunion just the latest one to fall apart“
The Chronicles of Michael Christopher 
Leave a comment