S Poddar
The alternative rock group Jane’s Addiction has issued a statement following the abrupt cancellation of their Boston concert, which ended with the band unable to perform after a screaming match between lead singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro on stage.
The drama unfolded on Friday, 13 September at the Leader Bank Pavilion, as tensions between the band members reached a boiling point when they performed their song “Mountain Song.” According to accounts, Farrell hurled antagonistic insults towards Navarro in the course of the performance and escalations followed as they performed their song released in 1988, “Ocean Size.”
In a video posted online by a fan, Farrell can be seen confronting Navarro. He had walked over and thumped himself on the guitarist’s shoulder. Navarro cool-headedly reacted, putting a hand on Farrell’s chest in an attempt to usher away any escalation, although Farrell is accused of retaliating with a punch. Crew members then intervened and pulled him away, and the show ended.
On their Instagram, the group issued an official statement addressing their fans : “We are sorry to extend an apology to our fans for the events that occurred last night. Because of this, we are canceling our Sunday, September 15 show in Bridgeport. Refunds will be given at your point of purchase or if you bought through a third party reseller, StubHub, SeatGeek, etc., reach out to them directly.”
Etty Lau Farrell, the wife of Perry Farrell, later shed further light on the matter, making known how her husband’s frustrations had been building up for quite some time. She says on Instagram how Perry had complained about issues with the sound, stating:. Night after night he felt the stage volume was just too great; he could not get above the rest, she wrote. The situation reached its breaking point when audience members in the front row began complaining to Farrell that they could not hear him over the band’s loudness.
Etty then said that Perry became annoyed and focused on Navarro. Things went wrong when there was a sound of Farrell swinging at the guitarist as bassist Eric Avery was reportedly putting a headlock on Farrell and punched him in the stomach. “Eric didn’t know what de-escalation meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry,” Etty added.
She also wrote that the confrontation really wore down her husband’s psychological state. “Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour. he finally didn’t calm down, but broke down and cried,” she wrote.
This is not the first indication of increasing tension between the members of the band. A review of a previous Jane’s Addiction concert in Tampa, Florida, indicated that Farrell and Navarro have been having subtle fights for some time. The review recorded how Farrell started off into a number of incoherent rants during the show, speaking on matters ranging from politics to cow pastures to mushrooms. It further stated that he drank mainly from a bottle of wine throughout the performance. In trying to regain their attention, Navarro is reported to have responded to one of his rhetorical spates seeming to gain his attention back to the music within him with one of the loud piercing guitar chords.
There were also indications that Farrell had been experiencing vocal strain. In one of the two New York City concerts, he jumped on stage himself, confessing, “Ladies and gentlemen, 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.”.
To date, the band never responded to the events that happened, and representatives from Jane’s Addiction failed to get back to calls requesting further information.
Perhaps most unfortunate for the dedicated fans who waited with bated breath for the Boston show and, subsequently, the Bridgeport show is that little is known in the immediate future for Jane’s Addiction on this leg of the tour. The statement from the band appears to be more hopeful about the fact that they are, at least now moving in the right direction in rectifying the situation with the cancellation of the show next up, pending on the agreements reached.
The onstage fight between Farrell and Navarro raises broader questions about what is happening in the group and if the band can weather this storm of personal and professional problems. Fans, no doubt, are watching to see how the band bounces back from this incident and if Farrell and Navarro will be able to repair their relationship for further concerts.
At least for the moment, the Boston concert and its abrupt end will remain a brilliant reminder of the delicate chemistry required to maintain the balance in place in a band, particularly when performing and touring constantly under pressure.
