Over the weekend, the band Jane’s Addiction was playing a show in Boston. During the third song in their set, lead singer Perry Farrell started grunting on stage before yelling something at his bandmate, Dave Navarro. Perry then walked over to confront Dave, hitting him as the guitarist had his hand out to keep him at bay. A crew member stepped in to de-escalate the situation and it looked like bassist Eric Avery pulled Perry away. There are a lot of videos of it online and this Twitter thread has compiled a bunch of different ones taken by different people.
Obviously, the show ended after Perry hit Dave on stage. The band’s next tour date was scheduled for September 18 in Toronto. However, on Monday, Dave, Eric, and drummer Stephen Perkins released a statement via Instagram announcing that the band would be canceling the rest of their tour. According to the statement, canceling their remaining dates was a result of Perry’s “continuing pattern of behavior and mental health difficulties.” Out of concern for their bandmate, Jane’s Addiction is taking a break in the hopes that Perry is able to “find the help he needs.” Soon after, Perry released a statement apologizing to his bandmates and taking “full accountability” for his behavior.
On Monday, the band announced in a statement posted to their Instagram page that they’ve “made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group,” therefore canceling the remaining dates of their tour.
Soon after on Monday, Navarro, along with Jane’s Addiction band mates Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery, posted a joint statement to their respective Instagram accounts in which they said the cancelation of the tour is a result of a “continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell.”
“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,” the statement read.
Navarro, Perkins and Avery’s statement expressed “regret” for the cancelation but added that they “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,” the statement concluded.
Later on Monday, Farrell wrote in a statement posted to his Instagram story that “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.”
His statement continued, “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
On Friday, Farrell and Navarro were seen engaging in a confrontation on stage during their concert in Boston, video footage showed. Farrell appeared to yell at Navarro, then approach him and hit him before other band members and crew intervened.
Jane’s Addiction were set to resume their tour in Toronto on Wednesday after they previously canceled Sunday’s concert in Connecticut due to the scuffle. The tour was scheduled to conclude in Los Angeles in October. Refunds for the canceled dates will be issued at the ticket holder’s point of purchase and ticket holders who purchased tickets through third-party resale sites are urged to reach out to them directly.
Perry’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, went on Instagram to share her perspective of what went down. She claims that her husband was frustrated that audio levels in previous concerts were drowning his vocals out, causing him to have tinnitus and a sore throat after every show. Etty says that the band started playing “Ocean Size” before her husband was ready to start and their “count” was off. That random vocalizing was just him trying to be heard.
When my husband showed me a video of the confrontation and I heard Perry’s grunting vocalizations just prior to walking over to Dave, I just assumed that was that it had to be alcohol- or drug-related. Maybe he really was just mad and flipped out. Whatever the reason(s) he had, attacking anyone is never the answer. It’s clear that Perry has some issues that he needs to seek treatment for. I really hope he takes this time to do that. Throwing guitars is rock ‘n’ roll. Throwing punches at your bandmate is not.
Perry Farrell went off on set of Jane's Addiction, attacking Dave Navarro…apparently pissed the sound of the instruments drowned out his vocals….or he was drunk or high…IDK.
But here's the full video: pic.twitter.com/L5DhS56YGR
— VonWeeden🛑 (@Von_Weeden) September 14, 2024
Photos credit: Zoran Veselinovic / Avalon, Mike Gray / Avalon
Man behaving badly, all over the place. These guys are way too old to be having brawls.
They sure are, why can’t these black guys behave themselves 🤣🤣🤣
Gross men behaving grossly.
Let’s not forget that Perry raped his teenage cousin with his partner at the time, got her addicted to heroin, and she died of an OD. And he fully admits this in an interview, with zero shame.
He’s not a good person.
Guzzling from a giant bottle of wine on stage is not gonna end well. Sadly, I was really looking forward to this show and hope Perry gets some real help.
Is that even good for the voice?
No, it actually makes it more difficult to control your voice for a while.
Yeah, not buying the music was too loud and he couldn’t hear himself defense. Perry clearly looks off, he started yelling FU before attacking Navarro. There must be something else going on there. I love this band and this is my music growing up, so I hope this gets resolved soon and Perry gets the help he needs. Kudos to Navarro for stepping away and not escalating the violence.
I know next to nothing about this band. Do they have a history of internal beef? (That had been made public).
Rumors and speculation that all (if not most) of the band members were substance abusers, drug, alcohol throughout the years, complicating their relationship. So you get the usual fights, arguments in a rock band. Perry being problematic diva as well. Most of that, I recall, was behind the scenes. This is the first time I’ve seen them brawl on stage. Take that with a grain of salt. Just things I’ve heard.
Oh they’ve definitely had many fights on stage, usually instigated by Perry and his drunkenness/addiction issues. Their first Lollapalooza festival in 91 pretty much ended exactly like this, with Perry and Dave getting into a fight onstage and the band walking off. There’s been a lot of bad blood over the years between the band members for numerous reasons, with Perry vs. Dave or Perry vs. Eric as the most common occurrences.
I was honestly shocked at Perry’s appearance, it was so much worse than I was expecting. He seems extremely unhealthy.
Agreed. After watching this longer video above, the guy’s wife’s explanation doesn’t quite fit. She’s sticking up for her man, or believing his version, but that’s not going to help whatever his actual problems are. And if that’s how he normally sings, no wonder he has a sore throat every night!
I saw this clip floating around but I had no context for it. A few thoughts:
1. His wife should have kept her thoughts to herself. I thought his apology was pretty good and she undermined it by making excuses after he said he took full responsibility.
2. I was actually surprised by both the other bandmates statements and Perry’s response. Most wouldn’t go as far as saying their bandmate needs mental health help and would leave it at the vaguer statement from the whole band. I to was also surprised Perry didn’t push back.
3. Perry looked very unstable and out of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if his mic volume was low on purpose.
4. Navarro responded very well to bring e hit. That could have easily escalated so much. I’m glad he displayed so much self control.
5. I hope Perry gets the help he needs and the best for the entire band.
His wife made those comments immediately after the show ended on Friday. He didn’t say anything until after the tour was canceled.
My sister was there and says he was a mess from the moment they stepped on stage but the other band members were professional and apologized to the audience when they ended the show.
Farrell’s wife made those comments the day after the concert. (The issues she was claiming her husband had are really issues handled by the sound technicians, but you know, whatever, gotta protect her husband’s reputation while throwing his bandmates under the bus.) Farrell made his comments at least a day or two after that.
I am very glad that Farrell is taking responsibility for his actions and I hope he gets help.
@boxy, 💯 “The issues she was claiming her husband had are really issues handled by the sound technicians….” Great point. Don’t they do sound checks?
“Throwing guitars is rock and roll.” “Dave Grohl knocking up his side chick is pretty normal rock star behavior. (paraphrasing)” Why does society keep giving these guys a pass on reckless, irresponsible behavior just because of their career path?
My husband’s response: “yep sounds like Jane’s Addiction.” But honestly the video of 60 year old men behaving like hormonal teens on stage is just kinda sad.
It is sad, but when they were 55 year old men they were touring with a bunch of women strung up on literal meathooks through their skin. I’d prefer they stick to punching each other.
@Mere: WHAT???? Never mind, I don’t want to know.
His wife needs to be quiet. Not only is she not involved, but don’t make excuses for the inexcusable.
Also, every thing I’ve learned about the in-ear monitors is that each band member has a customized mix in their ear—with their instrument/voice/mic turned up, click track for staying on count (and the click track usually says “Name of Song” in 5-4-3-2-1 before each number begins), plus whatever else each person wants. If everyone else was on the same count, Perry was off, not them.
Fascinating!
I was at one of the earlier shows on this tour, and Perry Farrell was an absolute train wreck. He’s an abusive angry drunk and I’m surprised the tour went on as long as it did. terrible human being. I feel so bad for the two opening bands, both of whom now losing all of the revenue of the tour as they cannot continue without the support of the headliner.
I wondered if anyone here had attended any of the previous shows – I’d seen some comments and a review of a NYC show saying that Perry Farrell was out of it. They also praised Love and Rockets’s set. I know this tour can’t continue but I hope the openers can work some other shows and haven’t lost out on too much.
Yeah, I heard Perry had been ranting on stage during earlier shows and the rest of the band would try to speed up some parts to stop him from doing that. What his wife said is utter BS and enabling behaviour. It sucks for the opening acts and all the techs involved in the tour though, but touring with an angry drunk would also be an absolute nightmare
I know a few alcoholics and Perry’s behaviour… If you know, you know.
Being one myself, that man is high…on something. Staggering. Confused looks. Moving in a way designed to keep his balance. Sad. He has a history of heroin addiction. Who knows if he has relapsed with that or something else? Whatever it is, I hope he gets help and gets well.
For insights, read this recent article written by artist Casey Niccoli, Farrell’s GF and collaborator at the beginning: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/janes-addiction-casey-niccoli-artist_n_668d9f4ce4b08f09c1fb7a11/amp
I love Jane’s Addiction, so I attended their gig here in Tuscany, last June. Man, it was… mediocre, and all because of Perry. He talked a lot, mumbling like he was very drunk and/or high on something, doing irritating small talk and jokes on beautiful women and sex (I am not a prude: it simply sounded so anachronistic, coming from traditional macho mentality). And most of all, he could not sing well. I was left with a sense of disappointment and pity: he looked like a stupid old man with some serious “health” issues.
How nice of Jane’s Addiction to give us a preview of what the Oasis concert will look like, in case we forgot.
I thought the same thing! Who’d hit a bandmate on stage during a performance? A Gallagher!
I saw them AUG 31 at Hollywood FL. Perry was good that night. i was 4th row and the vibe was killer, Love and Rockets ROCKED. Janes played hard strong and all my FAV songs. Sad to see that he was a mess for Boston and has some serious drug, alcohol and anger issues> Great band but not surprised that thing get out of control> Thats ROCK &ROLL