Fans attending a Janes Addiction show Friday night, September 13th in Boston at Leader Bank Pavilion film dramatic videos capturing the escalating confrontation of enraged singer shoving and punching Navarro ending in his removal from the stage.
The legendary Los Angeles alt-rock band had recently reunited with their original lineup of Farrell, Navarro, Stephen Perkins, and Eric Avery, releasing their first new music in 34 years with the single “Imminent Redemption.”
Farrell was restrained by crew members and bassist Eric Avery, whose return to the band after a 14-year hiatus has been a major draw for fans.
Farrell’s underwhelming performances at two outdoor New York shows earlier this week sparked speculation on social media. During the first show on Tuesday, he admitted, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest. Something’s wrong with my voice. I just can’t hit the notes.” Later, Avery posted on Instagram, “Looking forward to another chance at this spectacular rooftop venue tonight. I’m optimistic we’ll do better.”
Last night the show ended abruptly after Farrell shouted at Navarro during the ninth song, “Mountain Song,” with tensions intensifying during the subsequent performance of “Three Days.” In the middle of “Ocean Size,” Farrell approached Navarro, aggressively nudged him, and seemed to take a swing at him as Dave looks perplexed. You can watch fan-shot footage of the confrontation below.
Jane’s Addiction is set to perform tomorrow in Bridgeport, CT, but they have yet to comment on the incident or if the tour will continue. The band has broken up and reformed multiple times since their initial split in 1991.
Perry Farrell’s wife Etty offered a very lengthy account of what happened from her viewpoint in her Instagram account and posted video.
“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’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.
“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.”
“While Dave was keeping Perry at arm’s length to de-escalate the situation, [roadie] 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.
“Dave still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight,” Etty added. “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.”
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