Things have been chaotic in the Jane’s Addiction sphere over the past few days. The band’s September 13 concert in Boston ended prematurely after singer Perry Farrell (who is also the founder of the famed Lollapalooza festival) punched guitarist Dave Navarro on stage. The band later issued an apology and canceled a Bridgeport, Connecticut concert scheduled for September 15.
Now, the band has announced they have canceled the rest of their tour and are going on a break.
In a statement shared on social media today (September 16), the band wrote:
“To all the fans,
The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group.
As such, they will be cancelling the remainder of the tour.
Refunds for the cancelled dates will be issued at your point of purchase – or if you purchased from a third-party resale site like StubHub, SeatGeek, etc, please reach out to them direct.
Thank you,
Jane’s Addiction.”
In a different statement from the band’s Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins (but not Farrell) also shared today, the trio wrote:
“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 US tour.
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. 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.
Dave, Eric and Stephen.”
After the initial incident, Farrell’s wife Etty Lau Farrell shared a video of the confrontation and a statement, writing:
“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.”
