Jane’s Addiction Rebounds To End New York City Run On High Note

Jane's Addiction's classic lineup — vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — performed together in New York City for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the scenic Rooftop at Pier 17. While Farrell was in rough shape on Tuesday, the frontman was in fine form last night to close the legendary band’s visit to the Big Apple.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. Something’s wrong with my voice,” Farrell admitted to the crowd on Tuesday before adding “I just can’t get the notes out all of a sudden.” The vocal issues were apparent in video of the concert and according to social media comments from those in attendance.

Eric Avery addressed the situation in an Instagram post before Wednesday’s show. “Looking forward to getting another crack at this spectacular rooftop venue tonight. I’m optimistic we will be better,” Avery wrote. Thankfully for those of us in the house on Wednesday, his positive outlook paid off.

Jane’s Addiction has been co-headlining with Love and Rockets across North America from August 9 and will continue the run through October 16. Liverpool-based quartet Crawlers are aboard as openers and they impressed on Wednesday. Frontwoman Holly Minto not only has a powerful and dynamic voice, but she also has an incredible stage presence. Despite the huge empty gaps within the sold-out venue due to the early hour, Minto engaged the audience and poured her heart into performances of such bombastic songs as “‘Come Over (Again),” “Messiah” and “I End Up Alone.” Crawlers made the most of the half-hour set.

Love & Rockets took the stage with a gorgeous backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge just after 7 p.m. The English trio of former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins scored a hit with “So Alive” in 1989 and recently reunited after a 14-year split. I was surprised they were billed as co-headliners as I thought the classic Jane’s lineup could fill the venues booked for the tour. Yet I saw many concertgoers wearing Love & Rockets t-shirts and the crowd filled in nicely as they moved through their hour-long performance.

I don’t often have a problem finding multiple elements of an artist’s performance to keep me entertained, but the first seven songs of Love & Rockets’ set was downright boring. It just wasn’t a fit for me as the music droned on from one tune to the next. Daniel Ash and David J each seemed to play the same note or chord with little change throughout each song.

Ash said something about fans liking pop music before launching into “So Alive” and there’s certainly a reason the song climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The three-piece used backing tracks to fill out the sound on the hit single and then followed with a hard-hitting cover of The Temptations’ “Ball Of Confusion.” Love & Rockets’ set ended well but I’m not pining to see them again any time soon.

I had seen the reports of Farrell’s condition on Tuesday, so I had trepidation as Jane’s Addiction came on. All my fears quickly eased away as my first Jane’s experience was a great one. Ferrell sang well, Perkins crushed it behind the kit, Navarro shredded and Avery anchored the band with his steady work on bass.

Perry Farrell was talkative. Some of his stories were engaging and others rambled as he chugged from a bottle of wine. He also was fixated on a device that I’d imagine was supposed to add effects to his voice but didn’t have much impact to my ear. However, when it came to singing the songs, Farrell nailed most of them.

A late “Three Days” was the improvisational highlight of the night. There were moments during the Ritual de lo habitual track where I was thinking to myself “is this still three days?” I also loved all the “hits” from “Jane Says” to “Mountain Song” to a high-energy romp through “Stop!”

Perry Farrell actually stopped the latter tune after he spotted a fight in the audience. Farrell had a fan named “Bobby” make up with the crowd member he was feuding with before having Perkins restart “Stop!” With the hard 10 p.m. curfew quickly approaching, I thought “Stop!” would close the show.

I had looked at past setlists from the tour coming into the show and was surprised by the absence of arguably the band’s most popular song. So I was extremely pleased when Jane’s Addiction launched into “Been Caught Stealing.” Later I realized I must’ve been viewing the setlists for the few nights on the tour they didn’t play the 1990 hit. Ignorance is bliss.

Overall it was a fun night at a gem of the venue on the waterfront in Lower Manhattan. Furthermore, it was an emotional concert coming on 9/11 and with the tribute in lights to the Twin Towers beaming out behind the audience. I’m glad to have crossed Jane’s Addiction off my musical bucket list and would suggest others do the same. Just cross your fingers for a good night from Perry Farrell. As we lose more and more iconic musicians, you never know when it’ll be your last chance to catch a band you’ve always wanted to see.