A brawl between frontman Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro resulted with a gig ending early on Friday and calls the future of the popular 1990s alternative rock band into question.
Jane’s Addiction has canceled all remaining concerts on its North American tour after an onstage altercation last week between frontman Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro led to a fight involving all four band members and brought their performance in Boston to an abrupt end.
On Monday, Jane’s Addiction released a statement regarding the cancellation of the tour. In the midst of Friday’s onstage tussle, the alternative rock band, who reunited for a tour together for the first time in 14 years, canceled a planned Sunday night gig in Connecticut.
“To all the fans, the band have [sic] made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group. As such, they will be canceling the balance of the tour,” the statement posted on social media reads.
Jane’s Addiction – singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery — were early pioneers of the alternative rock genre in the 1990s. The band formed in 1985 in Los Angeles and has reformed with members missing and replaced after breaking up in 1991 on a tour that doubled as the inaugural Lollapalooza tour. Their 2024 tour was the band’s first with all four founding members but has already finished after 22 appearances.
The fight in Boston began when Farrell, seemingly irritated, walked up to Navarro as he played a solo on their song “Ocean Size” from 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking. Grunting, Farrell is seen in videos taken by supporters in the audience smashing his body on Navarro, who holds up a hand to keep the frontman at a distance. Farrell can be seen throwing a punch toward the guitarist; at that time, three men entered the stage to pull Farrell back. The focus escalated with Avery holding Farrell in a headlock and striking him many times.
Navarro also released a post-incident statement on behalf of himself, Avery and Perkins, writing on Instagram: “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 U.S. tour. Our worry for his personal health and safety as well as our own has given 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,” the guitarist continues. “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.”
On Monday, Farrell apologized to fans and his bandmates for his actions on stage in Boston.
“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,” he said. “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.” You may also read this: Man Arrested for Terroristic Threat at Morgan Wallens
Farrell’s wife chimed in on the incident over the weekend, offering a detailed explanation and judgment of the event that commended Navarro and punished Avery on her Instagram account Saturday morning. Etty Lau Farrell said that her husband has been suffering serious mental health episodes, when the singer is, “spinning out. The most catastrophic health of all with him since 97.” She said that his on-stage rage was because his vocals were muffled out.
“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,” Etty Lau Farrell wrote. “Perry had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the first row started grumbling up to Perry, cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”
An email sent to the band’s publicist by The Hollywood Reporter asking for comment on Etty Lau Farrell’s claims online was not immediately replied on Monday. The band’s statement claimed reimbursements for the canceled tour 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.”
