Jane’s Addiction has offered a “heartfelt apology” to fans and cancelled the remaining dates on their current tour following an onstage fight between singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro.
As the regrouped alt-rock act was nearing the end of its set Friday night in Boston, Farrell, 65, was seen in videos posted to social media screaming into his mic before he lunged and took a swing at Navarro, 57, bumping the guitarist with his shoulder and then trying to punch him. Farrell had to be restrained by crew members and bassist Eric Avery before he was ushered off stage.
Farrell’s wife said that the altercation came after mounting “tension and animosity” during the group’s Imminent Redemption reunion tour, which the group cancelled on Monday morning.
“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 in an Instagram message.
In her post, Etty added, “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.”
In the aftermath of the fracas, the band apologized to fans in a message shared to their Instagram Stories as they announced the cancellation of an upcoming show in Connecticut.
“We want to extend a heartfelt apology to our fans for the events that unfolded last night,” the band wrote on Saturday.
The band’s apology concluded with telling fans how they could get refunds for the cancelled show.
On Monday, Jane’s scrapped the remaining dates on the tour, which included a show that was scheduled to take place at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage Wednesday night.
“The band have made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group,” the quartet wrote in a statement shared to social media. “As such, they will be cancelling the remainder of the tour.”
In her lengthy explanation, Etty shared “why” she thought her husband, who she said was suffering from “suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night,” lashed out at Navarro onstage during Friday’s show at the Leader Bank Pavilion.
Etty said that Farrell “lost it” when audience members in the front started “cussing at him that the band was (playing) too loud and that they couldn’t hear him.”
“The band started the song Ocean (Size) 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,” she continued.
In her detailed “first-person account,” Etty then broke down who she thought won the fight, telling her 35,000-plus follows that she was giving the nod to the band’s bassist.
“While Dave was keeping Perry at arm’s length to de-escalate the situation … Eric walked up … put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times,” she wrote.
After his outburst, Etty praised Navarro for looking “handsome and cool in the middle of a fight” said that Farrell “was a crazed beast for the next half-an-hour.” But she said her husband eventually “did breakdown and cried and cried” when he realized the gravity of his actions.
Fans of the band took to the comments section of Etty’s post to urge her to get her husband some help.
“Perry clearly needs help with whatever ailment is impairing his physical and/or mental health. Your post isn’t honest or helpful — in fact, it pretty clearly demonstrates how impaired your mindset is, as well. There are countless videos of Perry shoving Dave and taking the first swing, and Perry has been incoherent at multiple shows recently. It’s crystal clear that your husband is struggling, so please stop trying to spin this,” one person wrote.
“Perry was a trainwreck at the San Diego show a few weeks ago,” another remarked.
Meanwhile, Navarro offered up his own cryptic social media posts following the fisticuffs.
In one message, he posed with “friend and legendary artist” Joe Coleman.
“One of the good things that came out the other night was the fact that I was able to hang out with my friend and legendary artist (Joe Coleman),” Navarro wrote. “If you are unfamiliar with his work I encourage you to take a look at his profile.”
In another photo, he shared a black and white photo of himself onstage, showing off an acoustic guitar with a Jane’s Addiction sticker on the back.
“Goodnight…” he wrote in the caption.
Some followers took his posts to mean that he might be ending his time with Jane’s Addiction.
“Love you brother. Doing your makeup has been such an honour,” makeup artist Angelina Butero wrote in the comments.
After forming in the mid-1980s, Jane’s Addiction split in 1991 at the height of their popularity. Farrell continued touring and making music under the moniker with a revolving group of musicians before the original lineup regrouped in 2010.
In 2022, Navarro skipped a reunion tour as he continued to battle long COVID.
Farrell told Alternative Press that it wasn’t easy finding a temporary replacement for the six-time Grammy nominee. “At first, there was a lot of weight on my shoulders,” he said. “This was our return tour right after COVID, and we didn’t have Dave. Jane’s is a unique band, and you can’t just grab any guitar player and they’ll pick it up. That’s Dave Navarro we’re talking about — those are big shoes to fill.”