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Kelly Rissman
US News Reporter
Jane’s Addiction have canceled their latest tour following the onstage fight that broke out between singer Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro at a show last Friday (September 13).
Footage captured Farrell lunging at Navarro during their show in Boston, bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at him. The show ended shortly after.
In a brief statement issued Monday (September 16), the band said: “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.”
There had been 15 dates left on the band’s “Imminent Redemption” tour, including a show in Connecticut on Sunday night.
In a separate statement to The Independent, Farrell added: “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.
“Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior, and I take full accountability for how I chose to handle the situation.”
The band had earlier shared a statement to their Instagram Stories apologizing to fans who had witnessed the fracas in Boston: “We want to extend a heartfelt apology to our fans for the events that unfolded last night.
“As a result we will be cancelling tomorrow night’s [Sunday 15 September] show in Bridgeport. Refunds will be issued at your point of purchase, or if you purchased via a third-party reseller (StubHub, SeatGeek etc) reach out to them directly.”
On Saturday (14 September) Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, claimed that the altercation between him and Navarro occurred after mounting tension during the tour over issues with sound.
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“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,” she wrote on Instagram.
Etty Farrell claimed that Farrell “lost it” after the audience in the first row began complaining to him that the band was too loud and they couldn’t hear him, at which point he turned on Navarro.
She claimed that, after Farrell took a swing at Navarro, bassist Eric Avery put her husband in a “headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”
“Eric, well he either didn’t understand what descalation [sic] meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry,” she wrote.
“Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour… he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried.”
A review of the band’s earlier show in Tampa, Florida, hinted at brewing tensions between Farrell and Navarro.
“Farrell launched into many nonsensical rants about cow pastures, mushrooms, surfing, living in Florida, and arguing with his brother about politics,” while “chugging from a full bottle of wine throughout the performance,” Creative Loafing reported.
“At one point, during one of his ramblings, Navarro deliberately cranked out a loud, piercing chord on his guitar, as almost to silence Farrell and get the show back on track.”
Perry had also expressed frustration over apparent vocal issues at the first of the band’s two New York shows, confessing: “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. Something’s wrong with my voice. I just can’t get the notes out all of a sudden.”
