Jane’s Addiction has issued a statement following an onstage altercation between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro.
The rock veterans took to social media on Saturday (Sept. 14) to apologize for the lead singer throwing a punch at the guitarist during the band’s concert in Boston on Friday.
“We want to extend a heartfelt apology for the events that unfolded last night,” Jane’s Addiction wrote on their Instagram Story. “As a result we will be cancelling tomorrow night’s show in Bridgeport.”
Jane’s Addiction added refund information for Sunday’s canceled show at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Connecticut.
The recently reunited band’s Friday show at Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion came to a sudden halt when Farrell attacked Navarro midway through the their performance of “Ocean Size.” Fan-captured video shows the frontman becoming angry for unknown reasons and throwing a punch at the guitarist, who appeared confused by the singer’s outburst.
“What the f–k?” Navarro appeared to shout as crew members restrained Farrell and dragged him backstage. The guitarist then took off his guitar and walked off stage, ending the concert after 11 songs. Jane’s Addiction’s recent concerts have typically featured three or four additional performances.
Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, took to social media shortly after Friday’s concert to share her version of the story in a lengthy message.
“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,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the onstage fight.
“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.”
She added that an altercation had occurred backstage between her husband and Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, who “put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”
“Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour — he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried,” Etty Lau wrote. “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.”
Jane’s Addiction’s Live Nation-produced reunion tour — which finds the four original members hitting the road for the first time in 14 years — launched in early August and is set to conclude in mid-October. At press time, the band’s next show was scheduled for Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Sept. 18.