Jane’s Addiction have apologized to fans for the onstage fight between bandmates Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro in Boston on Friday.
“We want to extend a heartfelt apology for the events that unfolded last night,” they wrote in their Instagram story on Saturday night. “As a result we will be cancelling tomorrow night’s show in Bridgeport.” They also added refund information for the nixed show in Connecticut on Sunday.
On Friday as they were playing “Ocean Size” during their reunion show, Farrell appeared agitated as video footage from the concert revealed. He moved toward Navarro and shoved his shoulder into Navarro as he was playing guitar. Farrell appeared to yell and confront a seemingly surprised Navarro, who used his arm to keep Farrell back, and then Farrell punched Navarro’s arm away.
As a crew member ran onstage and told Farrell to “Stop” and Navarro said, “What the fuck?” the frontman attempted to lunge at Navarro again. Two more crew members as well as bassist Eric Avery jumped in to restrain Perry and remove him from the stage. Navarro also left the stage shortly after, bringing the show to an abrupt end after 11 songs. It’s unclear why Farrell became aggressive.
On Saturday morning, Farrell’s wife Etty took to Instagram to give her account of the altercation.
“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,” Etty Lau Farrell wrote in a caption for an Instagram reel that included video of the incident.
“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.”
Etty added that Avery also “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,” she said.
The tour marks the first time in 14 years that the band’s “Core Four” lineup — Farrell, Navarro, Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins — had toured together, and comes after Navarro temporarily left the band amid a battle with long Covid.