It ain't easy livin.
The rock n' roll "punch" heard and seen 'round the world landed Friday the 13th in Boston when Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell, visibly upset, punched guitarist Dave Navarro in the middle of their 11th song.
It took the band's crew and bassist Eric Avery to remove Farrell from his long time guitarist. The next day the band issued an apology and cancelled the following show and offered refunds to fans.
Even for the wild LA band, this was an odd chapter in their dramatic career.
While performing "Oceansize," one of the epic tunes from their groundbreaking LP Nothing's Shocking, Farrell, who has helped give the world Lollapalooza and assisted in the formation of Coachella, sang the song with a newfound anger as he seemingly directed some of the emotions toward his bandmates.
Then he confronted his tattooed bandmate and gave him a shoulder check that startled the guitar hero. That was followed up with an odd punch to the side as the men were being separated.
"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," Farrell's wife Etty wrote on Instagram, where she explained in detail her front row account of the bizarre end of the gig.
According to fans who had seen some of the gigs prior to the Boston blowup, the charismatic singer was not in his typically positive-form.
Photographer Alice Teeple wrote the September 10th show at NYC's Pier 17 was "disgraceful" due to Farrell's demeanor. Another attendee claimed the singer was "forgetting words, mumbling, singing the chorus during the verse," and leaving the stage for longer than one would expect.
"Really sad way to see one of my all-time fav bands for the last time," Ken Krantz, wrote.
During that gig Farrell told the crowd he was struggling with his distinctive pipes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. Something's wrong with my voice," he said, adding "I just can't get the notes out all of a sudden."
In an interview with Guitar World this month, Avery hinted there has been trouble in paradise.
“I still don’t know if we’re a band that you ever assume will be here a year from now," he admitted. "That being said, yeah… there is a revitalization and a reconnection. Let’s hope it lasts.”
On Sunday Navarro published a mysterious Instagram post with a caption that read "Goodnight."
Some are speculating this means he is leaving the band.
But can he?
Jane's Addiction has 14 more shows left on their tour with Love & Rockets. Will they happen now?
Will they hug it out and go on with the show?
Will they use this energy to write and record new material?
Or was this all the beginning of the end?
The great news is it has brought this revolutionary band back to the forefront and people are paying attention to their music, passion, and talent.
Get tickets to one of the remaining dates on the Jane's Addiction site, because, who knows, it might be their last.
