Dave Navarro stated that JANE’S ADDICTION will never perform together again, eight months after the band cut short their U.S. tour due to an onstage conflict between Perry Farrell and himself.
The incident took place on September 13, 2024 during the band’s Boston performance, near the end of their set while playing “Ocean Size.” Farrell, who had been slurring lyrics and appeared intoxicated, aggressively bumped into Navarro, confronted him face-to-face, and cursed at him.
A visibly confused Navarro paused, asking what was happening, and placed a hand on Farrell’s chest. Farrell then appeared to throw a punch at Navarro before being restrained by a roadie and bassist Eric Avery. Avery, along with other crew members, stepped in to bear-hug Farrell and escort him offstage.
After Farrell was escorted off the stage, the remaining members of JANE’S ADDICTION — including drummer Stephen Perkins, who was celebrating his 57th birthday — came to the front to embrace each other and thank the audience.
After the incident, JANE’S ADDICTION canceled their remaining tour dates and announced a hiatus, citing the frontman’s “mental health difficulties.”
In a recent Guitar Player interview, Navarro discussed the future of JANE’S ADDICTION when prompted to reflect on his best and worst career performances.
“There were a couple of gigs on this last run that we did last year in Europe with Eric Avery back on bass that were some of my favorite JANE’S ADDICTION gigs of all time,” Dave said. “There was no bulls**t: no props, no nothing onstage. No dancing, no pyro, and no gimmicks. It was just the four of us and some colored lights, and we were playing the songs, expanding on them, and getting in a kind of weird. If you combined GRATEFUL DEAD and RADIOHEAD, there were moments like that — just weird, experimental jams that we’d never done before as a band. And yet, if you were to ask me what my least favorite gig was, it would be a gig last September, on Friday the 13th, in Boston.”
Detailing the particularly bad experience of the Boston show, Navarro explained: “I have to speak in broad strokes here, because there are other individuals involved and it’s still very tender and unresolved. There was an altercation onstage, and all the hard work and dedication and writing and hours in the studio, and picking up and leaving home and crisscrossing the country and Europe and trying to overcome my illness — it all came to a screeching halt and forever destroyed the band’s life. And there’s no chance for the band to ever play together again.
“I have to say that’s my least favorite gig, without throwing animosity around, and without naming names and pointing fingers, and coming up with reasons,” he continued. “I’ll just say that the experience prior to that gig, when we were in Europe and gelling, really, for the first time — because at our ages, in our 50s and 60s, everybody’s done what they’re gonna do, and we weren’t competitive with each other — we were getting along. There was no ego issue; it was just four guys making great music, just like we did in the beginning. I was just us on a stage, with people going f**king crazy. And that gig, September 13th, in Boston, ended all of that. And for that reason, that is my least favorite gig that I have ever played.
“I think that’s a pretty democratic way, you know, a pretty bipartisan way to go about it,” Dave added. “You know, just the real sadness is the loss of that previous… The experiences are there, but the potential of having those types of experiences ended that night. And so, you know…. it is what it is. And that’s my answer.”
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