Etty Lau, Perry Farrell‘s wife, has issued a statement regarding the onstage altercation between her husband and guitarist Dave Navarro during a JANE’S ADDICTION‘s last night concert in Boston.
The incident occurred toward the end of the band’s set during the performance of “Ocean Size.” Farrell, who had been slurring lyrics throughout the night and appeared intoxicated, aggressively bumped into Navarro, got in his face, and swore 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.
Earlier today (September 14), Lau shared a video of the incident on Instagram along with her statement.
Her full statement can be read below:
Rather than speculating, I thought to post a first person account of what happened on stage with @janesaddiction last night at the @lenderpavilion in Boston.
WHO: Perry Farrell & Dave Navarro
HOW: 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.
WHY: 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.
WHEN: The band started the song Ocean before Perry was ready and did the count off.. The stage volume was so loud at that point, that Perry couldn’t hear pass the boom and the vibration of the instruments and by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just be to be heard.
SO WHO WON THE FIGHT:
Why, Eric Avery of course. While Dave was keeping Perry at arm’s length to de-escalate the situation. Dan rushed over to de-escalate as well by holding Perry back. Dave walked away to take his guitar off. Eric walked up to Perry, upstage, in the dark, behind Dan, put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times. Kevin, crewmember with a long hair with long hair pulled Eric away. Then Eric nonchalant walked off to the front of the stage to apologize to audience for the show ended early.
WHAT WAS THE AFTERMATH?
Dave still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight. Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour – he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried. 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.
Well, that’s is my first person account narrative of what happened. Take a look at the video yourself.
Just over four months ago, the original lineup of JANE’S ADDICTION reunited on stage, with Dave Navarro rejoining the band in May after being sidelined for years due to long COVID. The band is set to perform again this Sunday night in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
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