Jane's Addiction and Love and Rockets played Pier 17

The classic line-up of Jane's Addiction is back on tour for the first time in fourteen years and they've teamed-up with Love and Rockets to serve as the opening act.

In the late '80s, Love and Rockets tapped the then up and coming Jane's Addiction to open for them on tour. At the time, Jane's was still relatively unknown, but they quickly rose to prominence in the emerging alt-rock, pre-grunge, metal scene in LA. Now, decades later, the classic-era line-up of Jane's is back in action, and to celebrate, they've asked Love and Rockets to open their shows. As twilight descended upon New York City, the gothic post-punk trio took to the stage with some epic flair and began to work their way through their neo-psychedelic tunes that helped to set the scene for the night ahead. Giving it to the crowd straight, the band didn't need any bells or whistles to help bring their songs to life and a reserved, yet enthused audience was happily singing along to the band's nostalgic hits. "Kundalini Express" was an early favorite that had the crowd joyously joining in with the band on their lighter, poppier moments while "So Alive" really got people moving on their feet. The group was tight, the rhythms firmly locked in and the melodies breezy and with a paisley lining, even under some deep, grooving bass lines. The band barely uttered a word to the crowd and did their best to stick to the music before making way for Jane's to come and take the night home. 

Entering the stage in their vampiric style of capes, feathered hats, excessive jewelry, and mostly all-black attire, Jane's came looking the part, but things started to fall apart from the moment their set began. After barely audible lyrics left the opening song "Kettle Whistle" slightly deflated, a worrisome Perry Farrell asked drummer Stephen Perkins if the band had ever played this venue during the day time before (the sun had already set by this time so it was unclear what was leading Perry to think it was still a daytime show) and things only continued to go off the rails from there. Mumbling along, it was incredibly hard to distinguish any of the words coming out of Farrell's mouth and the crowd looked on in total confusion as the band struggled to find their footing with his bizarre antics. In his prime, Farrell was a dynamite vocalist and his soaring range helped make the band, but the version of the group that played Pier 17 wasn't the one anyone in attendance came to see. Recently re-joining the band, Eric Avery seemed utterly confused as well by Farrell's nonsensical dialogue between songs and there were moments when the other three members of the band seemed unsure with how to proceed for the rest of the set. While there was nothing Perry did to interrupt the band, he was unable to contribute with any real vocals, his voice strained beyond belief and it looked as if he could collapse at any moment. Between the songs he rambled on incoherently, at times seeming to talk about the strained relationship with his brother that has been enhanced due to differing political views as well as his memories of being in New York on 9/11. He also seemed to make a comment about slipping on a banana peel and dying. "I gotta be honest with you guys," he declared after a few songs. "Something is wrong with my voice and I can't quite hit the notes so I'm gonna try one more and see how it goes." This was perhaps the only comment he made all night that anyone could understand, but his voice being shot was only part of the problem. Farrell appeared totally dazed and unaware of his surroundings, his eyes barely open through the set, and large portions of the songs became instrumentals (luckily the rest of the band was doing everything they could to make up for it). If he's not using drugs then something else is really wrong, but seeing him in this state was rather tragic and upsetting. There was nothing compelling about his performance and really the only thing that kept me engaged was thinking "is it possible this could somehow get even worse?" When the acoustic guitars came out for "Jane Says," the night hit a new low and you could tell the crowd was at a real loss for what was happening on stage. Luckily, this happens to be the tour that Dave Navarro has resurfaced for after years of fighting long COVID and he tried to do everything he could to make up for whatever was happening with Farrell as he ripped his solos to shreds and briefly made the show slightly entertaining. Navarro's guitar work was stunning and he let it rip, proving he's still in his prime while Perkins and Avery did their fair share to also take the attention off of Farrell. "Mountain Song" and "Stop!" were attempted redemptions, but still never really got off the ground and the night came to a bizarre end with a drum circle and more unintelligible ramblings from Farrell. For a band that once loomed with such importance and relevance for helping kick-start the alt-rock boom of the '90s, this was a sad affair that left nearly everyone in attendance in shock as I overheard numerous people on the way out debate if it was in fact the worst show they'd ever seen. It's definitely up there for me.

Love and Rockets set list:

01 "The Light"
02 "Kundalini Express"
03 "No Big Deal"
04 "The Dog-End of a Day Gone By"
05 "Haunted When the Minutes Drag"
06 "No New Tale to Tell"
07 "An American Dream"
08 "So Alive"
09 "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" [The Temptations cover]
10 "Mirror People"
11 "Yin and Yang (The Flowerpot Man)"

Jane's Addiction set list:

01 "Kettle Whistle"
02 "Whores"
03 "Pigs in Zen"
04 "Ain't No Right"
05 "Ted, Just Admit It..."
06 "Summertime Rolls"
07 "Jane Says"

08 "Then She Did..."
09 "Mountain Song"
10 "Three Days"
11 "Ocean Size"
12 "Stop!"
13 "Chip Away"