It is fair to say that the two music stories that caught my eye at the end of last week capture both the best and worst of the what music is all about.
Jane's Addiction tour ends with a brawl.. onstage!
The long history of Jane's Addiction is something of a rollercoaster of fantastic records and often fractious relationships. They formed in 1985 and had already had the first falling out in 1988, after lead singer Perry Farrell demanded a 50% split of the royalties. Then Farrell and bassist Eric Avery fell out, after the latter's new found sobriety caused tension. There were too many drugs - guitarist Dave Navarro later recalling he had no recollection of the recording and touring of cult favourite album, Ritual De Lo Habitual, owing to his massive heroin addiction. There was a full schism in 1991, and despite various reunions and reformations (and the excellent Strays album in 2003), Avery stayed away for twelve years.
There was more like this over the years, so you get the picture - and then Navarro missed a bunch of shows because of long Covid. But 2024 was the year. The year with the classic line-up back together - Farrell, Avery, Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins - the first time these four had played together since 2010. There was also new material, the single Imminent Redemption was released in July this year. Avery was cautiously optimistic, telling Pitchfork, "I'm guardedly optimistic that we can get some new music done. The phrase that Dave and I were talking about the other day is: 'If there is a Jane's Addiction in 2025, then there will be new music for sure.' But you just never know if there's going to be a band at all." So, what could possibly go wrong.....
There were already reported tensions between band members, when they hit Boston's Leader Pavilion on Friday (ironically, the 13th). Midway through a performance of Ocean Size, Farrell turned in anger towards Navarro, barged into him, shouting "F*** you!"
As Navarro tried to push Farrell off, Avery and some of their road crew waded in to pull Farrell away. Very little official has been said yet, the show was obviously abandoned at that point, and a few dates have already been cancelled - and there is no word on whether the rest of the tour will have the same fate.
The only insights we have are from Farrell's wife Etty, who posted on Instagram; "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." She went on, "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 playing too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it."
She also claims that while Navarro walked away, Avery took things too far, "Eric walked up to Perry, upstage, in the dark, put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times. Then Eric nonchalant walked off to the front of the stage to apologize to audience for the show ended early." She referred to her husband as being like "a crazed beast" for quite a while afterwards, before breaking down and crying.
Wholesome Flavor meets hero at the Yankees! Now Public Enemy's Flavor Flav is already something of a public hero this year, having becoming one of the heart-warming star's of the Paris Olympics by sponsoring the hard-up US Women's Water Polo team, and then also paying for the parents of another competitor to fly out to France.
Then on Thursday (12th) he bumped into another musical legend in Paul Simon whilst attending a New York Yankees game. It seems that the 65 year old rapper was bowled over to meet someone who he is a massive fan of, and whose music he had been listening to since he was a child. As the two men shared a hug, an emotional Flav said "Oh my god, this is amazing, Oh man, this is crazy." They briefly chatted, with Flav correcting Simon's assumption that the band were from Brooklyn (Flav is from Long Island), before talking about his Olympic escapades.
Both shared their experience on social media.
Do we need an excuse to play this Public Enemy classic? Nope...
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