Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell punches guitarist Dave Navarro onstage, abruptly ending Boston concert
Beantown band brawl!
Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell punched guitarist Dave Navarro during an on-stage outburst as several crew members dragged him off stage and abruptly ended the reunited band’s Boston concert on Friday night.
Farrell was in the middle of performing “Ocean Size” when he started angrily grunting and telling the crowd at the Leader Bank Pavillion “f–k you” before screaming into the microphone.
Farrell, seemingly agitated, then turned to Navarro on his right where he again screamed and threw his shoulder into the unsuspecting guitarist, according to a video of the awkward clash posted to social media.
The two rockers confronted each other while Farrell inched closer into the face of Navarro, who calmly held him back with his right arm.
Farrell in turn throws to elbow jabs at the guitarist when multiple crew and bandmates, including bassist Eric Avery, run up and restrain the “Been Caught Stealing” singer telling him to “stop.”
The lights lowered on stage, but several punches were thrown as the hot-headed singer was escorted away from the crowd’s view.
The remaining three band members — Navarro, Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins — went to the front of the stage where they gave a warm farewell to the crowd.
The band raised their hands above their heads, tapped their chests and gave peace signs as the crowd gave them a standing ovation.
Photographer Brian MacKenzie, who was tasked with snapping the show for the venue, posted on X that the crowd believed the confrontation was a bit between the bandmates.
“Perry had a huge bottle of wine with him all evening, Navarro and Avery kept chatting with each other the whole show and seemed angrier than normal,” he claimed.
“I was there,” X user @deanasc1 said.
“The crowd was bemused. Half pissed the show ended early and half excited we may have seen the last Janes A show ever.”
The band, Navarro and Perry did not publicly comment on the incident as of Saturday morning.
The band, which is in the midst of its North American Tour, has had problems involving their singer during recent shows.
While performing at the Rooftop at Pier 17 in NYC on Sept. 10, Farrell told the crowd his vocals were not in great shape,” Variety reported.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. Something’s wrong with my voice. I just can’t get the notes out all of a sudden,” the singer allegedly said.
The next day Avery took to Instagram to reach out to fans and hype them up for their second performance in Manhattan.
“Looking forward to getting another crack at this spectacular rooftop venue tonight. I’m optimistic we will be better,” he said.
Jane’s Addiction is scheduled to perform at Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Sept. 15.
The Grammy-nominated band’s 2024 tour marked the reunion of the four original members following Avery’s return in 2022 and Navarro, who had missed tours in 2022 and 2023 because of a battle with long COVID.
Farrell admitted he missed his guitarist during Navarro’s absence.
“I wish I would have my dear guitar player around,” Farrell told The Post in Sept. 2022.
“[But] I live to bring entertainment and art to the world. And whatever I can do to entertain you, to blow your mind, that’s what I live for.”
To fill Navarro’s spot, the band brought on Queen of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
“How do you go about finding a guitar player to fill the shoes of Dave Navarro? We had to put the word out to people that we knew, that we loved, and Troy fit the bill the best of all the people that we considered,” Farrell said.
