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-All Photos Alan Welding
“I don’t want to leave. I like it here.” Thus spoke frontman of pre-grunge craze masters Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell. With an array of ambient lighting and a somewhat theatrical backdrop, the band delighted the Pittsburgh crowd with hits, hidden gems, and new favorites peppered with flavorful stage banter from Farrell, precision blistering fretwork from Navarro, and the ever constant tribal backbeat of Perkins. The original trio (plus bassist Chaney filling in for original member Avery) that shocked us out of our musical doldrums in the late eighties was more than ready to entertain and mystify the diehard fans, the curious, and the newfound fanatics with a “club-like” show that allowed everyone to feel up close and personal.
The eclectic Pittsburgh crowd brought together lovers of metal, classic rock, dance, funk, and a myriad of other genres to revel in the spectacle Janes’ has been producing for 27 odd years. Despite a few sound issues with vocals sometimes a bit low and one incident with Navarro’s speaker, the set was virtually flawless. With classics such as “Mountain Song”, “Been Caught Stealin'”, “Jane Says”, and “Three Days” any fan would be satisfied. Throw in throwbacks like “Whores”, “Summertime Rolls”, “Ocean Size”, and “Stop!” and you have your cake and eat it too. The icing could very well be performances of “Up the Beach”, “Chip Away” (with show openers Big Black Delta), and “Just Because” to top off one hell of an experience for all involved.
The band members truly seemed to be enjoying themselves, reveling in the opportunity to actually interact with the fans up close. Perry brought up The Steelers and The Pirates, seeming to be very aware that the town was finally doing well in baseball, and even donning a crowd thrown Pirate cap for awhile. He even remembered that old time Pirate Doc Ellis threw a no-hitter on LSD once and told the crowd how great of a video on YouTube Doc’s explanation is and threw in to his cohort Navarro, “Hey we played some great shows on LSD!”. Farrell truly was the ring master of the evening, dancing and gyrating his way through the tunes and keeping everyone on their feet. Of course, guitarist Dave Navarro was mesmerizing, not only for his guitar work and showmanship, but for his physical beauty as well. And in the pocket as always was one of the most truly underrated drummers of rock, Stephen Perkins, who is really mind-blowingly talented. Without Perkins, Janes’ could never really pull off their signature sound. Of course bassist Chris Chaney makes a great rhythmic pair for Perkins and hold his own as well.
The night’s highlights were certainly the acoustic jam of “Jane Says” with the entire crowd singing along, the spiritual journey that is “Three Days”, and the in your face power of “Whores” and “Ain’t No Right”. Farrell strayed a bit from the normal vocalization of “Been Caught Stealin'” which may have bummed some fans, and some of the onstage theatrics during one of the songs, that included repeated beatings of baby dolls, may have left some of the less artfully motivated a bit confused- but all in all the show was simply amazing. As a whole this was the type of show you start with, “I saw Janes’ Addiction play club style once at Stage AE” and maybe the little whipper snappers you tell the tale to will be enthralled that someone they once thought was uncool was way more hip than all of them combined. Long live Jane’s Addiction.