Perry Farrell‘s wife Etty Lau has released a statement addressing her husband’s tussle with guitarist Dave Navarro onstage during a Jane’s Addiction concert in Boston.
Today (September 14), Lau shared a clip of the moment on Instagram with her statement. “Rather than speculating, I thought to post a first person account of what happened on stage,” she begins.
She acknowledged that “there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members”, which is “the magic that made the band so dynamic.”
“Well, the dynamite was lit,” she wrote. “Perry got up in Dave’s face and body checked him.”
She attributes Perry’s behaviour to his enduring “tinnitus and a sore throat every night”. “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 continued.
“When the audience in the first row, [they] 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.”
Lau claims that, upon the band beginning ‘Ocean Size’, Perry struggled to hear through the sound mix. “He wasn’t singing, he was screaming just be to be heard,” she writes.
The statement takes a more candid turn, with Lau declaring it was bassist Eric Avery that “won the fight”. She alleges Avery “walked up to Perry, upstage, in the dark, behind [guitar technician] Dan [Cleary], put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.” Other accounts to date have stated that Avery acted to restrain Perry. NME has reached out to the band’s representatives for a comment.
“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,” she concludes. “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.”
According to video footage captured by fans, Farrell seems to be the one who instigated the fight, approaching Navarro and shoving him while he was playing. He then appears to attempt to throw a punch. The fight was quickly broken up and the lights came down as a group of crew members, as well as Avery, tried to restrain Perry and take him off stage.
The show reportedly ended soon afterwards. Per Setlist.fm, Jane’s Addiction had got through 11 songs before the gig came to an abrupt halt.
An eyewitness wrote on X/Twitter that problems began during ‘Mountain Song’ when Farrell began shouting at Navarro. The tension on stage reportedly worsened during ‘Three Days’ and the fight broke out in ‘Ocean Size’.
A photographer who was shooting the show also shared more information on X/Twitter. “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 wrote.
“Everyone (us included) thought it was a bit. A weird one, but, like, it was almost encore time and it seemed like ONE way to have the band leave the stage (only to return to thunderous applause) but .. 2 minutes later, house lights and walk-out music and show was over!”
Concerns had been raised by fans on social media about Farrell’s wellbeing following a troubled show in New York earlier this week. There appeared to be tension between the band on stage, while Farrell admitted he was struggling with his voice.
“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,” he said.
Avery acknowledged the disappointing performance on Instagram, writing: “Looking forward to getting another crack at this spectacular rooftop venue tonight. I’m optimistic we will be better.”
The band recently completed a UK and European tour, which included a stop at London’s Roundhouse. NME were there, and in a five-star review, wrote: “This is the last one because I don’t need you to give me a fucking hand to get me to come back out,” Farrell nonchalantly says, confirming there will not be an encore and introducing final track ‘Stop!’.
“And like that, without any further bells or whistles, the band leave the stage proving that nearly four decades after forming, they’re still a force to be reckoned with.”