Following a viral onstage fight that was all caught on camera, Jane’s Addiction announced Monday it will cancel the rest of its U.S. tour, including a planned stop in Chicago.
The cancellation came in the form of two different announcements, one posted to the band’s Instagram page, the other posted to Guitarist Dave Navarro’s account Monday morning.
Jane’s Addiction, in their Instagram post, wrote “to all the fans” that is had “made the difficult decision to take some time away as a group” and had planned to cancel the remainder of their tour.
Navarro’s Instagram post also said the band would “discontinue” the tour, citing a “continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our signer Perry Farrell.”
The announcement comes just after viral video from the Jane’s Addiction Friday night show in Boston showed a visibility irritated Farrell shoulder-checking and punching Navarro while performing a song onstage.
“We can see no solution that would either ensure a safe environment on stage or reliably allow us to deliver a great performance on a nightly basis,” Navarro’s post went on to say. “Our concern for his personal health and safety as well as our own has left us no alternative. We hope that he will find the help he needs.”
The message ends with the words “Our hearts are broken,” and is signed by Navarro as well as bass guitarist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins.
Jane’s Addiction, known for its edgy, punk-inspired hits “Been Caught Stealing” and “Mountain Song” in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was scheduled to stop at the Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago Tuesday, Sept. 24 as part of their “Imminent Redemption” U.S. Tour.
As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, the show had been removed from the list of upcoming shows on the venue’s website.
What happened onstage at the Jane’s Addiction concert in Boston?
In videos posted on social media from Friday night’s concert in Boston, Farrell, 65, is seen singing loudly into his mic and then lunging at Navarro, bumping Navarro with his shoulder before taking a swing at Navarro with his right arm. Navarro is seen holding his right arm out to keep Farrell away before Farrell is dragged away by others on stage.
The show ended shortly after.
According to reports, the band issued an apology statement about the fight on their Instagram story Saturday night. The statement went on to say that the band would be canceling its upcoming show in Bridgeport, Connecticut as a result of what transpired.
Hours after the fight, Navarro posted a cryptic message of his own on Instagram — a black and white portrait of himself onstage with the caption “Goodnight.”
What caused the fight and why did Farrell punch Navarro?
The scuffle came amid “tension and animosity” during their reunion tour, Etty Lau Farrell, Perry’s wife said on Instagram Saturday.
“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,” Etty Lau Farrell wrote in an Instagram post Saturday morning.
She said her husband had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.” She said her husband later broke down “and cried and cried.”
What’s next for Jane’s Addiction?
The band’s latest U.S. tour featured band’s classic lineup of Perry, 65, Navarro, 57, Avery, 59, and drummer Perkins 57 for the first time since 2010.