Jane’s Addiction Sobers Up, Cancels Tour

“The show must go on,” might be the common phrase but for Jane’s Addiction , the curtain has fallen. Starting in LA in 1985, the legendary alt-rock band acquired a bit of a cult following after their first two albums were a hit. They eventually broke up in 1991, citing “ emotional reasons, ” and after this latest incident? Maybe they should have just stayed in their corners.

On September 13th— Friday the 13th, ironically enough— Perry Farrell confronted Dave Navarro during their Boston show, resulting in Farrell throwing a punch at Navarro. Reportedly, Farrell had been feeling some big feelings about the quality of the sound during the band’s reunion tour. One would think that adults — Farrell's 65— who have worked together in the past could figure out a better way to say “hey, I feel like the instruments are covering my voice and I don’t like that. Can we adjust things?” but alas. Lunging at fellow band members in front of a live audience before abruptly cutting the concert short, and canceling the tour appears to be the route that was chosen.

And because we live in the time in which we do, there is no erasing this one. The altercation was caught by multiple cameras, and given how excited fans were for this tour? It was a pretty decent crowd. Should you choose to fall down the YouTube rabbit hole, you have quite a pick of angles to choose from.

Was the onstage throwdown the result of ongoing tension? Yes. If things are so rough behind the scenes that fans got to witness bandmates taking swings at one another and needing to be physically restrained by other band members? You can be pretty darn positive that those sound issues weren’t just a nothing issue to Farrell.

Now, the rest of the band— and their fans who eagerly bought tickets— get to deal with the fallout. All remaining shows on the tour have been canceled.

All 15 of them. Including the one that was supposed to happen on Sunday in Bridgeport a stone’s throw from the one in Boston where the initial brew-ha-ha went down. And while the band has issued an official apology and offered to fully refund ticket holders; that can’t feel good to fans who were eagerly looking forward to getting to see the group live for the first time in decades.

Dave Navarro posted a social media caption, “ Goodnigh t,” after the incident.

So… what do we learn from this?

Well, between Dave Grohl and onstage violence from Perry Farrell this week; just… never put a rockstar on too high of a pedestal. You’ll be less disappointed that way when they slip up and remind you that they too are just as messy of a human as the person who looks back at you in the mirror.

But also, when you’re in a high-pressure setting and need to maintain professionalism, even when there’s tension between you and your coworkers; breathe and talk it out. If you have beef with a colleague, work it out. Whether through tough conversations with one another, or hiring a professional intervention specialist, don’t let things spin so out of control that you punch your former work bestie in the face and disappoint thousands of people live onstage. That’s one surefire way to ruin the tour .

…ok, so maybe the stakes aren’t quite that high for us mere mortals. But the point’s gonna stay.

For Jane’s Addiction fans who are now grappling with their own big feelings: we feel ya. We get it. It’s always a bummer when your favorite group calls it quits over artistic differences, and pulling the plug in the middle of a highly anticipated tour is just unfair. That the tour was titled “Imminent Redemption” is just the dash of lemon juice that paper cut needed too, we’re real sorry about that.