Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro fight onstage during Jane’s Addiction show

Lis Sinatra

A fight broke out between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro onstage during a Jane’s Addiction show in Boston last night (September 13).

The legendary Los Angeles alt-rock band had recently returned to their original quartet of  Farrell, Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery, and released their first new music together in 34 years, in the form of the single ‘Imminent Redemption’. However, there appears to be cracks in the foundation already.

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.

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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’.

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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!”

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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.”

Navarro had recently hinted that the band was on track to release a first full-length from the classic personnel since 1990’s ‘Ritual De Lo Habitual’.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said: “That’s more than likely going to happen. I mean, we have recorded material. I don’t know specifically the model, if it’s going to be a song at a time, or if we’re going to drop a song, and then a record, or I don’t really know. I kind of stay out of that stuff. What matters to me most is that this stuff is on vinyl.”

“I don’t know anything about streaming or anything like that. But I’m 57 years old. I’ve been in this band since I was 17 or 18, and it’s the same band, and we have some of the same hurdles, and we have other obstacles that are no longer there.”

“There’s always hurdles in collaborative creative efforts, but overcoming those hurdles is where the solution happens, and the solution, should it reveal itself, can be pretty exciting,” he added.

Since then, the band have 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.”