2012.09.01 Seattle Center, Seattle, WA

[helicine]

http://janesaddiction.org/2012/05/08/ja ... umbershot/

http://janesaddiction.org/tour/show/jan ... 9-01/2358/

[Mike]

[Mike]

Bumbershoot Review Day 1: Jane’s Addiction at the Mainstage

by Andrew Eide | 09/02/12

Jane’s Addiction burst on the music scene in the early 90′s and in many ways have been underrated by rock historians. When people talk about the 90′s alternative music revolution they mention Nirvana, Soundgarden and the Seattle scene in general. The reality is that Los Angeles based Jane’s Addiction had as much to do with that revolution as anything coming out of Seattle.

The band has had several long hiatuses throughout their long career and are back now with a new album, The Great Escape, and a new elaborate stage show. As the KeyArena house light lowered the stage lit up and Pink Floyd blared through the speakers, which did a good job of building up the anticipation for the band. When they finally did come on the stage they were accompanied by two women on a trapeze wearing long white gowns.

Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro are two iconic rock figures and watching them Saturday night you find yourself wondering what kind of vampires they are. They don’t appear to have aged. Navarro still looks as he did in the 90′s, shirtless with his guitar slung low and striking all the required rock god posses on stage. Farrell was equally as energetic, often running around the stage with a big bottle of wine that he would swig from often.

Farrell often used a vocal effects pedal he had mounted at center stage. He might have tweaked with it too much as the vocals were hard to hear over the band most of the night. Thankfully the crowd stepped up and sang along with the Jane’s classics and the poor mix hardly mattered much.

At one point the show took a GWAR turn as a fellow dressed in white carrying a pouch lurched across the stage. He climbed to a platform where a liniri-clad back up singer taunted him as he threw dolls in the air before climbing a ladder and hanging himself. Bizarre? Of course, but Jane’s Addiction has always been known to weave some art into their act so this should not have been too much of a surprise.

The band ended with the mellow classic ‘Summertime Rolls’ which was the perfect ending for a summer night, even while indoors at KeyArena.

http://culturemob.com/bumbershoot-revie ... -mainstage

[Mike]

Saturday at Bumbershoot: Jane's Addiction Is Wine by the Bottle

By Daniel Person Sun., Sep. 2 2012 at 1:12 AM

Here are five excuses I heard for why Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell sounded fully shit-canned Saturday night:

1. The sound engineer sucked
2. The Key Arena sucks
3. Perry Farrell thinks he's Jesus
4. Perry Farrell was holding the microphone to far from his mouth
5. Dave Navarro was great

Alas, by the time Farrell produced his bottle of wine from somewhere near the bass drum, it was quite clear that he was coming by his boozy sound honestly.

And it mattered. At times, the band sounded like a bad night at the karaoke bar - "Been Caught Stealing" was particularly tenuous. Other times, it seemed like Farrell wasn't there, leaving the listener entirely in the hands of Navarro's blistering guitar work.

Which, in turn, is why Farrell's wino moments weren't fatal to the show: Throughout, Navarro worked the set with a sober determination that gave it a bedrock consistency, carrying the show through its rough spots and allowing it to soar when Farrell hit his notes.

The show hit a sublime stride when all band members save for Farrell joined together on various percussion instruments for "Chip Away" and "Jane Says," songs that not only pleased but showed how insanely inventive this band is.

There was also plenty of bizarre eye candy to behold: the show opened with two maidens in flowing white gowns swinging high above the stage, one of whom was being molested by a goblin. Later, a generally nefarious looking hunchback walked across stage then hanged a baby doll - as in put a noose around a baby doll and suspended it from the rafters above the stage. Whatever.

And for all his vocal missteps, Farrell seemed to be enjoying himself, which helped the huge Key Arena audience enjoy the show. He wasn't going through motions, though his famously flailing motions were many. At one point, he cooed to the audience: "You my baby tonight, Seaaale [the Ts weren't coming through for him]. Let's have sex."

That gets to one last rationalization I heard after the show: "They actually put on a show. They didn't just play."

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2 ... by_the.php