2009.05.16 Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, Chula Vista, CA

Post by **Mike** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:56 am

TOGETHER AGAIN: Jane's Addiction here Saturday

At 50, Jane's Addiction leader Perry Farrell (at right) is nearly 17 years younger than Paul McCartney, who drew a sellout crowd of more than 60,000 to his marathon, two-and-a-half-hour-plus performance last month on the opening night of the 10th anniversary Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

But it was the energy and enthusiasm of the former Beatle, not just his age, that made a big impression on Farrell. The fact that McCartney was appearing as a still-active solo artist was also significant for Farrell, who performs in Chula Vista Saturday at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre as part of a tour co-headlined by his band and Nine Inch Nails. The opening act is Street Sweeper Social Club, the new band co-led by Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello and rapper Boots Riley of The Coup.

"Music keeps you young," Farrell said, during an interview the next afternoon at Coachella, where he later performed an electronica set with his wife, Etty, and sat in for a number with Thievery Corporation.

"Singing and dancing, that's the fountain of youth," he continued. "And that's why you can party your (behind) off (like McCartney) and still look like you're a little Kewpie doll. But did you notice that there were some Beatles missing? That's why I gotta tell my guys: 'Let's not (mess) this up.' "

The "this" in question is the recently reunited Jane's Addiction. Farrell's desire to not "(mess) up" may be wishful thinking for an often-contentious band that already has three previous reunions under its belt.

The Los Angeles quartet formed in 1986. It imploded in 1991, the same year Farrell co-founded the Lollapalooza festival, not long after he and guitarist Dave Navarro came to blows on stage during a Lollapalooza date in Phoenix. At the time, drummer Stephen Perkins was apparently the only band member not caught in a downward spiral of debilitating drug use.

But before it all went wrong, Jane's Addiction earned a large following with its enticing combination of punk-inspired attitude, hard-rock fire, funk-driven polyrhythms and exotic Led Zeppelin-in-Morocco- like textures.

At its best, the music that resulted was mysterious, earthy and explosive. And Farrell -- part singer, part shaman -- commanded attention with his wailing vocals, charismatic stage presence and vivid lyrics about love, despair and the seedy underbelly of life for young artists in Hollywood.

Now, with Farrell still in the driver's seat, Jane's Addiction is embarked on its first reunion tour with all four original members.

The previous reunions (in 1997, 2001 and 2003) reteamed Farrell with Navarro and Perkins, now both 41. But this is the first time original Jane's bassist Eric Avery, 44, has returned to the band. (His role was filled on the previous reunion treks by Chris Chaney, Martin LeNoble and Flea.)

The band's ongoing tour with industrial-rock pioneers Nine Inch Nails (which now features young San Diego drum phenom Ilan Rubin), provides fans with an opportunity to celebrate -- and possibly bid farewell to -- two of the biggest non-mainstream rock bands to emerge in the 1980s. (In a February post on his band's Web site, Nails mastermind Trent Reznor wrote: "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while.")

The prognosis for Jane's Addiction is equally shaky, especially given the volatility of its members.

"I cannot predict the future, even on a good day," Navarro said in a Night&Day interview conducted during Jane's previous reunion tour in 2003.

Farrell, the father of three young sons -- Yobel, Hezron Wolfgang and Izzadore Bravo -- describes the current state of his on-again/off-again band with an analogy perhaps better suited for an "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" sing-along.

"Somebody is a bull, somebody is a lamb, somebody is a puppy and somebody is a pig," he said, declining to specify which band members he had in mind. "There are all kinds of different animals on the farm, but you need all of them."

Indeed. But will these "animals" and their audience fare better with a new musical diet, or with strictly familiar offerings?

With the exception of 2003's "Strays," a slick, half-hearted album that was geared for radio airplay but failed to gain much, Jane's Addiction has not released an album of new songs since its third studio outing, 1990's "Ritual de lo Habitual." As a result, the band's previous reunion tours were nostalgia-fueled exercises, as Navarro acknowledged in a 2003 Night&Day interview.

"Right now, we're just interested in putting on a really great show," the guitarist said at the time. "We're not really creating much. We're creating an environment, but we haven't written anything (new) in 12 years."

Accordingly, the band's latest release, the limited-edition "Cabinet of Curiosities" (Rhino), features three CDs and a DVD, but nothing really new.

The CDs contain 43 songs, most of them unreleased demos and live recordings from years gone by. Also featured are the band's versions of songs by such disparate bands as Led Zeppelin) ("Whole Lotta Love"), The Doors ("L.A. Woman"), X ("Nausea") and, um, the Grateful Dead ("Ripple").

The lack of new material may disappoint fans hoping for Jane's to stretch its creative wings again, but Farrell is happy just to have the band back together.

"First of all, it's OK to be a classic car," he said. "You can go to a car show and see a gorgeous car with the hood up, and say, 'Wow,' and still want a 2009 BMW. In my garage, I have Jane's, which is a classic car. But the fans will also get off on a new song that you put up on the Internet for free."

Make that one new song, and only one new song, a point Farrell stresses by conveniently overlooking "Strays," the band's moribund 2003 album.

People say: 'You haven't recorded a new album in 18 years, would you go (on tour) like that?' I would," he said. "I don't have to give you 10 new songs you won't listen to. I'll give you one that you will listen to, and that's musical currency. We have three albums to choose from, and we can play anything.

"After 20-plus odd years of working with these guys, we kind of like each other a little more than we ever have. But we're all very different and have four different opinions on any subject. I do my best to keep the group together at any cost. When we hit the stage, we blast, we're all alive and it's a great thing to have the original lineup.

"It's rare. So, we'll see how long we can do it before somebody becomes ill ... or a monk."

Posted by George Varga on May 14, 2009 07:00 AM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/entertain ... eturn.html

ESFOS · Post by **ESFOS** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:13 pm

"After 20-plus odd years of working with these guys, we kind of like each other a little more than we ever have. But we're all very different and have four different opinions on any subject. I do my best to keep the group together at any cost. When we hit the stage, we blast, we're all alive and it's a great thing to have the original lineup. "

So ready for Jones Beach....

tvrec · Post by **tvrec** » Thu May 14, 2009 8:31 pm

I'll be there in SD![/i]

ESFOS · Post by **ESFOS** » Sat May 16, 2009 12:49 pm

Show # 7

el segundo · Post by **el segundo** » Sun May 17, 2009 2:17 am

same set list as it was the past few nights, though they played standing in the shower...

I posted on xiola, instead of trading off a song here and there...why not play all of them?

It would take the set list from 13 to about 16...

Post by **Mike** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:05 am

REVIEW: Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails

Simply put, Jane's Addiction rocks.

The way-back-when L.A. rock band co-headlined Saturday's Cricket Wireless show with Nine Inch Nails, a band that as a rule does not disappoint. But this weekend, Perry Farrell and the rest of the original Jane's boys - whose most recent hit came out 17 years ago - stole the show.

The cultish band that's always on some soundtrack or your favorite old mixtape came out on fire, and they were just as relevant and fun as they were "back in the day."

Flamboyant ringmaster Farrell grinned, whistled, shimmied and leaped his way through the band's hour-and-a-half-long set, flanked by perpetually shirtless guitarist Dave Navarro, returning bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins.

Thirty-foot-high nude cutouts framing a filigree-print backdrop set the stage for a surprisingly awesome trip backward, culminating in 1984's singalong, "Jane Says."

Reports from other tour stops that up to a third of the crowd left after NIN's set did not hold true in this SoCal city. The 12,000-strong crowd sang along to "Been Caught Stealing," "Ocean Size" and "Pigs in Zen," likely with the same commitment as when they first heard the songs decades ago.

"As soon as we hit the coast, we were home," yelled Farrell to a cheering crowd, three hours into a concert made up of very different acts.

Dressed in black and red band uniforms and SSSC-emblazoned T-shirts, newcomer Street Sweeper Social Club started the night in high gear with "Fight! Smash! Win!" Guitarist Tom Morello brought an unmistakable Rage Against the Machine sound - and at one point played the guitar with his teeth - against the sounds of rapper Boots Riley of The Coup.

It's hard to be in the first slot when the sun's still up and no one's heard of you, but people in the pit had their fists pumped by SSSC's third, all-out-assault song.

"We're Street Sweeper Social Club, and we're on a mission," Morello said to the quickly won-over crowd. "Feed the poor. Fight the power. And rock the (expletive) out."

The band's debut album drops June 16.

Nine Inch Nails' frontman Trent Reznor joined Riley to close out SSSC's short set with a rocking cover of MC5's "Kick Out the Jams."

Typically a visual wonder with a real-time, beat-matching LED light show and poignant projections, NIN's stage setup was understated, with pounding strobes and some background lights. Fans way back on the lawn squinted at the stage until the middle of the show, when the large screens finally came on.

The band's powerful start with an in-your-face "1,000,000" was cut short by a technical glitch that cut out the PA in its third song. After singing to a yelling audience, Reznor signaled to stop, and after all was righted, he launched back into "Terrible Lie."

For most of the beginning of NIN's hour-and-a-half-long set, Reznor sounded hoarse, his voice cracking. And there were times the band didn't seem in sync. It is stripped down to a four-piece this tour, and that missing keyboardist layer was evident in songs and a performance that just didn't feel as full.

Still, Reznor's passion never diminished, squeezing the last sweet drop out of a 20-year run. Songs like "March of the Pigs," "The Becoming" and "Wish" kept the crowd screaming along, and announcing that it was his "smiley face birthday (Sunday)" brought cheers.

NIN's new drummer Ilan Rubin met that raw energy head on, turning out a frenzied performance. The 20-year-old multi-instrumentalist was born in San Diego and joined NIN early this year.

"I haven't played San Diego in so long," Rubin said before the concert, his family gathering around him. "I'm looking forward to it."

NIN closed the curtain on two decades with "Head Like a Hole" - the song that started it all back in 1989 - and a heartfelt "Hurt," which lit up cell phones and lighters from the pit to the far reaches of the lawn. With a tender wave goodbye, Reznor left the stage.

Posted by Jennifer Croshaw on May 17, 2009 04:02 AM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/entertain ... ne_in.html

Photos by David Brooks / SignOnSanDiego

Post by **Mike** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:20 am

The photo set where this pic was taken from can be viewed here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxxxxjenny ... 228011317/

Post by **Mike** » Sun May 17, 2009 9:33 am

Setlist:

01. Three Days
02. Whores
03. Ain't No Right
04. Pigs In Zen
05. Then She Did...
06. Mountain Song
07. Standing In The Shower... Thinking
08. Been Caught Stealing
09. Ted, Just Admit It...
10. Ocean Size
Encore:
11. Summertime Rolls
12. Stop!
13. Jane Says

Post by **Mike** » Sun May 17, 2009 9:39 am

Post by **Mike** » Sun May 17, 2009 9:57 am

Pre show jam.

http://twitpic.com/5cc2d

http://twitpic.com/5ce6n

Pics taken by Todd Newman.

http://twitter.com/Todd_Newman

janesaddiction.org

2009.05.16 Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, Chula Vista, CA

2009.05.16 Cricket Wireless Amphitheater, Chula Vista, CA

5.16.09 Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, CA