Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro Get Into Onstage Altercation During Jane’s Addiction Concert

Dave Navarro (L) and Perry Farrell perform on stage during a concert in the northern Spanish Basque city of Vitoria on June 20, 2024. Ander Gillenea/AFP via Getty Images

A Jane’s Addiction concert came to an abrupt halt on Sept. 13 after the band’s frontman, Perry Farrell, got into an onstage altercation with guitarist Dave Navarro.

The incident unfolded at the Leader Bank Pavillion in Boston, Massachusetts, while the rock band was performing its 1988 song “Ocean Size” from the group’s debut album “Nothing’s Shocking.”

Videos of the squabble were widely shared online by concertgoers.

In the footage, Farrell, 65, can be seen screaming into his microphone before slamming into the guitarist with his shoulder. The lead singer appears to yell at Navarro, 57, again as the guitarist attempts to hold him at arm’s length. Farrell then tries to throw a punch at Navarro before being dragged away and escorted off of the stage.

Farrell and Navarro have yet to issue a statement concerning the incident, and a representative for either musician could not immediately be reached for comment.

However, Farrell’s wife, singer Etty Lau Farrell, took to Instagram early Saturday morning to share a clip of the altercation and offer her thoughts on what may have triggered the confrontation.

“Rather than speculating, I thought to post a first person account of what happened on stage with @janesaddiction last night,” she said in a caption with the video, noting that “there had been a lot of tension and animosity” between Farrell and Navarro.

“The magic that made the band so dynamic. Well, the dynamite was lit. Perry got up in Dave’s face and body checked him,” she continued.

The dancer said her husband had been suffering from a bout of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, as well as a sore throat leading up to that evening’s show.

“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,” she offered.

“But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was [playing] too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

By the end of the song, Etty said her husband was “screaming just be to be heard.”

“What was the aftermath?” she wrote. “Dave still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight. Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour—he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried.”

Jane’s Addiction Reunion

Formed in 1985, the Los Angeles-based rock band embarked on its current tour in August, with shows scheduled throughout the rest of the month and into October, according to the group’s website. It is uncertain how the conflict between the two musicians will influence upcoming concert dates.

The recent string of shows marks the first time the Grammy-nominated band’s original lineup, including bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins, has toured together in almost 15 years.

After releasing its sophomore album, “Ritual de lo Habitual,” in August 1990, Jane’s Addiction broke up the following year. The group subsequently embarked on a farewell tour, launching the first Lollapalooza—a now annual music festival.

Jane’s Addiction went on to reunite and dissolve on multiple occasions, releasing its third studio album, “Strays,” in 2003 without Avery. In 2008, the band’s original lineup reassembled for a brief time, only for Avery to exit again two years later. In 2011, Jane’s Addiction debuted its fourth album, “The Great Escape Artist.”

Avery later rejoined the group in 2022. However, Navarro was absent from the band’s 2022 and 2023 tour dates due to complications from long COVID.

Jane’s Addiction’s latest track, “Imminent Redemption”—released in July of this year—marks the first song the band’s original members have put out together in over 30 years.

Speaking to Loudwire Nights in August, Navarro hinted at the possibility of a new album.

“I have management that prep us before interviews and say, ‘Say this, don’t say this,’ and nobody said anything to me yet, so I'll just say, there is new music coming,” he said.

“There’s new music recorded that hasn’t been finished,” the guitarist added. “There’s hope of a full album.”