Perry Farrell has broken his silence following his onstage fight with guitarist Dave Navarro that led to Jane’s Addiction cancelling the remainder of their tour.
Navarro announced Monday that the band will no longer continue touring dates, blaming Farrell’s “mental health difficulties” after they got into an altercation last Friday during a show in Boston.
Farrell, 65, has now apologised to his bandmates and the group’s fans for his “inexcusable behaviour”.
“This weekend has been incredibly difficult and after having the time and space to reflect, it is only right that I apologize to my bandmates, especially Dave Navarro, fans, family and friends for my actions during Friday’s show,” Farrell said, via Variety.
He concluded: “Unfortunately, my breaking point resulted in inexcusable behavior and I take full responsibility for how I chose to handle the situation.”
His wife, Etty Lau, had previously attempted to defend Farrell’s behaviour by claiming he was upset that his bandmates were “drowning” him out by playing too loud.
Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell breaks silence on dramatic fight with bandmate Dave Navarro that forced band to cancel tour (pictured above last week)
Eyewitnesses said Farrell began “yelling” at Navarro during “Mountain Song,” which escalated into their fight during “Ocean Size.”
Attendees said Farrell “had a huge bottle of wine with him all night, Navarro and Avery kept chatting with each other throughout the show and seemed angrier than usual.”
The Boston show came a week after the band played two sets in New York City as part of a reunion tour after the group reunited for the first time in 14 years earlier this year.
On the first night of shows in New York City, Farrell told a crowd at Pier 17 that he was not in great shape for performances, and attendees said there seemed to be bad blood between the bandmates.
Farrell told the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. There’s something wrong with my voice. All of a sudden, I can’t get the notes out.”
Bassist Eric Avery took to Instagram after the show to speak to fans, saying he was “looking forward to playing this spectacular rooftop venue again tonight. I’m optimistic we’ll be better.”
In a review of CL Tampa the week before Friday’s outburst, one critic wrote that Farrell “struggled” and “went into a spiral” when the band began playing “Mountain Song” after “drinking from an entire bottle of wine.”
Jane’s Addiction has canceled its tour following an incident in which singer Perry Farrell punched guitarist Dave Navarro during a concert in Boston on Friday.
Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell seen performing at Lollapalooza, Chicago, in 2016
“He launched into a lot of meaningless speech” about cow pastures, mushrooms and politics, the review said, stopping only when Navarro “deliberately played a loud, piercing chord on his guitar, almost to silence Farrell and get the show back on track.”
The review, written by critic Gave Echazabal, noted that Farrell drank from a bottle of wine as he struggled to keep up with his heavy metal bandmates.
“Farrell’s performance was late or disjointed, and it was difficult to match his mediocre performance with the sheer, defined power the band was producing behind him,” Echazabal wrote.
He added that after watching Farrell obsess over the bottle of wine, “you almost got the feeling that this wasn’t the first bottle he’d uncorked that night.”
Disappointed fans said Farrell was drinking from a bottle of wine before the outburst, which is said to be a common sight at his performances (pictured at a show in California in February 2024).
On Monday, Navarro, 57, told fans the tour would no longer continue.
“Due to an ongoing pattern of behavior and mental health difficulties of our lead singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to cut short the current U.S. tour,” Navarro said in a statement.
“Our concern for his personal health and safety, as well as our own, has left us with no other choice. We hope he finds the help he needs,” he added.
“We deeply regret that we will not be able to serve all of our fans who have already purchased tickets. We do not see any solution that will ensure a safe environment on stage or allow us to put on a great show every night.”
Navarro signed the statement with a heartbreaking message: “Our hearts are broken. Dave, Eric and Stephen.”
This was the first tour in 14 years that featured the band’s original lineup.
The Los Angeles band formed in 1985 and did their first “farewell” tour in 1991, from which band member Eric Avery acrimoniously left in 2010.
Dayle Gloria, the Los Angeles club promoter who helped discover the band in 1986 and host of the podcast Nightclubbing with Dayle Gloria, told DailyMail.com: “Perry Farrell’s collapse is hard to watch for those of us like me who loved the band.”
‘We all hope Perry gets the help he needs so he and the band can one day recapture the magic that is Jane’s Addiction.’
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