Jane’s Addiction at The Roxy: Concert Review and Photos

Friday night on the Sunset Strip must have been cool in the 80’s. A rocking music scene filled with hair, scantily clad women, booze and more drugs than your nostril could handle. When talking to people about it they often say “you just had to be there.” Well, a Friday night in 2010 brought BeatCrave the opportunity to be there. Jane’s Addiction, a pioneer and force of the 80’s Strip scene, announced a special show for its fans where they would be bringing back the attitude, the style and all the boozed up chicks to the Roxy Theatre for a huge bash and their fans.

Huge would be an understatement. It would be the right way to describe the line which ran way down sunset with many fans that had spent 12+ hours in line. Those that were lucky enough to gain entry were in for quite a show. A show that would not start with an opening band but something more suited for a crowd of freaky super fans.

Oh yes, the nice interesting people of the Venice Beach Freak Show would put on a short spectacle before the real spectacle. The rubber man, wolf boy, a sword swallower and an Iggy Pop body double sticking his face with needles would be just the start of the evening. If that wasn’t enough to make intoxicated stomachs queasy, the two corseted women with hooks in their backs being suspended from the ceiling with hooks and string did. While many stood with their mouths wide open, jaws dropped even more when the second set of curtains raised and Jane’s Addiction appeared. As the opening licks of “Whores” filled through the room Perry Farrell ran out to help the whores women on hooks fly through the air.

With how tight and together the sound was it was easy to forget the coming out party for a new face on bass. Sure, BeatCrave was out when Jane’s Addiction came out with a shorty set on Cinco De Mayo at Bardot, but Friday’s show at the Roxy was Duff McKeegan’s night to step out of Eric Avery’s shadow and show what he could bring to a group that has already made its mark in the music scene.

Duff had no problem slapping the bass and powering through classics like “Mountain Song,” “Been Caught Stealing,” and “Stop.” Dave Navarro also had no problem slipping his tongue into a fan’s mouth mid song. In rock star fashion, later in the set, the same girl would ask for some water and Dave would give her the finger. There wasn’t much more to check off the rock star list until Perry Farrell pulled out the bottle of wine and started chugging. Even as it got later into the set and the BAC was raising, the band never got too loose and you could see how much fun the band was having with their simple interactions between each other alone.

While ten songs seems like enough for most fans, the crowd howled for more as the band walked off the stage after playing “Superhero.” Chants started as drums, including a steel one, were brought to the stage. As any Jane’s fans knows, the steel drum could only mean one thing. Dave and Duff on acoustic guitars and Perry singing about what Jane says. It became a full crowd sing-a-long with everyone joining in. Even Dave couldn’t help yelling along from his stool while strumming away.

However, n acoustic song isn’t the way a Sunset Strip band closes their set, and it wasn’t how Jane’s would go out. Everyone would grab a pair of sticks and start slamming away at the drums for a stunning rendition of “Chip Away.” The clicking of sticks and Perry’s voice was a hypnotizing way to end the evening. As the four came to the edge of the stage to bow to the crowd it, seemed like it was their first show all over again.

Setlist for Jane’s Addiction at The Roxy: July 2, 2010

Whores
Aint no Right
Had A Dad
Ted
Mountain Song
Stealing
3 Days
Stop
Ocean
Superhero
(Encore)
Janes Says
Chip Away

Photography by Carl Pocket