Jane’s Addiction are touring the US, with Queens Of The Stone’s Troy Van Leeuwen confirmed as the band’s stand-in for guitarist Dave Navarro while he recovers from long Covid, and fan-shot footage has emerged on YouTube of the newly assembled lineup performing classic cuts.
The footage, which has decent audio, was shot on 5 October at the band’s set at the Moody Center, in Austin, Texas. It captures the band playing Ritual De La Habitual cuts Three Days, Been Caught Stealing and Stop! – the latter a particularly riotous rendition of riotous track – plus a poignant Jane Says with the returning Eric Avery on acoustic guitar.
After cancelling their Lollapalooza set with Navarro unfit to perform, frontman Perry Farrell’s Porno For Pyros taking their place, it is all systems go for Jane’s Addiction, with the alt-rock trailblazers touring the US with Smashing Pumpkins throughout October and November.
The tour is the first to feature original bass guitar player Avery in over a decade, as he rejoins the band after his 2010 exit, and all kinds of plans are afoot to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Nothing’s Shocking.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Perry Farrell says he hopes Navarro might make it back for some of the dates. These are the first Jane’s shows the guitarist has missed. If he recovers in time, Farrell says they can double up on the guitarists.
“When we booked this tour and Dave was sick, we didn’t know he’d take this long, to be honest with you,” Farrell said. “You have to be able to adapt. I really do have to consider everybody on the crew and their families. They have mouths to feed, and they haven’t had a paycheck in almost two years. I wish I could have waited longer for Dave. Maybe he will call me in a week and say, ‘I’m good to go.’ And what could happen is, he could just slide right next to Troy.”
In the interim, Van Leeuwen looks to have the set licked, choosing his red Gibson ES-175 from QOTSA’s No One Knows video over his Jazzmaster signature guitars, and playing what looks like an Echopark Southsider single-cut electric guitar with a tune-o-matic bridge during Mountain Song.
Jane’s Addiction are also in writing mode, with Farrell, Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins working on ideas while Navarro recuperates. Perkins told Rolling Stone that they’ll wait for Navarro, and that this echoes the very early months of the band before Navarro joined in ’86 after auditioning at Perkins’ recommendation.
In the same interview, Avery said that there was some difference in styles between Van Leeuwen and Navarro, and that this might give some of the tracks a different feel.
“The overall sound is very different,” Avery said. “Dave is an unusually smooth player, very, very, very smooth. Troy is much grittier in every way. There’s sort of like a working-man grit to his playing, and to his sound…I feel like I am the the keeper of the flame for the hardcore fan. I don’t know how it’s going to be for those folks, because it’s going to be different. But I do think they’ll be happy that I’m back.”
The band take the stage in Tampa, Florida, tonight (7 October). See Jane’s Addiction for full tour dates.
