Rock

Jane’s Addiction has issued a statement following an onstage altercation between Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro.
The rock veterans took to social media on Saturday (Sept. 14) to apologize for the lead singer throwing a punch at the guitarist during the band’s concert in Boston on Friday.

“We want to extend a heartfelt apology for the events that unfolded last night,” Jane’s Addiction wrote on their Instagram Story. “As a result we will be cancelling tomorrow night’s show in Bridgeport.”

Jane’s Addiction added refund information for Sunday’s canceled show at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Connecticut.

The recently reunited band’s Friday show at Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion came to a sudden halt when Farrell attacked Navarro midway through the their performance of “Ocean Size.” Fan-captured video shows the frontman becoming angry for unknown reasons and throwing a punch at the guitarist, who appeared confused by the singer’s outburst.

Trending on Billboard

“What the f–k?” Navarro appeared to shout as crew members restrained Farrell and dragged him backstage. The guitarist then took off his guitar and walked off stage, ending the concert after 11 songs. Jane’s Addiction’s recent concerts have typically featured three or four additional performances.

Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, took to social media shortly after Friday’s concert to share her version of the story in a lengthy message.

“Clearly there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members.. the magic that made the band so dynamic. Well, the dynamite was lit,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the onstage fight.

“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. Perry had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

She added that an altercation had occurred backstage between her husband and Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, who “put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”

“Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour — he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried,” Etty Lau wrote. “Eric, well he either didn’t understand what descalation meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry.”

Jane’s Addiction’s Live Nation-produced reunion tour — which finds the four original members hitting the road for the first time in 14 years — launched in early August and is set to conclude in mid-October. At press time, the band’s next show was scheduled for Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on Sept. 18.

Jane’s Addiction‘s concert in Boston came to a sudden end on Friday (Sept. 13) when frontman Perry Farrell attacked guitarist Dave Navarro onstage.
The fan-captured altercation at Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion broke out midway through the reunited band’s performance of “Ocean Size,” when Farrell became angry for unknown reasons and lunged at the Navarro’s shoulder. Farrell, 65, then continued to shout at the guitarist, 57, who appeared confused, and the singer ultimately threw a punch at Navarro.

“What the f—?” Navarro appeared to shout as crew members restrained Farrell and dragged him backstage. The guitarist then took off his guitar and walked off stage, ending the concert after 11 songs. Jane’s Addiction’s reunion shows have typically featured three or four additional performances.

Jane’s Addiction hadn’t publicly commented on the situation at press time. Billboard has reached out to the band’s representatives.

Trending on Billboard

Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, took to social media shortly after Friday’s concert to share her version of the story in a lengthy message. “Clearly there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members.. the magic that made the band so dynamic. Well, the dynamite was lit,” Etty Lau wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the onstage fight.

“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. Perry had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

She added that an altercation had occurred backstage between her husband and Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, who “put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”

“Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour — he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried,” Etty Lau wrote. “Eric, well he either didn’t understand what descalation meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry.”

Jane’s Addiction’s Live Nation-produced reunion tour — which finds the four original members hitting the road for the first time in 14 years — launched in early August. At press time, the band’s next show was scheduled for Sunday (Sept. 15) in Bridgeport, Conn.

The long wait appears to be over: The Cure may have confirmed the release date of their first LP in 16 years in postcards sent to fans. Earlier this week, speculation mounted that an announcement was incoming when the group updated social media profile pictures. Now fans of the band have received cryptic postcards in […]

Stop me if you know you’ve heard this one before. Despite the end-times detente between long-battling brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis that recently led to their announcement of a 2025 UK tour, some things in the music feud world never change.
Case in point: the Smiths. The legendary British purveyors of sorrowful rock broke up acrimoniously in 1987, and based on their latest alleged loggerheads it seems certain that they are never, ever getting back together. Not even to re-release their old music, according to lead lamenter Morrissey.

In a post on his official blog on Wednesday (Sept. 11) titled “Smiths Not OK,” the 65-year-old singer claimed that his ex-bandmate and chief nemesis, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, has “blocked” the release of a planned greatest hits compilation. “The proposed greatest hits album by The Smiths entitled Smiths Rule OK! has been blocked by J Marr,” he wrote, in a post featuring a classic pic of the four-man Manchester band and what he said was a new cover image of their 1983 debut single, “Hand in Glove.”

Trending on Billboard

Morrissey said that the single and hits comp were slated for release this year worldwide by Warner Records along with a deluxe box set of the band’s 1984 self-titled debut album, which featured such beloved tales of woeful misery as “Reel Around the Fountain,” “Miserable Lie,” “Still Ill” and “What Difference Does it Make?” The singer said the 40th anniversary edition of the album was to be packaged with a new 7-inch of the single “This Charming Man” as well.

“Warner approached Morrissey and [graphic designer] Darren Evans to assemble artwork for all four releases, all of which were rejected and halted out of hand by J Marr,” Morrissey wrote. At press time it did not appear that band composer Marr — whose iconic jangly, ringing guitar tone was as crucial to the band’s sound as Morrissey’s laconic, sad-eyed vocals and lyrics — had responded to the singer’s claims and a spokesperson for Marr had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

During their brief, but highly impactful tenure, The Smiths released just four full-length studio albums, all of which featured songs that have become alt rock landmarks, including “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” “Meat Is Murder,” “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side,” “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “Girlfriend in a Coma,” “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me” and, of course, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before.”

Morrissey paid loving tribute to late bassist Andy Rourke — with whom he and Marr had also feuded with over the band’s royalties — in May 2023 after Rourke’s death at 59 from pancreatic cancer. “Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments… as if their death is there to be used. I’m not prepared to do this with Andy,” the singer wrote at the time.

Last month, Morrissey posted a note claiming that in June of this year AEG Entertainment made a “lucrative offer” to both Morrissey and Marr to reunite for a Smith’s world tour in 2025, to which he claimed he said yes while Marr “ignored the offer.” In keeping with the sniping acrimony between the former bandmates, the misanthropic singer added that while he “undertakes a largely sold out tour of the USA in November, Marr continues to tour as a special guest to New Order.”

For the record, Marr is slated to kick off a headlining North American tour with opener James on Sept. 17 at the Paramount Theatre in Denver that will run through an Oct. 18 gig at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, MN.

While the Gallaghers have miraculously managed to set aside their sibling rivalry for a run of shows most fans never thought would happen, the alleged greatest hits snit suggests the animosity between Marr and Morrissey will continue apace after nearly 40 years of public barbs and insults, blocking a much-desired get back from one of the most influential and beloved British indie rock bands of all time.

Chester Bennington‘s son is currently at odds with some of Linkin Park‘s fanbase, with the 28-year-old recently alleging that people have been “cruel, unusual and aggressive” to him following his criticism of the band’s reunion.
In a slew of videos posted to Instagram Stories on Monday (Sept. 9), Jaime opened up about wanting to attend Linkin Park’s fast-approaching comeback show in Los Angeles, in spite of his qualms with the group’s new vocalist Emily Armstrong. However, he claims his late father’s former bandmates didn’t offer him a ticket — and even if they had, he wouldn’t feel safe in the crowd.

“I haven’t heard anything back from the band themselves, which is not unexpected,” Jaime says in the clips. “They didn’t come to me with this announcement, they didn’t ask me how I felt.”

Trending on Billboard

“There are a lot of people who do not like me,” he continued. “There are a lot of people saying some real awful sh– right now to me. To be honest, I don’t think I’d feel safe going to the show under general admission … I don’t know who would take it upon themselves to respond to me in an aggressive manner. The audience themselves could actually be unsafe for me.”

Jaime’s comments come shortly after he lobbed criticism at Linkin Park for tapping Armstrong as the band’s new co-vocalist, accusing Mike Shinoda of “quietly erasing my father’s life and legacy in real time.”

“You betrayed the trust loaned to you by decades of fans and supporting human beings including myself,” he added at the time, slamming Armstrong’s past connection to Scientology and support of convicted rapist Danny Masterson. “We trusted you to be the bigger, better person. To be the change. Because you promised us that was your intention. Now you’re just senile and tone deaf.”

In response to the backlash, the Dead Sara co-founder issued a statement on Sept. 6 distancing herself from the That ’70s Show star. “Several years ago, I was asked to support someone I considered a friend at a court appearance and went to one early hearing as an observer,” she said. “Soon after, I realized I shouldn’t have. I have never spoken with him since. To say it as clearly as possible: I do not condone abuse or violence against women, and I empathize with the victims of these crimes.”

All of the commotion follows the band’s announcement that Linkin Park would be returning in 2024 after a seven-year hiatus sparked by the death of Chester in 2017. In addition to the lineup changes, the rockers will be releasing a new album, From Zero, on Nov. 15, and embarking on a massive tour starting with six arena shows kicking off Wednesday (Sept. 11) at the Kia Forum.

But much like Linkin Park’s fanbase, Jaime has conflicted feelings about the band’s new direction. “I want to go [to the concert],” he said on his Story. “There are reasons that I might not be allowed into the venue, which I can’t talk about right now, but unless I’m told explicitly, ‘You can’t go for this reason,’ I do want to go.”

“So many of these Linkin Park fans who will be attending have been cruel, unusual and aggressive,” he added. “You’re telling me to kill myself, you’re telling me that I’m awful, you’re telling me that my father doesn’t appreciate me … What are you talking about? You didn’t give a f–k when he died. If you did, you would understand what the problem is. You would understand why this is all wrong.”