Etty Lou Farrell, the wife of Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, revealed the reason for the brawl on the band’s stage in Boston on Friday night.
On Instagram on Saturday morning, she gave a “first-hand account of what happened on stage,” claiming “there was a lot of tension and hostility between the band members.”
Jane’s Addiction had just started playing their hit “Ocean Size” on stage at the Leader Bank Pavillion when the 65-year-old frontman became frustrated because the band was so much louder than his singing that “he was screaming just to be heard.”
“Perry’s frustration grew night after night. He felt that the volume on stage was extremely loud and that his voice was being drowned out by the band,” wrote Etty Lou.
“Perry suffered from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the front row started complaining to Perry and yelling at him that the band was too loud and they couldn’t hear him, Perry freaked out.”
Video footage shows Farrell cursing into the microphone and approaching the band’s guitarist, Dave Navarro, before punching him. After Farrell was restrained by several crew members and his bandmate and bassist Eric Avery, the concert ended early.
Backstage, Etty Lou said, Avery – who she claims “won the fight” – “walked up to Perry in the dark behind Dan, put him in a headlock and punched him three times in the stomach.”
“Perry was a mad animal for the next half hour – he finally didn’t calm down, he just broke down and cried and cried,” she continued. “Eric, well, either he didn’t understand what decalization meant or he took advantage of the situation and gave Perry a few unfair hits.”
The frontman had already had problems with his singing earlier this week and told the audience at Pier 17 in New York that “there is something wrong with my voice”.
Jane’s Addiction is scheduled to perform in Bridgeport, Connecticut on Sunday.