Jane's Addiction, Brandeis University, November 7, 1997
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"Isn't is funny how love can almost cause catastrophe," Perry asked after they reassembled the front barricades that were destroyed during Jane's Addiction's first song at Brandeis University on their current "Relapse Tour" . It made him seem wise, but eventually he got to talking about Hopi Indians and aliens and all sorts of other stuff you'd expect from the reigning king of eccentric rock stars. |
Perry and the rest of the almost original Jane's lineup had taken the stage, played about half of "Ocean Side," when all of a sudden the center of the barricade gave way and pitched a few hundred people forward at the stage. They finished the song then called for the house lights to straighten things out.
 | When the barricade gave way yours truly was standing in front of Flea to take a photo. The people next to me got totally flattened by the barricade and I got shoved on to the stage where tense security mixed with frantic stage hands to pull kids out of the fray. A bunch of kids were hurt, a few bad eggs got chucked out, but amazingly the show went on. In a bold move of unity the 6,000 kids on the floor of this crappy gym parted down the middle and let the guys move the barricade from the mixing board to the front so the show could continue. |
I don't know about anybody else, but almost getting flattened by the barricade gave the show a weird vibe. After the crash I got to hang out behind the stage with the injured, the cops, and the security guys. One of the photographers really got smashed, and most of us took a decent beating trying to get away, so they let us hang and watch them try to pull off getting a new barricade in place. I give them credit, they did it and the rest of the show went on without the new one breaking, but they wouldn't let us back in to take photos so I got almost nothing- sorry.
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Anyway, Jane's Addiction came back on and did their best to overcome the fucked up vibe. The did almost the same set as their live MTV Halloween Special, so there were no real surprises. Of course the stage was an elaborate affair- sticking to Perry's tiki shack motif of recent Porno tours there were mojo dancers in face paint, and almost naked dancers slinking around the stage and some light towers set up midway through the crowd. Although the acoustics kind of sucked the band sounded great. Dave Navarro's guitar leads were excellent, as was Flea's sonic bass. Towards the back the sound was muddled, but at times- like Navarro's solo during "Mountain Song" it was pretty good. Perry's vocals dominated the mix with a good blend of warble, scream, yowl, and shaman chant. |
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What was to be a mini-acoustic set performed from the light towers got canned, but the band still did acoustic versions of "Jane Says," and "Classic Girl." Since the band couldn't perform in the towers they sent the almost naked dancers back out for more. The ladies were mesmerizing partially because they were topless in some cases, and because Perry has gotten better with his stage theatrics overall. During "Nothing Shocking" the girl nearest to me went crazy touching herself in all the fun places and had many a dude adjusting his quickly enlarging penis.
After "Nothing's Shocking" the band said goodnight and left. There was no encore. Nobody knew if it was because there was a Parent's Weekend curfew on campus, or if the problems earlier had screwed something up.
 | Overall everybody had a good time. This is the first time we've seen Jane's Addiction in like 5 years so nostalgia runs high. The band looks better, sounds good, and still manages to hold that mystical something that they once had in spades. Although the show failed to take us all to that far off planet of peace and happiness that Perry preaches about, it still provided an interesting two hours for everybody there. |
