Last night Jane's Addiction played their first NYC show in years, bringing their moody "alternative" cock rock to Terminal 5 (minus original bassist Eric Avery). It was a free show to push a new cell phone that, among other things, lets users play 3D games without special glasses. The three story venue was blanketed with ads for the phone, which was on display at kiosks on every level— in one sense the experience seemed like a nostalgic homage to those early '90s days when the music called "alternative" was immediately branded up the wazoo for maximum marketing potential. If you followed Jane's Addiction's meteoric ascent to the top of the mainstream alt-rock pyramid, you probably won't be surprised to hear that last night's gig felt a little like they were headlining a Javits Center trade show.
Frontman Perry Farrell (son of a jewelry salesman from Bensonhurst, as he explained last night) made no mention of the cell phone company from the stage, but at one point he did remark, "People ask me whether I do it for the music or the money." A pause. "I tell them, just because." And then they played one of their biggest hit singles, "Just Because." Does that clear things up? Later Farrell jokingly asked the audience, "You all got in for free, what more do you want?" Good point, but we liked Farrell better when he was more androgynous and mysterious; as a 50-something, overly-lit frontman his showmanship is veering toward Borscht Belt. He's in great shape, but we never want to hear him tell us how he has sex again. Guitarist Dave Navarro, on the other hand, can still shred as long and loud as he wants.
The band's languidly sensual power anthems still have the potential to captivate—the epic "Three Days" delivered the goods last night—but for the most part the sound was sub par; Farrell's essential high-end wail was either buried in the mix or simply not there to begin with. And the house lights stayed up throughout the show to facilitate the filming of a 3D concert documentary the gadget. While the edited product may look slick, in person the show never caught fire, with the band giving a polished performance that was at turns staid and tacky, and musically devoid of spontaneity.
Jane's Addiction has always uneasily pushed the boundaries of what counts as objectifying women onstage, and despite last night's corporate sponsorship, they stayed true to form, opening the show with the song "Whores" as two scantily-clad women dangled awkwardly above the stage in harnesses. (One, perhaps, was Farrell's wife?) Then there was "Ted, Just Admit It," during which another pair of half-naked ladies spread their bare legs wide as Ferrell sang about how "sex is violent"—a chorus that might have seemed Weimaresque in the context of the band's LA club days, but became sort of troubling once frat boy fans starting pumping their fists along with it. Is the song really a comment on the media conflating sex and violence, or are the lyrics actually not as nuanced as we hoped as teenagers?
Later, more barely-dressed women writhed around on their knees in front of Ferrell and guitarist Dave Navarro with gags in their mouths. One half-expected the band to whip out a glove for them to smell, and one imagines Farrell parroting Nigel Tufnel's bewildered question, "What's wrong with being sexy?" That said, we didn't notice any offended ladies in the audience storming out in protest, and apparently the suits at LG didn't seem to mind, either. Here's the opening song, "Whores," brought to you by LG's "Bring Your World Alive" campaign: LG brings you whores in 3D with their 4G!
The night ended with another poorly-mixed hit song, "Jane Says," with the steel drums barely perceptible in the plodding mix. Balloons fell, confetti popped, and before it was all over Farrell told us, "We need to end this party so we can get to the next party!" With all that LG money, it's gonna be a rager.
