The spectre of wasted potential has long hung over Jane’s Addiction. The Los Angelenos helped define alternative rock in the late 80s with two albums of cosmic, bohemian funk-metal, driven by mysticism, debauchery and loss, but were quickly undone by exhaustion, heroin and frontman Perry Farrell’s new role as Lollapalooza’s ringmaster. Subsequent reunions struggled to locate that mercurial power, keenly feeling the absence of their creative cornerstone: founding bassist Eric Avery, who resisted the filthy reunion lucre until 2008, only to exit again two years later amid considerable rancour, seemingly for ever.
His presence tonight is a big deal, then. Restlessly prowling the stage, pounding his bass, mouthing along to every lyric, Avery’s not phoning it in. His vigour underscores a sense that Jane’s Addiction may have finally rediscovered their mojo. Riff-driven thrashers like Pigs In Zen and Ain’t No Right are dispatched with thrilling ferocity, Dave Navarro making his guitar sound like a chainsaw, a siren, a crashing jetliner, sometimes all at once. In white cowboy duds (with Navarro as his shadowy spaghetti-western nemesis), Farrell relishes every mischievous punk-funk twist of Been Caught Stealin’, and goes positively feral on new song Imminent Redemption, which sounds more like Jane’s Addiction than anything off their underwhelming reunion albums.
