ICA, Astoria and Brixton, London - 1989 to 1991
One of the first gigs I went to, in January 1989, was at the ICA. Jane's Addiction had previously toured the UK with Fields of the Nephilim and by all accounts had pretty much blown the headliners off stage. I had bought a copy of their studio album Nothing's Shocking after reading a review in Sounds music paper. The LP came in a ribbed black plastic sleeve covering Perry Farrell's controversial artwork. It was one of those albums that summed up everything I loved about rock music at that point in time. Love and Rockets were credited as an influence, and there were traces of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix, but Perry's distinctive vocals gave the music its own identity.
The ICA gig had originally been advertised as consisting of two sets with Jane's playing some acoustic numbers first. For whatever reason this didn't happen and when the lights went down, Jane's hit the stage in full electric mode – Perry Farrell with orange dreadlocks and a black PVC body-hugging outfit, Dave Navarro looking every inch the guitar rock god, Eric A already stripped to the waist despite it being a cold January night and Stephen Perkins flailing away behind his drum kit.
I went to the gig with a friend, Dave Beasley, who knew nothing about the band but as soon as they started playing he was jumping about in the mosh pit. I was torn between wanting to join him there and wanting to stand back and watch this amazing band in action. Perry was unlike any front man I'd ever seen and there was an incredible atmosphere in the room. Unfortunately about three quarters of the way through their set the house lights came up while they were mid-song. The ICA had obviously not taken into account the effect of the band's smoke machine which had set off an alarm and the Fire Brigade had arrived. So we all had to leave the building while they sorted out the bogus fire and finally, after what seemed an eternity in the cold night air on Pall Mall, we filed back inside.
Perry had taken the opportunity to change into a pair of knee-length corduroy shorts. They resumed their set but despite their best efforts it was difficult to get back into the earlier euphoric mood. The band gave it their all and finished the set with 'Chip Away' with all four of them hammering away on drums on the stage floor. But all in all it was a fantastic start to my two-and -a-half-year stay in London. I managed to fit in another 45 or so concerts, though that was my one and only visit to the ICA.
I next saw Jane's Addiction in October 1990 at the Astoria and that was another amazing gig with the band, I felt, at the height of their powers. I remember there being a real buzz outside as well as inside the venue as Jane's had just released their second studio album, Ritual de lo Habitual. Having found the set list from that night on the internet I was a bit surprised to see that they only played four tracks from the new album with the bulk of the set coming from Nothing's Shocking. Not that I would have complained as it remains my favourite album of theirs.
My final London Jane's Addiction gig was in March 1991 when they played at the Brixton Academy. By that point they were getting more interest from the mainstream media with comparisons being made, rather oddly, to Guns n' Roses. Not all was well in the Jane's camp however, as at least one member of the band had a drug habit and the 13 month tour they went on to promote the album pretty much made them all sick of the sight of each other. It was certainly not half as good a concert as the night at the Astoria a mere five months earlier. I left Brixton feeling like it was near the end of something which on another level it was, as I was to leave London later that same month.
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Extract from my self-published book
Drum Solos, Bottles and Bands - Memories of a Concert-goer 1981-1999
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drum-Solos-Bottles-Bands-Concert-goer/dp/1291015795
