This past Saturday night, Jane's Addiction hit town on their current "Theater of the Escapists" tour and much to my surprise, proved that Ruth Eckerd Hall was the perfect venue to showcase their high-brow alt rock talents.
Jane's Addiction delivered an intimate and theatrical performance of grand proportions amid a surreal atmosphere that featured beautiful trapeze artists in 20-foot-high dresses, vintage bondage video projections, and a man in a feathery, spider-like black straight jacket. They took it WAY back with old school favorites like "Mountain Song" and "Ted Just Admit It…" (off 1988's Nothing's Shocking), along with the odd ball "Chip Away" from their 1987 self-titled debut that had everyone in the band banging away on something during a killer primal drum breakdown, including both Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. All the early tracks blended well with the few cuts off their latest release, 2011's The Great Escape Artist, and they managed to bring the 30-and-40-something crowd to our feet almost immediately, and aroused nostalgia about days gone past, when we wore ripped-up jeans and rebelled against the machine, and Lollapalooza was just an embryo in the peripheral mind of singer and mastermind, Perry Farrell.
Overall, they looked and sounded just as good if not better than ever, the musicians taking turns drinking from a bottle of wine and grinning proudly all throughout the show. After returning to deliver two uber-fan favorites for the encore, "Three Days" and "Stop!" they left the stage like they were walking out of the living room where we'd all been sitting around getting high together. It was truly an intimate rock show experience and honestly, one of the best shows I've seen in a very long time.
Setlist from Setlist.com
Underground
Mountain Song
Just Because
Been Caught Stealing
Ain't No Right
Ted, Just Admit It…
Twisted Tales
Classic Girl
Jane Says
Chip Away
Up the Beach
Irresistible Force
(started Ocean Size then stopped)
Ocean Size
Encore:
Three Days
Stop!
This article appears in May 24-30, 2012.