Jane's Addiction Reunion Show

Alternative music pioneers, Jane's Addiction, will reunite on stage for the first time since the band broke up in 1991. The reunion is set to happen at the NME Awards in Los Angles on April 23. Bassist Eric Avery has agreed to join lead singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, and drummer Stephen Perkins on stage to perform three of the band's songs.

The band is to be awarded NME's Godlike Genius Award for their contribution to the development of alternative music. Jane's Addiction will join past Godlike Genius award winners: Primal Scream, Maniac Street Preachers, The Clash, and U2.

This show will mark the first time that Avery has played with Jane's Addiction since the band's volatile break up in 1991. Farrell, Navarro, and Perkins reunited a few times over the past years with various bassists filling Avery's place, including the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Flea. The trio's last show together was in December of 2003.

Avery's decision to reunite with Jane's Addiction marks the end of an acrimonious relationship with fellow band mates. Avery released a statement which appeared in Billboard.com, "I've chosen to reject the prospects of reuniting in the past for personal and philosophical reasons. I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around. The reason I started to even consider this is because it's honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."

And happily for alternative music fans, band mates agree. On April 15, Dave Navarro posted this statement on his blog, 6767, "Eric's bass lines and writing contributions are such an integral part of the Jane's sound that the night would feel somewhat incomplete without his presence. We couldn't be happier about his decision to join us." Avery told Navarro of his decision to reunite with the band after the pair appeared on an episode of SpreadTV.

The reunion of Jane's Addiction is a rare chance for music fans to see the band which brought alternative music into the mainstream. With their studio albums, Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual, and their live release, Jane's Addiction, the LA band became one of the first commercially successful alternative bands. Their first label release, 1988's Nothing's Shocking, earned the band a Grammy nomination in 1989. Ritual de lo Habitual went gold in 1990 with two singles on Billboard's charts.

In 1991, Jane's Addiction lead singer Perry Farrell conceived of Lollapalooza, an annual rock festival tour, as a way to bring alternative music out of LA and showcase it across North America. Jane's Addiction was joined by such diverse acts as rap artist Ice T, Iggy Pop, Joan Baez, Nine Inch Nails, and Queen Latifah. The festival also featured circus acts, a freak show, and an art show. Unfortunately, the festival became Jane's Addiction's final tour as internal strife made it clear that the band could not continue.

The reunion of Jane's Addiction is a must see for music fans of all ages, a chance to see one of the bands that shifted the music scene away from the death grip of Corporate Rock and opened up the diverse genre of Alternative. The NME Award Show is by invitation only, but the public can see the broadcast as its streamed live on the social networking site MySpace.

Jonathan Cohen, "Avery Rejoins Jane's Addiction For NME Awards."

Sources:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003790067
Dave Navarro, 6767. http://www.6767.com/