Jane's Addiction @ The EnmoreTheatre, Sydney (22/02/2010)

Wed 24th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

The crowd is trembling, restless. Fans are screaming, chanting and banging at barriers. A select few are jumping into the front floor and climbing rafters. The passion is running thick in the air like a football grand final. This is a group of over 2000 who will not be stopped.

But this is not before or during any band taking the stage. No, for ten solid minutes, house lights flickering on and off periodically, the fans fought for one more encore from the band that blew them away.

And no, that band was not Rolo Tomassi (if you did suggest that, my advice is to stop being a smartarse). To the contrary, Rolo Tomassi was interesting at best. Sure, they may be great at what they do and Eva Spence is a unique talent, but the crowd seemed to only be taken by the novelty of what the band offered, not any of their talent. Then again, it was always going to be a hard sell being a little-known mathcore band warming the stage for legends of alternative rock. Wasn’t there a better fit from the Soundwave bill?

The crowd itself was hardly a sell-out and mostly consisted of what could be unkindly referred to as ‘over-the-hill rockers’; to be expected when tickets were going for $95 a-piece and most younger fans were either exhausted by their cancelled tour or going to Soundwave. But their age hardly showed the second Jane’s Addiction took the stage. Eric Avery, with a mood set permanently to ‘death stare’, brought the show in with the menacing bassline to Up The Beach. The crowd surged onto the barrier to be greeted by a shirtless Dave Navarro and a jewellery-clad Perry Farrell.

Undeniably, an audience with Farrell would have been worth every penny invested by the fans tonight. Easily one of the most unique frontman the world has ever known, he dances like a Middle-Eastern belly dancer, talks like a drunken Japanese businessman (there are almost too many choice quotes for my word limit) and sings like he hasn’t aged a year. Not to be outdone, Dave Navarro took control of stage right, spitting out cigarette butts and guitar riffs with the type of sexy swagger most of his successors wish they even had a quarter of.

And through the course of the night – as the band went into even stranger, more psychedelic jams based around songs from their first two studio albums (and oft-forgotten self-titled debut) and the dancers behind them went into even stranger positions, most reminiscent of album covers – the crowd became even more enthralled with what was before them. It was akin to entering some type of mystical fortune-teller’s lair, except the slow tunes of world music were replaced with heavy beats, courtesy of Stephen Perkins, and howling vocals. Videos varying from old show footage to silent films to softcore porn was projected behind them, adding to the atmosphere.

No wonder, then, that once the band left the stage once and for all at the relatively tame hour of 10:20pm, after an encore including the standing ovation-inducing Stop! and the all-drums extravaganza of Chip Away, the fans wanted more.

Tour managers, Century Venues staffers and roadies alike all ran around the stage, bewildered and uncertain of what to do as the crowd went wild, demanding more. The voice of Farrell could be heard declaring over the PA, “This is the most beautiful thing ever, just beautiful.” The second encore never came, but the experience had been unforgettable.