[kj] (OT) Jane's Addiction at Echoplex in LA Last Night

[The Mighty TB]

Jane's Addiction, reunited with original bass player Eric Avery has been 
doing a few low key warm-up bar and club shows in LA the past few months 
before they go out on tour with Nine Inch Nails in late Spring.  I caught 
last night's show at the Echoplex club which was their third appearance 
together since all four members began working together again.

It turned out to be an excellent if short show, mostly better than the tiny 
El Cid bar show #2 which I caught last December.  Only things I think El Cid 
was marginally better was being a tiny club, much more intense energy from 
the crowd that show.  I think Perry sounded better there as well.

It had been raining really hard much of the day in Southern California and I 
was really on the fence about going or not right up to about 6pm.  I went 
for it and got to the Echoplex (in Echo Park)  around 8:15 and a huge line 
of 200 - 300 people was winding along the building and it quickly because 
obvious some people didn't have or even know about the RSVP thing. Light 
rain had just stopped and it was cool but at least dry. The line started 
moving as they left small groups of about 10 - 15 people in at a time to get 
their ID checked for a wristband, then get their ID checked against a list 
at the door from the website registration rsvps.  Saw a couple people turned 
away in front of me but later saw them inside so its possible they had 
enough room for people who basically walked up to see the show after the 
majority of RSVP'ers got in.  Considering my own feelings this method of 
getting people in the show could have turned into a real mess, it seems like 
it turned out to be well run with few problems.

My first time at Echoplex.  Kind of a weird room, the mixing desk kinda 
bisects the club in half so if your in the back, you gotta stand on some 
boxes to get a decent view.  Pretty laid back, almost too mellow of a crowd 
especially for the opening band "Dot," which was kind of a more ambient, 
dissonant noise version of Secret Machines.  Band shows some promise, but 
the singer was hardly audible, partly because he rarely projected himself 
but moreso because the vocals were mixed way too far down (same for Perry 
during Jane's set). They got a decent response from the crowd, more respect 
than actual adoration.  Frankly, I thought they were boring.

There was a long wait, made somewhat manageable by the selections whoever 
was DJ'ing played a good amount of Killing Joke ("Change"), Bauhaus, Cramps 
("New Kind Of Kick" got a huge response), Bowie and a few other favs on the 
PA.

About 11:15, Jane's strolled on the stage and ground into Up The Beach. I 
think it was played half a step down and a bit slower. Eric had more room to 
prowl and stomp tonight so he'd either be doing his tribal stomp to songs 
like Mountain Song or Ocean Size or locked into his zone often staring up at 
the ceiling playing Pigs in Zen.  Tonight, Dave was more on the mark most of 
the show that the 2nd show, Perkins was simply 100% a precision human 
piledriver.  The man is simply an incredible drummer.  Perry unfortunately I 
have to say was the weak link.  Not a lot of power in his voice, didn't 
really make a lot of use of his little echo toolbox and took a lot longer 
than the rest of the band to loosen up as the set progressed.  I will say 
when they got to Been Caught Stealing, he was up with the rest of the band 
and loosened up enough to bullshit and introduce most of the remaining 
songs.

I do think in a lot of ways this reunion, especially how Perry carries 
himself these days reminds me of the recent David Lee Roth/Van Halen reunion 
in the way both frontmen have dropped the more manic, physical aspect of 
their stage persona due to age and are more like Vegas car dealers doing 
their shtick for the rubes.  At times, Perry was genuinely funny but when he 
used forced, awkward analogies to introduce each of the last few songs, it 
got hackneyed.

Most of the songs from a performance standpoint sounded excellent.  Mountain 
Song is played by Dave a bit differently now, a bit more RAWK! like someone 
like Billy Duffy would play the tune. The band was very tight with one major 
exception. The only song I thought kinda missed the mark was the one I was 
most excited to hear, Ted, which lacked an "edge" it's had in the past and 
never really got out of third gear and came close to falling apart the last 
couple minutes as the band kind of careened a bit out of time with each 
other.

But I'll tell you what, "Stop" was fucking perfect.  Clearly the best 
performed song of the set and got great audience participation.  "Had a Dad" 
and "Ocean Size" ended the 2 song encore and the short barely hour long set 
was done.


>From a crowd standpoint, the asshole factor was low but there were a few 

lobcocks who'd careen around like big, sweaty, smelly dreidels.  One 
grinning drunk slob who looked like Seth Rogan got hoisted up for some crowd 
surfing and got maybe 5 feet before being dumped on the ground like a sack 
of shit.  He later wound up getting on the stage on Erics side and then 
flopped off the stage like a beached whale.

All n' all though, a great night even if it was too short and I *really* 
wanted to hear "Three Days."

Setlist:

Up The Beach
Trip Away (on the setlist but not played)
Whores
1%
Ain't No Right
Mountain Song
Been Caught Stealing
Ted Just Admit It.
Stop!
(encore)
Had a Dad
Ocean Size

T.B.