Jane's Addiction - December 05, 1987 - Bren Events Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA

Date: December 05, 1987
Location: Bren Events Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
Recorded: Audio
Status: Confirmed
Type: Concert
Lineup: Perry Farrell
Dave Navarro
Stephen Perkins
Eric Avery
Artwork:
 

Setlist:

Then She Did...
Had A Dad
I Would For You
Ocean Size
Jane Says
Chip Away
Rock & Roll

Show Information:

Jane's Addiction opened for Love & Rockets. One of the very few times Jane's performed their cover of The Velvet Underground's Rock & Roll.

This tour was nominated for Club Tour of the Year but lost out to the Robert Cray Band.

Thanks go out to 'bricotrout' for the first ticket scan and 'Jo$EChUngL8' for the shirt photo, and to Ryan Carol from the Love & Rockets Facebook group for the 5th ticket.

The Orange County Register
October 30, 1987
CRITIC'S CHOICE
POP
Author: Jim Washburn

Though there's a lot going on, the pick of the week has to be the double bill of eclectic string wizard David Lindley and actor-turned-singer Harry Dean Stanton at the Coach House Sunday at 8 p.m. For Lindley, it's a rare solo gig while the Repo Man is being backed by the excellent Steven Soles and Kenny Edwards. Call 496-8930.

For those of you who find Oingo Boingo a bit too tame, OC's antic El Grupo Sexo will be doing a special Halloween show at Night Moves in Huntington Beach Saturday at 9 p.m. When asked what outrages they had planned this time out, Sexo guitarist Jason Mann would only emit an evil chuckle. Tonight at 9 Nightmoves will be debuting former Sex Pistol Steve Jones' new band. Call 840-6118.

It's time machine time this weekend at Madame Wong's West in Santa Monica. Celebrating Esther Wong's 10 years in the music biz, the club is hosting bands --

some regrouped specially for the occasion -- which got their start at her original Chinatown location a decade ago. Highlight appearances include the Knack and the Naughty Sweeties, one of the most underrated bands to come out of LA. Showtimes are 9 p.m. For the complete lineup and more information call (213) 829-7361.

Sunday at 7:30 p.m. the Pacific Amphitheatre is hosting George Jones, one of the greatest voices in country, along with the fresh sounds of Ricky Van Shelton and Rosie Flores. Call 634-1300. On Wednesday hotshot New Orleans guitarist Mason Ruffner and the fine R&B-rooted Delgado Brothers will be at Bogarts in Long Beach at 8 p.m. Call (213) 594-8975.

Upcoming: Tickets go on sale through TicketMaster Saturday for the Replacements at the Palladium on Dec. 3. TicketMaster is the broker again on Sunday for two shows, Love and Rockets and Jane's Addiction at UC Irvine's Bren Center on Dec. 5 and the Jesus and Mary Chain and Social Distortion appearing at the Palladium Dec. 4.

The Orange County Register
December 4, 1987
Rocketing into the mainstream
Love and Rockets tries not to let growing popularity knock it off course
Author: John Horn

Love and Rockets, an English rock band arriving at the Bren Center Saturday night, sees itself as one of those few groups that hasn't yet sold out -- they still claim to believe in music for music's sake.

But then, who doesn't?

Still, the fortuities of the music business have now placed Love and Rockets in a precarious position: As their popularity grows, so, too, does the way in which they are co-opted into the mainstream music biz.

There are, for starters, the four Love and Rockets music videos. Then, there's a public-relations campaign, the fourth U.S. tour and the record label's request that, for better concerts, the three-member band add musicians.

And then, somewhere underneath, is the music itself, best described to those unfamiliar with the band as a weird hybrid of Queen and David Bowie.

David J, Love and Rockets' bassist and co-vocalist, said in a recent phone interview that while it's "nice" to be successful, the danger such acceptance presents is very real.

"The thing we have to to keep in check is not to let the professionalism that we have acquired over the years get in the way of the raw enthusiasm, the essence of what first got us excited about music," said J. "You have to keep that in check without being too self-conscious about it. You want to retain that essence of what it's all about, an edge.

"It's always been our policy to make the music that we feel comfortable with, not to necessarily go out on a limb to be commercial at the expense of integrity. And it's just very fortunate that what we do is becoming quite popular.

"You have to give credit to the public, I think. They're very astute at recognizing a sham, and there's a certain amount of pap that will always be taken in, but just for a short time. And then the public will move on to something else. So the only way to be sure to be around for a long time is to do something that you believe in. And I think that the integrity of our work shows through, and people, I think, respect that."

Love and Rockets has been together for about two years. The band (guitarist Daniel Ash, drummer Kevin Haskins and J), with vocalist Peter Murphy, was formerly the gloomy post-punk band Bauhaus. Since Murphy left to pursue a solo career, Ash, Haskins and J have abandoned some of the despair that drifted through Bauhaus' work. Love and Rockets' third and latest album, called "Earth Sun Moon," is consistently optimistic.

"I wouldn't know how to categorize it," said J. "The music has a lot more depth to it now. It's more upbeat than anything, but there's still a bit of melancholy in there. What we try to do is be sympathetic. The best music, as well as being fun and entertaining, is sympathetic to the human condition. That's something that concerns me; finding a point of identification with the audience."

J said that all three band members have been influenced by Elvis, the Beatles, Roxy Music and Bowie. J's own favorites include Tom Waits, Lovin' Spoonful, Nick Drake and Coleman Hawkins.

J admits it's a "rather eclectic" collection of artists, which, he said, is why the music the band plays is eclectic, too. That may also help explain why Love and Rockets is gaining a following on U.S. college campuses.

"You try to find your own voice," J said. "Jack Kerouac was very influential in shaping my attitudes, that whole period of the Beat writers. I identify with that, the transcendental side of what they were pursuing.

"I think a lot of new music is very calculated. It's a careerist thing these days. In the early '60s, it wasn't seen as a career move to join a group. You did it out of a love for music, out of a certain attitude amd sensibility. And now it seems like it's one of several options that people can choose as a career.

"We got involved in music a long time ago, and (having a career) wasn't our motivation."

So why now the music videos, which usually have much more to do with advertising than they do with music?

"It's obviously a very commerical area, and it's unfortunate that groups these days are required to adapt their music visually," J said. "And a lot of groups are not adept at doing that, and it often shows, including our own early videos. But you can use a video to accentuate some part of the music that might have otherwise passed you by. You can pick out a particular part of the music and amplify it.

"The idea is to interpret a musical idea visually without defining it to the extent that once you've seen the video, you can only think of the video. The great thing about music is that anybody can have their own interpretation."

Who: Love and Rockets, with Jane's Addiction.
Where: The Bren Center, University of California, Irvine. When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
How much: $14 and $16.
Call: 714-856-5000.

Los Angeles Times
December 7, 1987
POP WEEKEND Love and Rockets in Orbit at UC Irvine
Author: ROBERT HILBURN

You can start getting the Forum marquee ready.

Love and Rockets and Jane's Addiction-the headliner and opening acts, respectively, Saturday night at UC Irvine's Bren Events Center-are both headed for the big time. The question is which will make it to the arena level first.

Love and Rockets has a commanding head start. The British trio's latest album, "Earth-Sun-Moon," is the reigning favorite on college and alternative-minded rock radio stations, while Jane's Addiction is still mostly a local favorite whose first LP for a major label won't be released until spring.

Still, don't take Jane's Addiction lightly-on any level. This is a frequently electrifying band, asserting a sort of dark Led Zeppelin force-the kind of seductive, almost unnerving musical spell that is at the heart of true heavy metal music, not the tedious, cartoonish bombast of the many bands associated with the genre these days.

Besides the strong tow of the music itself, Addiction has a compelling front man in Perry Farrell, who appears so committed to a renegade rock spirit that he gives off the illusion that almost anything can happen on stage. It's an anxious, unsettling approach that recalls such other classic rock radicals as Iggy Pop and Jim Morrison.

The latter reference was especially appropriate when Farrell performed at least one entire song with his genitalia in clear view through a wide opening in his bicycle-type spandex pants. Though he eventually slipped on some briefs, Farrell's manner was so nonchalant that many in the audience must have wondered if this brazen gesture was part of the act.

(A campus policeman said during intermission that the band's road manager had assured officers that Farrell's pants had merely ripped, so no action was taken against him.)

After intermission, Love and Rockets arrived on stage amid a barrage of smoke, strobe lights and other psychedelic-era relics that seemed to delight the mostly college-age crowd, but distracted from the underlying talent and artistic promise of the band.

The consistent strength of Love and Rockets-through both last year's "Express" album and in the new "Earth-Sun-Moon" LP-is the dazzling sense of rhythm achieved by guitarist Daniel Ash, bassist David J. and drummer Kevin Haskins. The weakness in pre-"Earth-Sun-Moon" material-which was featured in the concert-is vague, cosmic lyrics that often make the group seem shipwrecked in a harbor of inconsequence.

As the band raced through such rhythmically invigorating but thematically shallow tunes as "Kundalini Express" and "Yin and Yang the Flower Pot Man," it was inviting to picture how enticing Love and Rockets might sound with better songs. The irony is the band does have superior songs, lots of them in the new album-crisp, concise, flavorful numbers that deal convincingly with concrete matters of self-identity and personal ideals.

If the band concentrated on the older tunes because they figured fans might not be familiar with songs from the just-released album, it was a bad sign. A group on the verge of a creative breakthrough should be bursting to play its new songs, regardless of audience reaction. If the band stuck with the older material because it doesn't recognize the vast superiority of the new material, an even deeper problem may be involved. Whatever, Love and Rockets has the potential to be a major band-artistically and commercially. We should know about their fiber and future when they return to Southern California in March.