Jane's Addiction - January 13, 1989 - The Backroom, Austin, TX

Date: January 13, 1989
Location: The Backroom, Austin, TX
Recorded: Audio (audience)
Status: Confirmed
Type: Concert
Lineup: Perry Farrell
Dave Navarro
Stephen Perkins
Eric Avery
Artwork:
 

Setlist:

Kettle Whistle
Whores
1%
Idiots Rule
No One's Leaving
Ted, Just Admit It...
Standing In The Shower... Thinking
Had A Dad
Pigs In Zen
Up The Beach
Ocean Size
Mountain Song
Trip Away

Show Information:

Ty Gavin was the opener.

Austin American-Statesman
January 13, 1989
Best bets
Author: Peter Blackstock AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Best boats?

Today's weather may not be ideal for a boat ride, but if you want to take a look at what you'd like to take out on Lake Travis once summer rolls around, check out the 26th Annual Austin Boat, Sport and Motorcycle Show at Palmer Auditorium. The show runs from 5-10 p.m. today and continues through Jan. 22, with doors opening at noon on weekends. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children under 13. Passing through town

Los Angeles' Jane's Addiction, celebrating a Grammy nomination in the Hard Rock/Metal Vocal or Instrumental category for its debut album Nothing's Shocking, is at the Back Room with Austin's Ty Gavin opening. Louisiana's Neville Brothers begin a three-night stand at Liberty Lunch with Michael E. Johnson and the Killer Bees opening. The Mason Ruffner Band, also from Cajun country, is at Antone's with the Alan Haynes Band. Club Cairo celebrates the opening of its upstairs room with Houston's Footnotes and New Mexico's 400 Blows.

On the town

The newly reopened Ritz Theatre on Sixth Street features a benefit for radio station KAZI-FM (88.7) with the Hickoids, Bad Mutha Goose, the Weeds, and Peace Corps. Zulu Time plays its final show with Van Wilks at Steamboat. Butch Hancock begins a two-night stand at the Cactus Cafe. The Chris Thomas Blues Band plays from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Black Cat Lounge, with Erik Moll and the Erik Hokkanen band taking over for the late-night set. Club Cairo's downstairs room features the WayOuts, Siddhartha Suns and Too Solid Flesh. High Noon is at the Little Wheel, Evan Johns & the H-Bombs are at the Continental Club with Chaparral, and the Neptunes are at Hole in the Wall.

Culture corner

The Austin Lyric Opera presents Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus at 8 tonight and Saturday at the University of Texas Bass Concert Hall. Tickets range from $8 to $45. Divergent Directions, an exhibit featuring innovative works by 13 University of Texas artists, opens at Mexic-Arte Gallery with a public reception from 7-10 p.m. The exhibit continues through Feb. 1. I'm Not Rappaport, a Tony award-winning comedy/drama by Herb Gardner, opens tonight at 8 at the Live Oak Theatre and runs Wednesdays through Sundays until Feb. 4. What day is it?

Yes, it's Friday the 13th, and Cinemax won't let you forget it. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. the channel shows 1984's Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which wasn't final. It was followed by 1985's Friday the 13th, Part 5: A New Beginning, which airs from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Oh, horror of horrors.

Austin American-Statesman
January 16, 1989
Jane's Addiction not shocking
Overrated band fails to live up to hype despite occasional sparks
Author: Peter Blackstock AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Perhaps the most shocking thing about Nothing's Shocking, the debut album by Jane's Addiction, is that it received a Grammy nomination last week.

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences is not generally known for recognizing underground bands such as this Los Angeles quartet. But the nomination was consistent with another trait of the Grammy folks - they often recognize vastly overrated artists. The band's set Friday at the Back Room attested to the fact that the hype surrounding this controversial band has been blown out of proportion.

There probably is some basis for the hype. Jane's Addiction lets loose a lot of energy, and on a good night they probably put on a live show that's worth braving a crowded sellout show to see. But catch them on an average night, when they cut their set to just an hour and rely heavily on vocal effects and smoke machines, and you're left wondering what all the fuss is about.

Lead singer Perry Farrell is the center of attention, mostly because of his appearance. With green dreadlocks and face makeup, it's hard for him not to stand out, even with bassist Eric Avery sporting a not-quite-standard hair color of his own (orange).

Farrell's physical stage presence, as well as that of his bandmates, also demands a certain amount of attention and respect. It's not easy to put on this kind of athletic performance night after night, and it obviously helped work into a frenzy the dedicated fans who crowded the front of the stage.

Vocally, however, Farrell was a real disappointment. His voice isn't intended to be pleasant; his pained, one-dimensional screech is an integral part of the band's sound and is supposed to make Robert Plant sound like Pavarotti by comparison. But Farrell's constant dependence on echoes and other effects drowned out the honest rawness of his voice and detracted from the music instead of enhancing it.

Perhaps Farrell's problem was that he simply couldn't breathe because of the stench-laden clouds billowing from the army of smoke machines surrounding the stage. This "special effect," which has long since lost its effectiveness even as a cliche, was so overdone that it caused discomfort for anyone within 30 feet of the stage and practically obscured the band to those farther back. Whether this was the band's idea or the club's is uncertain, but whoever was responsible should reserve the tactic for use in chemical warfare only.

Technical blunders aside, the real weakness of the show was that Farrell's hopping and jumping and the band's relentless punk/funk attack grew tiresome after a while. Jane's Addiction wound up leaving the impression that they were just another clone of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band we'd all be better off without anyway.

The show wasn't without its moments. The intense buildup and conclusion to Ted, Just Admit It, the song from Nothing's Shocking, which includes the phrase used for the album title, proved Jane's Addiction is capable of making a powerful impact in its own right. But the instances in which they proved it Friday were few and far between.

Austin American-Statesman
January 24, 1989
LETTERS
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN By AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Hirohito tribute undeserved

Re: Arvid T. Youngquist's Jan. 16 letter, "Hirohito stories moving."

Mr. Youngquist's letter seems to have been written with the naivete of a schoolboy. According to Mr. Youngquist, Hirohito encouraged the Japanese people during the dark days of the American occupation. I might add that he also encouraged the Japanese people during the much darker days of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, etc. - occupations that made the American rule resemble a tea party. I do not think Pearl Harbor would have ever occurred without the consent of Hirohito. Thousands of the cream of American youth died on unknown islands due in part to Hirohito's failure to even try and stop the war after all hope of a Japanese victory was gone.

As far as I am concerned, Hirohito should have been hanged, as were some of his generals, with the rest of the war criminals. RAYMOND H. HOFNER

102 Squires Drive

A 'kinder, gentler' massacre?

Re: Jan. 18 story, "Five schoolchildren die in playground attack."

Based on news reports prior to the presidential election and personal contacts, many Texans voted for George Bush based on his stand against gun control. The massacre in Stockton, Calif., certainly does not serve as a harbinger of a "kinder, gentler America."

A man with a history of drug- and gun-related problems purchased an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, apparently converted it to automatic, and murdered children.

Mr. Bush has repeatedly stated that he wants to be president for all the people. The dead, injured and destroyed families as a result of the incident are a part of "all the people."

Come on, fellow Texans, and come on Mr. Bush. You can keep your deer and quail rifles, but let's all be logical and realize that it is stupid, indeed absolutely ridiculous, to argue that the gunman would have gotten the gun some other way and that the feds shouldn't get involved here.

Yes, in this area, they should.

SCOTT A. REECE

Pflugerville

Hooked on Jane's Addiction

Re: Peter Blackstock's Jan. 16 review, "Jane's Addiction not shocking."

Was Peter present at the same concert I was? All persons there would probably agree with the observation that the smoke machines were a bit much. However, perhaps there was a reason for the excess. There is sometimes difficulty in understanding and interpreting artists.

My decision to purchase their album was based solely on the album's appearance, and I was delighted after listening. A Grammy nomination, eh? Good for them.

C. T. GALANAKIS

Lexington

Porterfield displays craft

Re: Billy Porterfield's Jan. 2 column, "Officer ends colorful battle against sleaze element" and Chuck Whinna's Jan. 13 letter, "Coverage exhibits hype."

Billy Porterfield's the best thing to happen to your newspaper since Ben Sargent. I used to read his column a few years back when the Dallas Times Herald was an interesting paper. Porterfield displays something rare in the newspaper: craftsmanship. His columns do far more than deliver information. They're worth and they reward second and third readings, which I suggest Whinna and the other critics of Porterfield's Jan. 2 column do. Numbed to the subtleties of writing by the likes of the editorial page, they might have missed Porterfield's ambivalence to "the warrant and sledge hammer" tactics of the vice squad. I remember Porterfield "justifying" the steel fist in terms of Austin's Zeitgeist and image. Such a justification, I think, had to be meant ironically. Surely a man who climbs fences in order to chat with an old guy living in a hole has more compassion, or at least as much love, for prostitutes on South Congress as he does for Austin's finest.

JOSEPH KELLY

609 Fairfield Lane