Jane's Addiction - January 14, 1989 - The Numbers, Houston, TX

Date: January 14, 1989
Location: The Numbers, Houston, TX
Recorded: Video (audience)
Status: Confirmed
Type: Concert
Lineup: Perry Farrell
Dave Navarro
Stephen Perkins
Eric Avery
Artwork:
 

Setlist:

Whores
1%
Idiots Rule
Had A Dad
Thank You Boys
Up The Beach
Ted, Just Admit It...
Standing In The Shower... Thinking
Bobhaus
Pigs In Zen
Stop!
Summertime Rolls
Ocean Size
Mountain Song
Trip Away
Chip Away

Show Information:

Sometimes misdated as 1/13/1989, 1/23/1989, 1/4/1989 and 1/19/1989.

Houston Chronicle
JANUARY 12, 1989
Pink Floyd fills the till on the road Author: MARTY RACINE Staff

WHO was the top money-making concert touring act of 1988, Fab Motion or Pink Floyd? Well, ruminate on this tricky question no more, pal. Officially, it's the Floyd, according to the annual industry publication Poll-star, which reports that Floyd was in the pink with a cool $27.6 million in ticket sales - which means they beat out Houston's Fab Motion by probably $27.5999 million or so.

Behind Floyd, which amassed its riches with only 35 concert dates, those who raked in more than $20 million were, in order: Van Halen's "Monsters of Rock," Def Leppard, Grateful Dead, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and AC/DC. From $10 million to $20 million, in order: Rod Stewart, the "Ultimate Event" (Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr.), George Michael, Whitesnake, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant, Luther Vandross/Anita Baker, INXS, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kenny Rogers, New Edition, Randy Travis, Sting, David Lee Roth, Elton John, Hank Williams Jr., Bob Dylan, Prince and George Strait.

The numbers show that at the top echelons of the music biz, even the also-rans made dough. At 50th (and last) place on the Pollstar list is Metallica, which grossed $3.3 million in only 23 shows.

But rock and heavy metal, which virtually pioneered arena-sized shows in the '60s, still rule the concert industry. Only four country acts and six black shows made the the top 50.

Other Pollstar winners are more subjective. The publication's panel awarded Keith Richards for small-hall tour of the year; Tracy Chapman as club tour of the year; Aerosmith/Guns N' Roses as most creative tour package and Little Feat for comeback of the year.

POP NOTES: So this guy, see, thinks it's Saturday night and doesn't want to spring for the cover charge. So he merely drives his vehicle through the front walls of Club Hey Hey. Sound like a "Blues Brothers" skit? No, it really happened, about 8 a.m. Monday, when an elderly gentleman eastbound on Washington Avenue lost control of his car, jumped the sidewalk and crashed through the plate-glass front of the club, near the sound booth. Injuries were minor. Let's put it this way: better a 75-year-old man doing 20 mph than a 20-year-old guy doing 75. Insurance should cover the damages, which have been repaired...

Herschel Berry has officially disbanded the Nationals, remarking, without remorse, last week that the project was just a mirror image of what he had had with his longstanding Natives. The Natives, a Houston rock institution, broke up more than a year ago, after which Berry took a long hiatus to form the Titans with ex-Rounders guitarist Eric Danheim, ex-Fab Motion drummer Clint Davidson and bassist Rex Wherry. The Titans, who changed to the Nationals in deference to Austin's Titans, played a few promising gigs but the Natives were a hard act to follow, and the fire was all but out during the band's weekly performances in November at Hey Hey. Berry is holing up composing new songs and waiting for his time to come 'round again...

THE CRITIC'S CHOICES: In the '80s, touring has evolved into a year-round proposition. More tours, more dollars to be harnessed, regardless of weather conditions. So it didn't take long for clubland to heat up in '89, with new pop acts aplenty this weekend, as well a solid dose of blues. Among the more promising shows:

1. Jane's Addiction, Saturday at Numbers - Los Angeles psycho-thrash rockers were recently subject of a serious bidding war by major record labels (they signed with Warner Bros.). Naturally, the "controversial" cover of their Warners' debut, Nothing's Shocking, featuring art work by a band member of nude female Siamese twins with their hair afire, served up an equal amount of publicity. They opened for Iggy Pop last fall at Xcess, but should be more in control of this show, which begins, say s promoter Pace Concerts, at 9:15 p.m., with no opening act. Tickets are a band-mandated low of $6, which means they'll be available only at the door.

2. The Bonedaddys, Friday-Saturday at Fitzgerald's - Second time here for Los Angeles' No. 1 world-beat party band. You want to dance? Dis is de band. Austin's Poi Dog Pondering, gaining favorable notices with a record on the Texas Hotel label, will open Friday's show at 9:30. Houston's Sprawl, an ad-hoc funk band of Rice students, open same time Saturday. The 'Daddys should hit by 11:30 each night. Tickets: $6.50-$8.50, with discounts at door for "bone gear."

3. Jimmy Thackery & the Assassins, Friday-Saturday at Club Hey Hey - Washington, D.C., guitarist once powered the Nighthawks to rockin'-blues glory literally 300 dates a year and now fronts his own mean band with a batch of new tunes; consistently one of the club's favorite characters. Showtime: 10 o'clock both nights. Tickets: $6.

4. Neil Young, Sunday at the Music Hall - No, not the rockabilly Neil Young, not the "Rust Never Sleeps"/garage band Neil Young, none of the thousands of Neil Youngs you've come to love and misunderstand - but the rhythm-and-blues Neil Young appearing on the " This Note's for You" LP; with a 10-man showband. No opening act. Showtime is 8 p.m., with Young expected to play a couple of hours. Tickets: $24.50.

5. Koko Taylor/Jesse Taylor, Friday at Rockefeller's - Taylor-made, you might say, for the blues. Koko, who last year survived a serious auto wreck, is still queen of Chicago blues, but she doesn't belt it quite like she used to. (For contrast, check her old "Insane Asylum" cut on the Willie Dixon boxed set from Chess Records, to be reviewed in Sunday's Zest.) Jesse's just a good ol' boy of Texas roadhouse R&B who's sounding better than ever. He'll be on at 9, with Koko to follow. Tickets: $15.tar attack. One show only at 9 p.m. Tickets: $8.

7. Ann DeJarnett, tonight at Zelda's - Houston debut for Dr. Dream recording artist who flushes out her ethereal pop vocals with a nice blend of fiddle and a clean backing band from LA. Debut album (with excellent CD clarity) is "Possessions". Highly regarded locals Toho Ehio will open at 9, with DeJarnett at 10:30. Tickets: $4.25.

8. The Pengwins, Friday at Waves - Formed 14 years ago, the Dallas-based rockers have undergone numerous personnel changes and now include former Herschel Berry & the Natives bassist Karl Logan. Their new six-song cassette, "Mad About the Band", sports melodic power pop with country flavorings.

9. Grady Gaines, tonight at Club Hey Hey - Venerable saxophonist led Little Richard's band during Richard's heyday. Now he fronts his Texas Upsetters, a legacy of Houston R&B. Showtime: 10 o'clock. No cover.

10. Kim Martin & the Mustangs, Friday at the Red Lion; Kiljoys, Saturday at the Guitar Bar; Missiles, Saturday at Bourbon Street; Beans Barton & the Bi-Peds, Saturday at Blythe Spirits - Top local rock acts at work and play.

Houston Chronicle
JANUARY 14, 1989
Nothing's shocking? Well, almost
Author: MARTY RACINE Staff

Nothing's shocking, said the band. Oh yes it is, replied some retailers.

While the cover art of their new album, "Nothing's Shocking", was deemed too controversial to stock by some record stores, the members of Jane's Addiction, a Los Angeles rock quartet, continue to do things their way. And it all appears to be working out, partly by plan, partly by circumstance.

For their show tonight at Numbers the group has mandated a low ticket price of $6, bypassing the major ticket agencies (and advance purchases). Six bucks is quite inexpensive in this day of escalating concert prices.

The band, which is difficult to classify, has corraled an expanding audience despite no MTV exposure or commercial rock radio airplay.

They even chose to release their first album on an independent label despite offers from major companies.

Lead singer Perry Farrell, who writes most of the band's material, is from Queens, N.Y., and drifted to California for the surfing.

"That's all I really had in mind. I've always made my money as a commercial artist," he said Thursday by phone from Dallas. "I make jewelry, so I'd go to a new town and set up shop.

"I got pulled into Los Angeles. When I first came to California I was living in San Diego. I used to drive through LA on my way up the coast and go, `Who would ever live around here?' The freeway systems just freaked me out. Now I find it charming."

He fell in with a number of musicians there. "Originally the lineup was different," he said. "When you first start a band, it's like any other occupation. There are some people who are just flakes - they won't show up for work and they won't show up for rehearsal. They might be really nice guys, but they just don't have their life together and are undependable."

The present lineup "one by one got into place" three years ago with bassist Eric Avery, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins - or, as Farrell writes half-facetiously in the band's official press biography, "He (Farrell) found enough flaws in the (former) bass player to boot him out. What he needed was a new band. And a referee. The house he shared with Jane had eight rooms and 13 roommates. She thought her friend Eric Avery would get along with him and put the two in touch. The day they met, Eric put his head down and locked into something. He played the same groove over and over for about 45 minutes. It was the first song Jane's Addiction ever played together."

The band set out to turn its live shows into events. "I was really bored with what I was going out to see," Farrell said. "Next thing you know, we were coming up with ideas. We put together our own parties at first. We didn't have pre-sale tickets; everything was walk-up. Our live shows had dancers. We've had classic motorcycle displays. At a New Year's show we had an impostor band go up, and when the crowd got really uptight we showed up. It's just things to make it more like a festival. You can't really do that nationally at first. There's no budget for that for first-time bands. Eventually, if we keep in this direction, we'll be able to do anything we want."

Jane's Addiction cut a self-titled debut album on the independent Triple X label. After that, Warner Bros. won a hotly contested bidding war for the band, which had risen to the top of the crowded, hip-happening LA club scene.

"We had a bidding war going before we even did the Triple X record," Farrell said. "But I'm a believer in working from the ground up and not missing things. You talk to childhood stars about missing childhood, and they regret not going to high school with the other kids. I felt like that was like our high school - recording an independent record and playing the smallest clubs where nobody knew us. It made us play really hard.

"It does wonders for your sense of integrity and pride. It's like the guy who makes his way up through the streets. No one can knock him down; he's tough. Especially in rock 'n' roll - that has to be built in. If it's not, you can hear it. We waited. We toured on that record, learned the road, "then" came back. Then we were ready to move on to another stage."

Warner Bros. provides more "organization "and" artistic freedom. They're trying to sell what we've done. And that's great. That's all we want from them."

What Warner got in return was controversy surrounding the album cover art of nude female Siamese twins with their hair afire. The image was included in the 3 1/2-minute clip from their self-produced 20-minute video, which also was banned from MTV. "They said they couldn't show females with their hair in flames," Farrell said. "There's nudity. It's ridiculous."

The hubbub is taken in stride. "A little (controversy) is good," Farrell admitted. "But a bunch of it is a pain in the (rear). But Warner Bros. is a really good group of people. They get annoyed with me, because the band's got eccentricities, and they have their system. It is a little bit difficult for them to deal with us because we're a self-entity."

So the band plans to circumvent the usual procedure. Their "modern-art" video will simply be sold in stores. "We'll have a video catalog just like other bands have records. It's just something that's not done," Farrell said. "It's a healthy new system, and the record company is going along with it."

And they continue to keep their ticket prices unusually low. "It's obvious that you can do it, so why don't others? Maybe because they're greedy," Farrell said. "My manager was one of the strong proponents for doing it.

"My philosophy, for right now, is instead of the money, I'd rather have the people. The people are more important than the money. It'll come back around."

It already has, to a degree. On Thursday, "Nothing's Shocking" was nominated for a Grammy in the category of hard rock-metal vocal or instrumental.

When: 9:15 tonight (no opening act).

Where: Numbers, 300 Westheimer.

Tickets: $6, at the door only.

Houston Chronicle
JANUARY 16, 1989
Jane's Addiction makes a scene
Author: MARTY RACINE Staff

WELCOME to the strange days of rock 'n' roll. Now that it's thirtysomething, rock's insistent effort to keep its audience's attention is resulting in ear-splitting, bone-rattling, mind-twisting, eye-popping, super turbo-charged concert extravaganzas.

The R&R generation will be deaf and blind by the encore, but, boy, wasn't it a great ride. Jane's Addiction made quite a scene at the Numbers nightclub Saturday in their third Houston appearance. But it was the first concert in which they had say-so over the lights and decibels. Several lines of customers stretched down Westheimer and side streets on the oily mud-packed sidewalks, while tow trucks did their usual bang-up business nearby. Inside the place was packed, consistent with the recent run of successful new-rock shows produced by Pace's alternative division headed by veteran punk impresario Butler Hancock.

The LA quartet won over the hometown critics when they formed three years ago and rode the wave of a major-label bidding war (won by Warner Bros.). Their second LP, "Nothing's Shocking", was nominated last week for a Grammy in hard rock/heavy metal.

Striding into high expectations, the band came on Saturday like the fifth or sixth coming of American rock and delivered booming thunderbolts of bass and drums; demented, inaudible screaming by the vocalist Perry Farrell, dressed out in his best Frederick's of Hollywood gear of black girdle and garters; and flashy, trebly speed runs by guitarist Steve Perkins, all set to psycho-psychedelic dirge-and-grunge tempos that many critics have likened to Led Zeppelin without the mysticism but which sounded up close and personal, more like Pink Floyd meets the Meat Puppets in a dark alley.

Some of it worked, although it rarely was as transforming or transfixing as it was cracked up to be, and when it didn't it was a bunch of loud, weird noise by which to cruise the scene.

For reasons best left unplumbed at this point, Jane's Addiction's music inspired hordes of overamped kids in the front to do the eggbeater crawl atop raised arms and rush the stage, which is less secure at Numbers than at Xcess, where Jane's Addiction last played in opening for Iggy Pop.

The continual onslaught seemed to unnerve the band at first as an edgy gloom took over the room. One "fan" even circled guitarist Perkins and patted him kindly enough on the head - unaware or uncaring that attempting to extinguish the distinction between audience and performer went out with the bath water of the '60s and again with the punks and has been replaced by an unspoken arrangement of standard entertainment procedure.

The chaos grew old quickly, and by the time a couple of hard-eyed guys onstage acted as bouncers, the show and the crowd had settled down. But for all the hurrah about this being Jane's own show, the band's set vanished in but an hour. An encore was extracted after several minutes of delayed-reaction applause, and the fifth or sixth coming of American rock had come and gone. Another LA group, the Bonedaddys, also returned to a packed house this weekend. The world-beat octet, churning out a stead y diet of island rhythms that combined elements of reggae, soca, calypso and Afro-beat, turned Fitzgerald's into something like Madame Sara's Club Havana, with its newly beaded upstairs entrance and tropical fauna adjacent to the stage. This music would instill rhythm into a mannequin, and the dance floor swayed with revelers.

The 'Daddys are an anomaly for El-Ay - rhythm this dense only comes from Louisiana or is sequestered in Caribbean enclaves of New York - but their approach is all charm and island romance shredded by occasional and effective rock-style lead breaks. Guitarist Paul Lacques touched up the proceedings with a deft slide solo that gave focus to the hypnotic surge. A tight, fine aggregate, the Bone guys. Look for their return.