Porno For Pyros - August 21, 1993 - Strawberry Banks, Hampton, VA

Date: August 21, 1993
Location: Strawberry Banks, Hampton, VA
Recorded: Audio (audience)
Status: Confirmed
Type: Concert
Lineup: Perry Farrell
Stephen Perkins
Martyn Lenoble
Peter DiStefano
Artwork:
 

Setlist:

Orgasm
Sadness
Meija
Bad Shit
Tonight
Cursed Female
Cursed Male
Pets
Dominator
Blood Rag
Packin' .25
Black Girlfriend
Porno For Pyros

Show Information:

Mercury Rev opened.

Thanks go out to Christopher Padgett for the setlist & recording info:

Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA)
August 20, 1993
Edition: FINAL
Section: PREVIEW
Page: 10

FARRELL BACK WITH PORNO FOR PYROS STILL, SOME OF THAT OLD JANE'S FIRE IS MISSING
Author: Rickey Wright, Staff writer

SO WHAT DID the televised L.A. riots look like to Perry Farrell?

Porno for Py-ros, Porno for Py-ros, Porno for Py-ros.

Former Jane's Addiction frontman, mastermind of the Lollapalooza festivals and full-time alt-rock god Farrell is riding high with a band carrying a great name.

Porno for Pyros, the group he assembled with Jane's guitarist Stephen Perkins in the wake of the Addiction's split, has been on tour all summer. The quartet is set for a highly anticipated show at Strawberry Banks in Hampton Saturday night.

Despite Farrell's reputation as a no-BS, no-compromise, no-two-efforts-alike artiste, though, Porno's recent self-titled debut album sounds a lot like a studied attempt to re-create the platinum-plated Jane's Addiction sound (albeit with shorter songs). Although the record is listenable, it never reaches the wild heights of the earlier band's best music. To borrow a phrase, nothing's shocking.

Many of the lyrics are marked by Farrell's varied libertarian social concerns. Or is that libertine? After thinking things over carefully, about the only decision his current protagonists - who seem to bear a great deal of resemblance to him - can make is that finding a black girlfriend would be a fine thing to do.

Farrell, of course, has been up to a lot in "real life." Hard on the heels of dissing a Rolling Stone reporter in late spring, a move many of his loving fans passionately defended in the magazine's letters page, he's stopped talking to the press as Porno for Pyros rolls down the highway. It hasn't hurt the band: The new disc was recently certified gold, and several cuts are still big news at hip rock-radio outlets.

But how much real care does Porno engender? It's easy to suspect that Farrell's audience is simply responding to another "progressive" brand name, although the music is basically reruns and the songs rather hackneyed.

His skills as entrepreneur should never be forgotten; over its three years, Lollapalooza has become the place to be for youngsters who like to think of themselves as disconnected from the emptiness of mainstream culture. True inspiration, however, enters into the equation less and less.

That's what we're dealing with here. "Pets" is a cute update of Tom Lehrer's topical songs for Generation X sensibilities, and "Black Girlfriend" is catchy as heck. They just don't bite like the absurdly frenetic "Standing in the Shower . . . Thinking" and the bittersweet "Jane Says."

It's early to say Farrell's bottomed out, but being odd for the sake of being odd seems to be his metier these days. And that just isn't enough.

Caption:
Photo
PORNO FOR PYROS, WITH FARRELL AT RIGHT: IS IT NOW JUST SHOCK FOR
SHOCK'S SAKE?

ALTERNATIVE
Who: Porno for Pyros
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Outside Strawberry Banks, Hampton
How much: $16.50 advance
Tell me more: 671-8100