Jane's Addiction Reunion at NME Awards....

Last night’s Jane’s Addiction performance was an incredibly special moment for me. The band first accepted their “Godlike Genius” award from NME’s editor Conor McNicholas, who said when NME thought about brining the awards bash to the states, Jane’s Addiction was the first band that came to their mind to celebrate. The award has previously gone to the likes of New Order, The band gave quite a nice speech and it was quite amazing to see a group of men, who at one point were able to bring the music world to a grinding halt and then imploded on themselves, get back up there and pal around like they have not missed a beat in the past 17 years. They then went on to play four songs and truly seemed to be enjoying their moment up there. They began their first performance together with the classic Spanish intro to “Ritual de lo Habititual” which of course mean their first song would be Stop and I was excited merely by the fact that Avery was playing the same bass he did in the video way pack in 1990. Here is their performance of Ocean Size.


See Jane’s Addiction is my favorite band and not to get too cheesy or My So Called Life on y’all, but the band was practically my soundtrack for years. While most of my friends listened to Nirvana and idolized Kurt Cobain, I found myself obsessed with Jane’s and credit them for opening my eyes to some great music like Love and Rockets, The Velvet Underground, The Germs and X. See as an only child, I didn’t really have an older brother or sister to introduce me to music out there beyond what was played on the Top 40 stations in New York. Damn it, I am getting all Angela Chase on this thing. Anyways, I can honestly remember the moment I first heard and saw Jane’s Addiction and I was mesmerized. They were white dudes, with pink dreads and piercings, in crazy clothes and their music blew my very young mind. I had never heard anything even remotely close to the songs on Nothings Shocking. I remember begging my mother to buy me the album and she did so reluctantly and was worried because of the naked women on fire on the cover. I am pretty sure that without Jane’s in my life, I could have ended up a generic Dave Matthews fan from Long Island (no offense friends) who didn’t strive for creativity. I have since listened to various styles of music, but usually they are always on the fringe. I want to personally thank those four dudes in Los Angeles for creating the breeding ground for the chick that I am today.

So back to last night’s awards, the crowd seemed to eat up the Jane’s performance and I have to say it was more than thrilling to watch these guys perform once again, even if it was through the internets. I am hoping that with the praise they received for the show they put on and the fact that it seemed they were able to put aside their differences now this could lead to a possibility of a full scale reunion. Or at least I can send out that energy and see if it actually happens. Either way, it was incredibly amazing to see the people indirectly responsible for part of who I am today back together and celebrating the great music they put out there for the masses. Here is an interview with the dudes before their performance, courtesy of NME.

Here is another little ditty from last night, Mountain Song.



Related Articles/Posts:

* Associated Content – Jane’s Addiction Reunion Show

* Spielster’s take on Jane’s Addiction reunion

* NME’s blog coverage of the awards

* Help Wanted – Eric Avery’s new solo record

* LA Times reviews the NME Awards

* Stereogum’s take on the Jane’s Reunion

Wish I was Ocean Size....Jane's Addicition is reuniting!!!!!

So tonight could be one of the best nights ever and I can’t participate. Tonight, the NME Awards comes to America for the first time and they are honoring JANE’S ADDICTION – my favorite band ever! – with the “Godlike Genuises” nod. This is the first time an American band has been given this honor from the influential magazine. What is truly exciting about this is that this will also be the first time in 17 years the original line up of Jane’s will be together and performing on stage.




Eric Avery, the original bassist and true melody maker for Jane’s, said he did not have an issue with putting aside some of the bullshit that kept this band separated for so long to perform tonight. Avery said that this is more of a celebration of the past as opposed to a money making opportunity. Eric went on Navarro’s SpreadTV to discuss the band, his decision to play with them and his feelings on those who replaced him in the 17 years following his departure from the band. Also Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell have apparently put their bullshit aside and come together for the show tonight as well. While word on this remains that tonight’s performance is a one time reunion, I can’t help but keep my fingers crossed and hope that they decide to make this reunion into a summer tour. I mean Lollapalooza would be a perfect place, since their last show was during the first year of the ground breaking festival.You can watch it, like I will be doing, on NME’s Myspace Page. The festivities are also honoring Mick Jones, The Lemonheads for their It’s a Shame About Ray album from 1992 and the rest of their nominees for the besties from this year in music.
Here is a little flashback to 1991, when heroin was everywhere and Jane’s was at the top of their game.


In other music news that is blowing my mind…

* All Tomorrows’ Partes makes its US debut this summer and it’s going be in the upstate New York. (Woohoo!) My Bloody Valentine is bringing their reunion tour there, along with Built to Spill, Meat Puppets, Shellac, Mogwai, and Polvo. And this is just the beginning of the lineup. I can not fucking wait for this. I knew there was a reason I didn’t shuttle my ass to Coachella this weekend on California.

* Tribe Called Quest will reunite this summer to play the reunion friendly Rock the Bells tour. They will be joined by Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Spank Rock, Rakim and the reunited Pharcyde. My ass will be attending this as well, since in 1992 all I listened to was TCQ and Jane’s.

* Mariah Carey scores another number one with her new album E=MC2.

* Even though its only April, Rolling Stone is picking the best of music, rock, etc for this year. My favorite radio station, Indie 103.1 won the top slot for this year.

* Get the Nine Inch Nails singe here for free. And apparently Chinese Democracy the beyond long awaited album from Guns N’ Roses is completed and ready for the masses. I can not fucking wait to hear this and I am very much assuming that this band will be reuniting soon to promote this as well.














Seriously, all I need is Tripping Daisy and Blur to reunite and play NYC and I can die. Today is giving me pretty damn good news about all my favorite bands. This also might force me to get my Jane's tattoo this weekend!!!

Enjoy!

And if you check out the NME awards tonight, let me know what you thought! I will update later tonight with pics and news from the event!!!!