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