[kj] (OT) Jane's Addiction at Echoplex in LA Last Night

[Brendan]

Gonna be 'interesting' to see how the NIN / Jane's Addiction shows pan out.

My impressions of last night's NIN gig:

Meh. With the emphasis on the 'eh'.

I TRIED to like NIN. I went to all the effort of stealing Trentnor's
life's work, listening to it on train and plane journeys, walking in to
work and feeling incongruously anti-social (and anachronistic) while
docile passersby passed by, oblivious to the fact that I was listening to
something that sounded like a hardcore remake of the Metropolis soundtrack
(1994 Crack Remix).

...familiarised myself with Pretty Hate Machine (I passed on the 2/3 of
his album collection where he remixes his own stuff
yawn), which I had
never picked up before because of the awful name.

So I was relatively familiar with NIN, at least moreso than previously,
when my appreciation was limited to the Quake soundtrack (sounds like Tool
lite) and "that song that Johnny Cash does better." And Perfect
Drug...which always had me scratching my head as to why it was on such
high rotate. (Surely these guys do better stuff than this?)

The opening band's promo photo looked so shit I didn't even bother
listening to anything online to see what they were like. (This admittedly
renders the rest of my review useless due to extreme prejudice but
hey...just being honest. Don't pretend you're not the same).

NIN - sound quality was mildly mucky, not awful, and probably not their
fault. Smallish crowd for the venue (half to two thirds of the ~10 000
seat venue filled). Good light show, basic but good impact. Overall...some
pretty solid material. A fair bit of it sounds samey to me, and I really
wouldn’t rate them up there with their 90s contemporaries (Soundgarden,
Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Ministry) for impact, depth, breadth, or
range. Anyway, a *relatively* solid gig, but a few things gave away that
it was a phone-in, in a disappointing way. Practically no acknowledgement
of the crowd, no encore, and “this is probably going to be our last show
in New Zealand" quoth Trentnor half-way through, in one of the perhaps two
times he deigned to address the audience. Seemed to fuck half the audience
off, and rightly so. That was it, not "hey this might be the last time I
play here so let's rip shit up." More like..."this is probably the last
time I'm gonna fuck you up the ass, not sure if I can come, anyway, just
thought I'd share...FYI. Now breathe out and clench."

Yeah no worries, thanks for the newsflash, it's certainly gonna be the
last time you get any money from me (I bought 2 tix), and a lot of others
in the crowd like me who have seen better, more considerate bands try to
disguise a phone-in, or dredge up enough energy from the crowd to find
some reason to enjoy being there.

No encore despite most of the crowd giving it heaps for 10 mins, futiley
as the stage was dismantled immediately the black-clad phoners in left.

That was the more objective impression. This is what part of me really
thinks:

Go home and polish your Grammys and play Hurt to yourself on your synth
you never-really-has-been. There's a reason I wasn't into NIN and I'm glad
I had my suspicions confirmed. 80% of their songs sound the same. Sub par
lyrics, predictable anthems for 14-year old sexually ambivalent teens to
half-heartedly self-harm to in the privacy of their bedrooms in between
Evanescence CDs.

Note to self: Don't ever bend over backwards trying to like something you
don't.


> Jane's Addiction, reunited with original bass player Eric Avery has been

> doing a few low key warm-up bar and club shows in LA the past few months

> before they go out on tour with Nine Inch Nails in late Spring.  I caught

> last night's show at the Echoplex club which was their third appearance

> together since all four members began working together again.

>

> It turned out to be an excellent if short show, mostly better than the

> tiny

> El Cid bar show #2 which I caught last December.  Only things I think El

> Cid

> was marginally better was being a tiny club, much more intense energy from

> the crowd that show.  I think Perry sounded better there as well.

>

> It had been raining really hard much of the day in Southern California and

> I

> was really on the fence about going or not right up to about 6pm.  I went

> for it and got to the Echoplex (in Echo Park)  around 8:15 and a huge line

> of 200 - 300 people was winding along the building and it quickly because

> obvious some people didn't have or even know about the RSVP thing. Light

> rain had just stopped and it was cool but at least dry. The line started

> moving as they left small groups of about 10 - 15 people in at a time to

> get

> their ID checked for a wristband, then get their ID checked against a list

> at the door from the website registration rsvps.  Saw a couple people

> turned

> away in front of me but later saw them inside so its possible they had

> enough room for people who basically walked up to see the show after the

> majority of RSVP'ers got in.  Considering my own feelings this method of

> getting people in the show could have turned into a real mess, it seems

> like

> it turned out to be well run with few problems.

>

> My first time at Echoplex.  Kind of a weird room, the mixing desk kinda

> bisects the club in half so if your in the back, you gotta stand on some

> boxes to get a decent view.  Pretty laid back, almost too mellow of a

> crowd

> especially for the opening band "Dot," which was kind of a more ambient,

> dissonant noise version of Secret Machines.  Band shows some promise, but

> the singer was hardly audible, partly because he rarely projected himself

> but moreso because the vocals were mixed way too far down (same for Perry

> during Jane's set). They got a decent response from the crowd, more

> respect

> than actual adoration.  Frankly, I thought they were boring.

>

> There was a long wait, made somewhat manageable by the selections whoever

> was DJ'ing played a good amount of Killing Joke ("Change"), Bauhaus,

> Cramps

> ("New Kind Of Kick" got a huge response), Bowie and a few other favs on

> the

> PA.

>

> About 11:15, Jane's strolled on the stage and ground into Up The Beach. I

> think it was played half a step down and a bit slower. Eric had more room

> to

> prowl and stomp tonight so he'd either be doing his tribal stomp to songs

> like Mountain Song or Ocean Size or locked into his zone often staring up

> at

> the ceiling playing Pigs in Zen.  Tonight, Dave was more on the mark most

> of

> the show that the 2nd show, Perkins was simply 100% a precision human

> piledriver.  The man is simply an incredible drummer.  Perry unfortunately

> I

> have to say was the weak link.  Not a lot of power in his voice, didn't

> really make a lot of use of his little echo toolbox and took a lot longer

> than the rest of the band to loosen up as the set progressed.  I will say

> when they got to Been Caught Stealing, he was up with the rest of the band

> and loosened up enough to bullshit and introduce most of the remaining

> songs.

>

> I do think in a lot of ways this reunion, especially how Perry carries

> himself these days reminds me of the recent David Lee Roth/Van Halen

> reunion

> in the way both frontmen have dropped the more manic, physical aspect of

> their stage persona due to age and are more like Vegas car dealers doing

> their shtick for the rubes.  At times, Perry was genuinely funny but when

> he

> used forced, awkward analogies to introduce each of the last few songs, it

> got hackneyed.

>

> Most of the songs from a performance standpoint sounded excellent.

> Mountain

> Song is played by Dave a bit differently now, a bit more RAWK! like

> someone

> like Billy Duffy would play the tune. The band was very tight with one

> major

> exception. The only song I thought kinda missed the mark was the one I was

> most excited to hear, Ted, which lacked an "edge" it's had in the past and

> never really got out of third gear and came close to falling apart the

> last

> couple minutes as the band kind of careened a bit out of time with each

> other.

>

> But I'll tell you what, "Stop" was fucking perfect.  Clearly the best

> performed song of the set and got great audience participation.  "Had a

> Dad"

> and "Ocean Size" ended the 2 song encore and the short barely hour long

> set

> was done.

>

>>From a crowd standpoint, the asshole factor was low but there were a few

> lobcocks who'd careen around like big, sweaty, smelly dreidels.  One

> grinning drunk slob who looked like Seth Rogan got hoisted up for some

> crowd

> surfing and got maybe 5 feet before being dumped on the ground like a sack

> of shit.  He later wound up getting on the stage on Erics side and then

> flopped off the stage like a beached whale.

>

> All n' all though, a great night even if it was too short and I *really*

> wanted to hear "Three Days."

>

> Setlist:

>

> Up The Beach

> Trip Away (on the setlist but not played)

> Whores

> 1%

> Ain't No Right

> Mountain Song

> Been Caught Stealing

> Ted Just Admit It.

> Stop!

> (encore)

> Had a Dad

> Ocean Size

>

> T.B.

>

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