By “Tampa” Earl Burton
There are those who believe there’s been no good rock music done since 1980. Some scorn the “alternative” scene that emerged in the late Eighties and early Nineties. Those who believe these things missed an outstanding show that brought the best of the Nineties – and today – to Tampa’s Mid-Florida Amphitheatre on Thursday when Jane’s Addiction and Love and Rockets rekindled the spirit of the Nineties in an exciting evening of entertainment.
Presenting the Newer Edge of Rock
For those who did not get there when the doors opened to the Amphitheatre, they would miss what turned out to be an energetic and strong opening set from a new band. Crawlers, an outstanding young band hailing from Liverpool, were assigned the task of warming up the crowd and they would attack that duty with relish. Vocalist Holly Minto was reverent of the “old guard” that would follow them on the bill, stating to the crowd, “If they didn’t exist, we wouldn’t be here.”
Over their thirty-minute set (way too short for my liking), Crawlers powered their way through material from their debut album, The Mess We Seem to Make, and you could identify the influences of both Love and Rockets and (especially) Jane’s Addiction on their development. Only together as a band since 2018, Crawlers presented a strong set, highlighted by a couple of their bigger songs (“Come Over (Again)” and “Kills Me to Be Kind”) and some powerful work from guitarist Amy Woodall, Liv May on bass, and Harry Breen overseeing the skins. This is a band to watch in the future.
After an extended thirty-minute intermission (a nice approach as it gave time to intermingle with the crowd), Love and Rockets took to the Tampa stage. Love and Rockets, which was formed from the remnants of Bauhaus in the mid-Eighties (only singer Peter Murphy did not join the band), was arguably more successful than their predecessor, and the fans in the Amphitheatre were ready to reminisce with the group. Using their moody, intense sound, Love and Rockets took those in attendance through a very equal representation of their musical career.
Daniel Ash, who took over the vocal duties when Murphy decided not to come along on the Love and Rockets excursion, managed those obligations quite well. Ash was not very talkative to the Tampa audience, but it added something to the darker, gothic setting that was presented. Of course, they performed their big hits (“No New Tale to Tell” and “So Alive”), but I was particularly entranced with a thunderous performance of The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion,” which was a song I remember well from my youth (and my mother’s record collection).
Between both Crawlers and Love and Rockets, the mood was set for the main course of the evening.
Inspired Performance from a Nineties Legend
With the crowd warmed up properly, Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction hit the stage at the Mid-Florida Amphitheatre, and they went full bore from the start. Performing in front of concert audiences for the first time in fourteen years, you might have expected Farrell & Co. would have eased into the proceedings. They didn’t even come close to that, powering into a scintillating version of “Kettle Whistle” with the original lineup of the band – Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, drummer Stephen Perkins, and, perhaps most impressively, guitarist Dave Navarro.
Over the past couple of years, Navarro had been plagued by long COVID, which kept him off the tour circuit when Jane’s Addiction joined The Smashing Pumpkins in 2022 (it also kept him from recording any new material with Jane’s Addiction). Fully recovered only a couple of months ago, Navarro made up for the missed time by absolutely ripping through his guitar work on every song the band performed. In fact, the rest of Jane’s Addiction seemingly drew an energy from Navarro that would have been lacking if he weren’t there.
Farrell was a master showman in getting the crowd to come along with the band, especially as they dropped their litany of major hits. “Jane Says…” was given a rousing acoustic rendition, and there was even some new material offered with a blistering song called “Imminent Redemption.” By the time the show closed with the back-to-back blasts of “Stop!” and “Been Caught Stealing,” the crowd was in the palm of Ferrell’s hand and hanging on Navarro’s every riff.
There is only about a month left on the Jane’s Addiction tour, complete with Love and Rockets and Crawlers. If you consider yourself a fan of the alternative scene, then you will get your money’s worth with two of the legends of that genre and an up-and-coming band who will be the ones to continue the alt-rock mandate into the future.
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