December 1990, Big Shout Magazine
By ROB BEATSON

Editor’s Note: Big Shout contributor Rob Beatson attended the fight-marred Jane’s Addiction debacle at the Tower Theater on November 19, 1990. The evening of violence ended in at least one injury and 20 arrests.

The tumultuous Jane’s Addiction nearly brought down the walls of the aging Tower Theater, literally, during the eagerly-awaited Philly leg of their U.S. tour. What actually sparked the bizarre events during and after the show is unclear. The first thing I noticed was the crowd — not your usual whitebread mix seen at the classy Tower. It looked like a lot of tormented people in black who embrace the band’s “screw everything” message.

Lead singer Perry Ferrell triggered an unruly packed house by suddenly walking off the stage with bandmates midway through the performance (about eight songs). At $20 a ticket, it made a lot of people unhappy.

My wife must have known something when she described the crowd as having a threatening “edge” to it. We watched people one by one begin swarming the stage before Jane’s Addiction came on. The Tower is reserved seating, and this sort of behavior usually isn’t tolerated. But it started happening at such a fast clip, I think security was overwhelmed and understaffed.

The band came on around 9:30 pm. By then, the aisles were overflowing. Security looked more and more frazzled as they began manhandling people back to their seats and out of the building. By 10 pm, we saw a guy get mowed down by a throng of teens trying to get up front, and at least three youths got forcefully removed from the theater. All the while, there was a fairly regular stream of stage diving and similar antics.

Farrell verbally abused the crowd between songs with quips like, “stick a bag of hot water up your ass.” He also commented on security guards with, “don’t y’all want to get the fuck out of here?”

When the lights came on, no one seemed to believe the show was over. No one was leaving. After about five minutes of confusion, people started yelling obscenities, and at that point, my wife decided it was time for us to leave. What happened afterward, according to the Daily News, was a near riot that began with a few people trashing the theater and spilling out onto 69th Street with a rock and bottle-throwing showdown with Upper Darby’s finest.

On the way to our car, we talked to a couple of guys who drove three hours to see the show. Perhaps the one guy put the whole night into perspective best: “Last time I saw Jane’s Addiction, they did the same thing.”

Editorial update: Electric Factory, the promoter, gave partial refunds for the show. On Friday the 13th, 2024, Jane’s Addiction had an onstage scuffle between lead singer Perry Ferrell and guitarist Dave Navarro that caused the band to break up, as reported in a formal announcement made by the band on September 16, 2024.