It's taken a long time for Jane's Addiction to finally release an official live blu ray/dvd, and while we might have preferred something from 1990/91 when the band were on top of their game at least we get the original line up performing as opposed to the 97 reunion which had Flea on bass or the 2003 line up which had Chris Chaney on bass. Eric Avery(Who has since left the band again to be replaced by Duff McKagan) reunited with the band when they got back together in 2008 and they were much better live for it, those of us lucky enough to see the original Jane's line up on tour last year would no doubt agree!
So its the Voodoo Experience Festival, New Orleans, Halloween 2009 and the original Jane's line up are about to deliver a brilliant performance which see's them draw from their legendary studio albums 1988's Nothing Shocking and 1990's Ritual de lo Habitual as well as their self titled live debut release(2003's Strays has no material played from it mainly because Eric Avery did not appear on that album).
The band open up with instrumental Up The Beach before we hear Avery's familiar bass line as Mountain Song comes crashing out of the speakers. Without doubt some of Jane's best moments are in their longer songs such as 11 minute classic Three Days which has Dave Navarro playing one of the best guitar solo's ever as Perry Farrell dances with 2 scantily clad dancers(one of which is his wife Etty Lau) it's a song that could last 30 minutes and you'd still want to hear it again straight afterwards. On Then She Did Perry asks the crowd to celebrate death, the song still sounds as good as ever with all it's twist and turns, Been Caught Stealing really gets the crowd fired up, and just before the band begin Ocean Size Perry Takes a moment to reflect on the damage that hurricane katrina did to the city of New Orleans. Ted, Just Admit It is one of the highlights of the night as it reaches it's dramatic climax. For the encore Jane's play Jane Says and are joined on stage by loads of people in fancy dress, they then finish the night off with the Drum and Percussion heavy Chip Away.
The blu ray/dvd contains a small selection of extras the best being the two bonus tracks(1% and Ocean size) recorded in small clubs in 2008, as well as an NME featurette, the only draw backs about this release is that sometimes Perry's vocals seem a bit buried in the overall mix, but since official live Jane's footage is fairly thin on the ground this release is a must for Jane's fans!
