Nine Inch Nails and the original Jane's Addiction lineup will embark on a May/June co-headlining tour that will see these seminal artists sharing a stage for the first time since the historic debut of the Lollapalooza festival in 1991. The genesis of the upcoming tour came about in late 2008 after NIN's Trent Reznor was tapped to produce Jane's first recordings since reforming.
The NIN/JA tour will feature a streamlined NIN with Reznor on vocals, guitars, keys, Robin Finck on guitars and keys, Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass and keys, and newest NIN member IIan Rubin on drums and keys. NIN's stripped down configuration for the upcoming dates was inspired by a pair of club shows toward the end of last year's wildly ambitious Lights in the Sky tour. Leaving the massive production in the trucks for those two nights freed up the band for spontaneous performances including several seldom-aired NIN classics and inspired NIN to take a similarly unencumbered and unpredictable approach to the May/June dates, which include previously announced NIN appearances at the Sasquatch and Bonnaroo festivals.
For the first time in 17 years, the original lineup of Jane’s Addiction will tour - vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins. The possibility of reforming first took shape in April 2008 when the musicians performed and accepted the Godlike Genius Award bestowed on them by N.M.E. Magazine at their US Awards ceremony. The band then tested the waters with small, secret shows around the Los Angeles area and the tremendous excitement from the shows lead to their decision to tour again.
The “full circle” nature of the co-headlining tour has not been lost on the artists, with Reznor recently blogging…
“Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane’s Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term “alternative” rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend - truly the best times I’ve had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the “next level” (whatever that means), but caused Jane’s to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.”
Jane’s guitarist Dave Navarro responded in kind, paying homage to the recent collaboration with the Nine Inch Nails frontman and revealing enthusiasm for the upcoming shows.
“Since our reformation, we have been spending a lot of time with Trent in the rehearsal studio and in the recording studio, working on new stuff, addressing some old stuff and more importantly, creating a friendship and working relationship,” Navarro explains. “It's rare that touring partners have an opportunity to spend so much time together creatively before a tour. Regardless of the collaborative outcome, our time with Trent has brought forth a new focus and sense of purpose that we plan to share with you on a nightly basis.”
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Support for all NIN/JA dates will be Street Sweeper, a collaboration between Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine/The Nightwatchman and Boots Riley of The Coup.
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