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Perry Farrell’s wife Etty Lau defends singer Janes addiction after altercation

Perry Farrell’s wife Etty Lau Farrell has opened up about the altercation between the Jane’s Addiction band members on Friday night.

In a first-person Instagram post, Etty gave a detailed account of what happened at the band’s September 13 concert after her husband was filmed punching guitarist Dave Navarro.

She shared a clip of the incident, which shows Perry singing loudly into the microphone and then bumping Navarro’s shoulder with his own, before seemingly shouting at the guitarist. Navarro, 57, then put a hand between himself and Perry, before the lead singer appeared to punch him.

Several people then ran onto the stage to stop Farrell. The video shows one of the men punching Perry multiple times in the stomach as the lights on the stage go out.

Etty wrote that “rather than speculate” about what happened, she wanted to “post a first-hand account of what happened on stage” with the band. She said there was “a lot of tension and hostility between the members” and that “the dynamite was lit” that night.

She indicated that the altercation was a culmination of Perry’s “increasing” frustration with the “extremely loud” volume of the band’s playing, and that her husband felt like “his voice was being drowned out by the band.”

“Perry was having trouble with tinnitus and a sore throat every night,” she explained. “But when the front-row audience started complaining (to) Perry, yelling at him that the band was going too loud and they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

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“The band started the song Ocean before Perry had finished and counted down,” Etty continued. “The volume on stage at that point was so loud that Perry couldn’t hear the thump and the vibration of the instruments and at the end of the song he wasn’t singing, he was just screaming to be heard.”

From left: Dave Navarro, Perry Farrell and Eric Avery perform with Jane’s Addiction at Pier 17 Rooftop on September 10, 2024 in New York City.

Astrida Valigorsky/Getty


Etty alleged that while Navarro had tried to keep her husband “at a distance to de-escalate the situation,” bassist Eric Avery “put Perry in a headlock and punched him three times in the stomach.” She said a crew member was able to pull Avery away, and he “walked forward to apologize to the audience for ending the show early.”

“Dave still looked handsome and cool in the middle of a fight,” Etty wrote. “Perry was a mad beast for the next half hour — he never calmed down, but he broke down and cried and cried.”

“Eric, well, he either didn’t understand what de-escalation meant or he took advantage of the situation and took cheap shots at Perry,” she added, noting that this was her “first-person account of what happened.”

Representatives for both Farrell and Navarro, as well as Avery and Live Nation, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the incident.

Jane’s Addiction announced their 23-city tour in May, after reuniting for the first time in 14 years for an intimate performance on May 23 in London.

The tour was originally scheduled to end in St. Louis at the Evolution Festival on September 29, according to a press release. However, in August, the band added several new dates, extending the tour through October 16.

The band’s next performance is scheduled for Sunday, September 15 at the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater in Bridgeport, Connecticut.