Jane’s Addiction – ‘Nothing’s Shocking’ 25th Anniversary Tour – Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO 11/19/14 (SHOW REVIEW)

The sheer power, strength, and magnitude of what was about to take place in a small venue with a classic, innovative, circus, party band like Jane’s Addiction was probably on everyone’s mind when entering the Ogden Theatre. Everyone knew what to expect since Jane’s is celebrating the 25th year anniversary of their best and most popular album, Nothing’s Shocking. Originally released in 1988, the album was Grammy nominated and platinum-selling, although not immediately, and it defined a generation of music in the 90’s. The album was ranked #312 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All-Time,” and is even included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. During the recording of Nothing’s Shocking, the band went through one of their darkest periods started by a royalties dispute right at the beginning of the recording. But they chose an expert producer in Dave Jerden, who convinced the band to put their blast of energies towards making this great album. Although this took place almost 20 years ago, the passion for creativity and performance art has dwindled a bit, but intrinsically never left the band.

The hometown opening act, In the Whale, kicked off the heavy night with some dynamism of their own. This unlikely duo of guitar and drums sound like a full band. Vocally, both members sang with everything from metal screams to high pitched falsetto cat cries. They got the crowd to get as low as they could to the ground and then fire up like a rocket, and warmed everyone up as much as they possibly could, but the masses were primed for the main event.

Jane’s Addiction erupted onto the stage and spared no moments of warm-up. The haunting and ethereal “Up the Beach,” opened the show, and guitarist Dave Navarro was sharp. He even commented in an earlier interview of how pleasantly together the music has been nowadays versus the feverish and frantic days of the past. His command of the stage and precision on his solos were so impactful live. As they continued through Nothing’s Shocking all the way through, Farrell paced the stage like a hungry eccentric lion, and his voice still has the one-of-a-kind, high-reaching, haunting echo on Mountain Song” and “Pigs in Zen.”  On a down note, his voice seemed to give way to age as the show progressed.

When the band finished the album, they encored with four songs including the colossal classic, “Been Caught Stealing.”After, they went into “Just Because,” off of 2003’s Strays, which actually was one of their most successful songs.  The circus did come to town and girls in S&M type outfits were lowered on both sides of the stage hanging literally from metal hooks into their backs. The girls were swinging and dancing while being pierced in a Native American Sundance type ritual. In the Sundance community, the object is to offer personal sacrifice as a prayer for the benefit of one’s family and community. This was a small trick compared to how crazy things got on or off the stage in the 1990’s.

The final songs were “Stop!” and “Whores.” The girls swung in circles by hooks in their backs while Farrell sang, “I love them whores they never judge you. What can you say when you’re a whore?” If that’s not enough, one of the questions that Farrell wanted to know before the show ended was if everyone was having enough sex. Then, he asked a shredding Navarro if he was having sex every day. It was an appropriate ending to the ecstasy shaman of rock n’ roll’s elaborate presentation. On the other hand, $100 ticket price for an hour and 10 minutes of music seems a little steep and unnecessary. Most of the audience were looking around confused at the end of the show, wondering if it was possible to really be over. Lo and behold, the lights turned on, and people headed exits.

Photos by Todd Radunsky