Jane's Addiction and Jersey Shore

I've been a fan of Jane's Addiction for a little while now. Not a hard-core fan, I suppose. But the last cover band I attempted to put together did do a couple of their songs, and they were a lot of fun to do. So when a friend of mine on Facebook stated she had an extra ticket to their show at the LC Pavilion downtown, it was a no-brainer for me. Off we went.

The opener was a "band" from Belgium called the Black Box Revelation. I put "band" in quotes, because there were only two of them. A drummer and a guitarist/vocalist, so "duo" might be more appropriate. The lack of personnel didn't stop them from rocking the house, however. The combination of the guitar's heavily pedal-enhanced sound and drummer's use of the full range of the kit, more than made up for the size of their roster. Cool part: At one point the singer mentioned that this was the largest crowd they had ever played for, and that being here tonight was a dream come true for them. This got a great cheer from the audience, and they dedicated the next song, "I Think I Like You", to the audience in Columbus.

After a brief break, Jane's Addiction took the stage and proceeded to tear it up. The band has a natural talent and takes to the stage like fish to water in a way that only experience can provide. They opened with some crowd favorites, like Mountain Song and Just Because. The quieter set was nice and included Jane Says, which I am told they don't play a lot. The encore was about as bombastic as you'd expect, finishing with Ocean Size. The music was excellent, of course. And Perry's patter with the audience was fun. "We got off the bus and I said, 'Hey man, where the ^#$% are we?!' And they said, Ohio. And I'm like, 'Ohio?!? I got FRIENDS in Ohio!'" Cue the cheers.

The LC Pavilion is a standing-room-only, general admission setting. There are a few seats but those are reserved.  They were tagged with company names, so I'm guessing that those are bought out for the season. The beers are pricey, but big, so you come out even on that score. It was a bit cold in there at first, but warmed up nicely once the crowd filtered in. If you can't handle standing for long periods of time, I wouldn't recommend it, but otherwise - nice place for a show.

Now, before I get to the one issue I had - I want to make it clear that I had a great time. I would certainly go again, without hesitation. However, I do have to tell the funny part of the story, so bear with me.

My only real complaint about the place was the crowd control. I'm 5'4", so I made a point of finding a spot early where I could just plant myself, and wait out the remainder of the evening. I had some great sight lines, and got through the opener with a minimum of fuss. Then the cast of Jersey Shore decided to show up. With that, a 5'8" Snooki in heels pushed her way right in front of me. There really wasn't enough room to stand between me and the guy in front of me, but judging by the way he looked around, I don't think she cared. "Really? Are you serious?", I thought. Her boyfriend just looked at me and laughed. This crew was even so rude as to pull one of the tables from the side of the room, and push it up into the standing area, crowding out another group of people in the process. With a little jostling and some firm planting of feet, I was able to regain most of my view, albeit with some dirty looks from The Situation.

Then she show started for real. Within seconds, I had a drunk Blondie next to me, whipping her hair around and saying all manner of "classy" things. Many of them directed into my left ear. I did the best I could to ignore her. After trying to annoy me for about 3 or 4 songs, she gave up and moved on. Thankfully, the rest of the concert passed without any further drama, and I could simply join in the groove with the rest of the crowd.

Really, the annoyances of this group only lasted a few numbers, and they moved on to someplace else. All told - it was a good night, and I'm glad I went.

Thanks,
-David.