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Rating: They enter with only three members, without a backing track, and start with "Up the Beach" from "Nothing’s Shocking," complete with blinding lights on the audience when the track goes "ta-dah"! Hmmm…where’s the Man?
Here he comes, light as a feather, pirouetting to the notes of "Stop," opening and closing the sleeveless jacket, and what do we see underneath? "Stop" is one of Jane’s trademark songs, in its structure, a hysterical and psychotic funky part that suddenly stops to dive off a mountain (probably aided by an octaver). I expected a start with the faster tracks from the latest album, but instead, they give us a history lesson.
"Been Caught Stealing" and Perry throws away the sleeveless jacket to reveal the same bustier from their first record, the "Live" they debuted with. A little less funky than on record.
"This is a song about the debauchery and depravation of being young, so listen", announces Perry with that impossible and very gentle voice of his (is he for real or just pretending?), and another classic "Three Days" starts, following the same pattern as "Stop." But in the breakdown, which on record is functional and discreet even though the song lasts 8 minutes, something horrible happens. They include a drum solo(!!!) worthy of the worst Led Zep, with Navarro climbing onto the raised drum platform to play (poorly) a snare set beside Perkins’ drums(!!!) I am speechless. Luckily, they restart the song, and I recover. The audience applauds, but these are the idiotic tricks that always work.
But where’s the new album? Perry looks at Navarro and says "You can’t always be friends with everyone, right?" and the other nods, and they play "Everybody’s Friend," semi-acoustic, like on "Strays."
And in the semi-acoustic interlude, they even include "Just Because." Semi-acoustic! No… I wonder, "why?"
During the evening, Perry's "in-ear monitor" falls out a couple of times, as does the transmitter, and between pirouettes, he adjusts the reverb of his voice on a rack at his disposal on stage, because his voice is still "aided." He and Navarro spend much of the concert standing on the monitors in front of them. I am disappointed by the acoustic version of "Just Because," and I conclude that the Gentleman on the guitar, apart from striking rock god poses, is not really a great guitarist and didn’t even try to play two parts at once (maybe assisted by effects and quick changes). After leaving the concert, I discover from the setlist that the kind man at the lights kindly hands me that they also played "True Nature" as the fourth song. I didn’t hear it, so it must have been transformed and simplified quite a bit.
They do two encores of one song. "Jane Says" from "Nothing’s Shocking" is played with Perkins on percussion over an electronic base, but it’s so light, graceful, and carefree that I can’t help but join the open scene applause they receive for 5 minutes, with all the lights on.
I expected it to be different. Well, then. 4 points for unpredictability. But they could have been a bit heavier.
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