Perry Farrell’s wife Etty Lau breaks her silence to reveal the REAL reason Jane’s Addiction singer punched guitarist Dave Navarro on stage

Perry Farrell’s wife has broken her silence after her husband attacked his lead guitarist during a Boston gig, claiming the frontman was angry because his bandmates were “drowning him out” for playing too loudly.

Farrell’s wife Etty Lau shared her husband’s story on Instagram after he was criticised for punching and hitting guitarist Dave Navarro on stage on Friday night.

“Rather than speculate, I wanted to post a firsthand account of what happened on stage,” she wrote.

Lau said Farrell suffered from “ringing in his ears and a sore throat” every night, which affected his voice. He “felt like the volume on stage was extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band.”

Frontman Perry Farrell began cursing at the microphone before walking over to guitarist Dave Navarro and playing him nine songs for Jane’s Addiction set in Boston

Farrell’s wife Etty Lau (pictured together) claimed her husband ‘lost control’ because he was ‘drowned out’ by his bandmates playing too loudly

Lau said there was “tension and animosity between the band members,” but felt this wasn’t always a bad thing as it was also “the magic that made the band so dynamic.”

But on Friday night, Lau said her husband reached breaking point after being booed by fans who couldn’t hear him.

‘If the audience in the front row, [they] “He started complaining to Perry and swearing at him that the band was going too loud and they couldn’t hear him. Perry was losing control,” she wrote.

“He didn’t sing, he just shouted to be heard.”

According to those in attendance, Farrell appeared heavily intoxicated during Friday night’s performance. Others claim it was not an unusual sight for the frontman, who is known to knock back bottles of wine on stage.

Fans said tensions began to rise when the band sang “Mountain Song.” When they got to “Ocean Size” three songs later, Farrell was furious.

“The band started the song ‘Ocean’ before Perry was ready and counted down,” Lau said.

“The volume on stage was so loud at that point that Perry couldn’t hear the sound of the instruments. By the end of the song, he wasn’t singing anymore, he was just screaming to be heard.”

Farrell’s wife Etty Lau took to Instagram after the argument to give her and her husband’s perspective on the incident

Perry Farrell, right, walked up to guitarist Dave Navarro, left, and began hitting him during the show, which his wife blamed on “tensions” between the band members

Crew members had to come over to separate the couple and drag Farrell off the stage

Lau concluded her Instagram post with a dig at “whoever won the fight,” claiming that bassist Eric Avery emerged victorious after aggressively confronting Farrell.

“While Dave (Navarro) held Perry at bay to de-escalate the situation, Dan (Cleary, a tape tech) rushed in to also de-escalate by restraining Perry,” Lau wrote.

‘Dave walked away to take off his guitar. Eric walked over to Perry, on stage, in the dark, behind Dan, put Perry in a headlock and punched him three times in the stomach.’

Lau said Avery had to be “pulled away,” after which the bassist “casually walked forward to apologize to the crowd for ending the show early.”

She said Navarro “still looked handsome and cool in a fight,” but her husband was “a crazed animal” after the skirmish.

“Ultimately, instead of calming down, he broke down and cried and cried,” she said, concluding that Avery “didn’t understand what de-escalation meant or took advantage of the situation and made some cheap comments about Perry.”

Disappointed fans said Farrell took a sip of wine before bursting out, which is said to be a common sight during his performances (pictured during a show in California in February 2024)

Witnesses said Farrell began “yelling” at Navarro during “Mountain Song,” which escalated into a brawl during “Ocean Size.”

Attendees reported that Farrell “had a large bottle of wine with him all night, that Navarro and Avery kept chatting throughout the show and that they seemed angrier than usual.”

The Boston performance came a week after the band played two sets in New York City as part of a reunion tour after reuniting for the first time in 14 years earlier this year.

During the first night of the shows in New York City, Farrell told the audience at Pier 17 that he was not in a good position to perform. The audience indicated that there seemed to be animosity between the band members.

Farrell told the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have to be honest with you. There’s something wrong with my voice. I can’t get the notes out of it anymore.”

Bassist Eric Avery took to Instagram after the show to talk to fans, saying he was “looking forward to another opportunity at this spectacular rooftop venue tonight. I’m optimistic we’ll be better.”

Farrell pictured performing in Sydney, Australia in 2010

In a review of CL Tampa The week before Friday’s outburst, one critic wrote that Farrell “struggled” and “went into a downward spiral” when the band started playing Mountain Song after they “had downed an entire bottle of wine.”

He “went on many nonsensical tirades” about cow pastures, mushrooms and politics, the review said, and only stopped when Navarro ‘deliberately played a loud, piercing chord on his guitar, almost to silence Farrell and get the show going again.’

The review, written by critic Gave Echazabal, noted that Farrell took a sip of wine as he struggled to keep up with his heavy metal bandmates.

“Farrell either delivered the song late or incoherently, and it was difficult to reconcile his lackluster performance with the absolute, unmistakable power displayed by the band behind him,” Echazabal wrote.

He added that as you watched Farrell become fixated on the bottle of wine, “you almost got the feeling that this wasn’t the first bottle he’d uncorked that night.”