Perry Farrell Makes Raves In Toronto

Tight white jeans, waist size around 30.

A bottle of red wine in one hand; a sexy, exotic wife in the other.

One-armed push-ups on the guitar monitors.

This is what 50 looks like if you're Perry Farrell.

The lead singer of Jane's Addiction, Porno For Pyros and Satellite Party turned 50 on March 29. He zipped in to Toronto on April 9 to for a special performance at Decadance, a super-hyper-mega Easter weekend dance party at The Guvernment complex. But rather than spin discs as his alter-ego DJ Peretz, he brought along his wife/back-up singer/dancer Etty Farrell and ex-Mink guitarist/programmer Nick Maybury for a short set sampling music from across his career.

For the most part, the crowd had no idea who he was. Either that or they didn't care. But Farrell has always been a hippie and a rave child, so the father of the Lollapalooza generation played shaman to those few who crowded close to the stage and soaked up his good vibes.

Many hardcore Jane's fans would have cocked their pierced eyebrows to hear an alt.rock classic like "Stop!" pared down to little more than Perry's vocals and a techno breakdown. Hopefully they would have appreciated the most memorable part of the show: when Farrell bent over Etty and planted his face in her white cotton panty-clad behind.

It was all slightly unusual, but this was as genuine Farrell as it gets: joyous, strutting and singing with as much gusto (and processed effects, granted) as if he was headlining Coachella.

For those of us there only to witness this curious configuration of Farrell live, it was both entertaining and endearing. From PFP's dreamy "Tahitian Moon" to the happy, sappy "Go All The Way (Into The Twilight)" (his most recent single from the Twilight soundtrack), it warmed the cockels to see that three decades in he's still full of songs to sing and the desire to get out there and try new things for new people. It's also nice to see he still has a healthy head of hair, even if, as my friend pointed out, he's styling it like a suave '70s used car salesman.

If the upcoming NIN|JA tour featuring a reunited original Jane's lineup with Nine Inch Nails becomes the big summer ticket it's shaping up to be, this is surely the last time you'll be able to walk right up to the front row, reach out and grab Farrell's white pants while he sings something from Twilight into your eyes.

Happy birthday, Perry. Never stop!