According to Blabbermouth.net, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello made a surprise appearance with Jane’s Addiction this past Thursday, June 25 in Cologne, Germany. The rock icons teamed up to deliver electrifying renditions of “Mountain Song” and “Chip Away,” much to the delight of the crowd. Fan-filmed videos of the performance have since surfaced online, capturing the high-energy collaboration.
Morello has long been an admirer of Jane’s Addiction, often crediting the Perry Farrell-fronted group with rejuvenating hard rock and metal music. On an October 2021 episode of the “Tuna On Toast With Stryker” podcast, Morello praised the band, saying, “They redeemed hard rock and metal music.” He snuck into a rehearsal for Jane’s Addiction in the late 1980s before their breakthrough album Nothing’s Shocking was released and in doing so became an instant fan.
“They were it,” Morello recalled. “They, along with bands like Soundgarden and Living Colour, brought an artistic and intellectual content to hard rock that was just as powerful as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin.”
Morello also recounted a memorable prank where his former band, Lock Up, impersonated Jane’s Addiction at one of their concerts. The stunt involved Morello donning a Dave Navarro wig and performing until the real Jane’s Addiction took the stage. “The intensity from the crowd was almost religious,” Morello said, noting the deep connection fans had with the band.
While Nirvana is often credited with being the first “alternative” band to break into mainstream success, Morello has argued otherwise. During Jane’s Addiction’s induction into the Guitar Center RockWalk in Hollywood in 2011, he stated, “Nirvana often gets credit for leading rock out of the hair metal wilderness of the ’80s, but that’s just not true. It was Jane’s Addiction: inspiring, intelligent, furiously rocking, and artistically deep.”
Perry Farrell humorously responded to Morello’s speech, saying, “That speech made me sound so damn good, I don’t need to look in the mirror ever again. Just play that over and over every morning.”
This performance also marked a significant milestone for Jane’s Addiction, as it featured the return of guitarist Dave Navarro, who had been absent for three years due to long COVID. The band’s classic lineup had performed live for the first time since 2010 in late May at London’s Bush Hall. While Navarro was recovering, bassist Eric Avery, who rejoined in 2022, along with Farrell and drummer Stephen Perkins, enlisted Josh Klinghoffer and Troy Van Leeuwen to fill in on various tours.
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