Porno For Pyros bid farewell to ‘Detroit Rock City’ on Tuesday night, February 27, 2024.
The veteran Los Angeles, California rockers Perry Farrell, Stephen Perkins, and Peter DiStefano brought their final 15-city Horns, Thorns, en Halos tour to The Fillmore Detroit.
Not showing any signs of rust, the Detroit crowd could not have guessed the band had just recently ended a 26-year touring hiatus.
Farrell’s distinctive vocals were on point, DiStefano’s chops were mind-bending, while Perkins and bassist Mike Watt were powerful and in sync as the band tore through songs from their self-titled debut album, 1993’s Porno for Pyros, and 1996’s Good God’s Urge.
The band, which formed in 1992 following the breakup of Jane’s Addiction, showcased some of their new material during their Detroit set, which they had started releasing last year.
Right before the band performed one of their new tunes ‘Agua’, Farrell, who is never one to shy away from standing up for a cause, asked the Detroit crowd how their water was.
“What the fuck… well, we can’t stay silent anymore, we all got to fuckin’ take over,” he told the crowd.
“Everybody deserves clean water in this country. We work with Surfrider Foundation. Surfrider is probably out in the atrium, so check it out. Wherever we go, we have a heart for you.”
The new ocean-conscious single ‘Agua’, which was originally inspired by the band members’ close encounters with dolphins on their globe-trotting surfing trips of the ‘90s, reflects their current contemporary aquatic concerns, which Farrell continued to emphasize later in the show.
“Out on the coast, I saw sick seals, octopus washed up on the beach,” he said.
“I’ve been scuba diving and the reefs are getting bleached. There is hardly any color in the reefs anymore. So, in the next few years, it’s going to go down, we’re going to take to the street, okay? This generation working with the younger generation, alright? Let us in, we want to work with you, younger generation.”
Here are the photos we captured during their performance:
Following a show in Toronto at HISTORY on Thursday, February 29, 2024, the Horns, Thorns, en Halos tour has six dates remaining, with stops in: Bensalem, Pennsylvania; Silver Springs, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Port Chester, New York; New York, New York; and Montclair, New Jersey.
Perkins, who stood up from his drum kit to grab a microphone near the end of their set, gave the Detroit crowd a poignant nod.
“Michigan has given America some of the greatest musicians of all time,” Perkins said.
“Thank you, Detroit Rock City.”
Here is the full setlist from the Porno For Pyros show in Detroit:
1. Orgasm
2. Good God’s Urge!
3. Sadness
4. Meija
5. Porno for Pyros
6. Agua
7. Wishing Well
8. Cursed Female
9. Cursed Male
10. Porpoise Head
11. Pets
12. Little Me
13. Bali Eyes
14. Blood Rag
15. I Got a Right (Iggy and The Stooges cover)
16. Bad Shit
17. Tahitian Moon
Back when Porno for Pyros formed in 1992, the band was composed of former Jane’s Addiction members Farrell, on vocals, and Perkins, on drums, as well as DiStefano, on guitar, and Martyn LeNoble, on bass guitar.
LeNoble was replaced by Mike Watt in 1996.
The band released two studio albums, Porno for Pyros in 1993 and Good God’s Urge in 1996, before going on hiatus in 1998.
Following the demise of Jane’s Addiction, Farrell and Perkins formed Porno for Pyros after recruiting DiStefano and LeNoble.
Farrell named the band after seeing an ad for fireworks in a pornographic magazine.
The name has also been connected through song lyrics to the LA riots, which occurred in the band’s hometown around the time of the band’s inception.
Prior to releasing their first album, Porno for Pyros embarked on a nationwide tour to support the new band.
By the time the band’s debut album was released in 1993, anticipation surrounding the project was enough to briefly drive the album to the No. 3 position on the Billboard top 200 list.
The video for the album’s second single, “Pets”, received heavy airplay on MTV.
Following the album’s release, Porno for Pyros continued a heavy touring schedule, including an appearance at Woodstock ’94 along with a cameo on HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show. Unlike the relatively straight-ahead rock shows that were the hallmark of live Jane’s Addiction, Porno for Pyros live shows relied heavily on props, extras, and special effects, including pyrotechnics.
For the band’s follow-up album, LeNoble walked away from the band after completing the majority of the bass tracks.
Ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt was brought in to finish up the album tracks and join the band on tour.
The album also featured the post-Jane’s reunion of Farrell with guitarist Dave Navarro, who made a guest appearance on “Freeway”, along with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bass player Flea.
The band again set forth on a heavy touring schedule with Watt on bass, then with Flea on bass with Perkins and Farrell’s former Jane’s Addiction bandmate Dave Navarro on guitar.
In reality, the end of Porno For Pyros bled into the “relapsed Jane’s Addiction” situation, as Jane’s guitarist Dave Navarro and his Red Hot Chili Pepper bandmate Flea guested on two songs from the Good God’s Urge sessions, “Freeway” and “Hard Charger.”
As “Hard Charger” was released and charted as a single from the Howard Stern Private Parts movie, the final touring dates for Porno For Pyros featured three quarters of Jane’s Addiction Dave Navarro and Flea onstage with Peter DeStefano and touring members Sunny Reinhart and Thomas “TJ” Johnson.
On several tour stops Porno for Pyros played “Mountain Song”, a popular Jane’s Addiction tune, foreshadowing the later Jane’s Addiction reunion efforts.
Further touring by the band was scuttled when DiStefano was diagnosed with cancer.
Perkins and Watt subsequently formed the jazz-punk improvisation group Banyan and, along with DiStefano, occasionally perform sets of Stooges cover versions in the Los Angeles area under the band name Hellride.
Fast forward 30 years since their self-titled album was released, Porno For Pyros debuted new music, including a new ocean-conscious single “Agua”, which was released on November 16, 2023. They also released another single, ‘Pete’s Dad’, in December last year and their latest single, ‘Little Me’, earlier this month.
“Now we’re here, and that same heart, that same desire to make music together, has returned,” Farrell stated last year when the band announced their farewell tour.
“Getting together
with these guys has been some of the most fun, the happiest times in my life.”
The tour and new music followed the reunion of the original members for a sold-out show at the Belasco in downtown Los Angeles in 2022.
They also performed at Rockville, the Chicago Metro, and at Lollapalooza.
Stay up to date with the band on their official website https://pornoforpyrosofficial.com/.