This is an edition of the newsletter Pulling Weeds With Chris Black, in which the columnist weighs in on hot topics in culture. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.
Itâs always fascinating to watch a band unravel in the public eye. The most recent example is the reunited Janeâs Addiction, who got into a physical altercation onstage in Boston in September. Midway through âOceansize,â for still unclear reasons, sinewy frontman Perry Farrell took a swing at guitarist Dave Navarro. Farrell had to be restrained, Navarro walked offstage, and the showâalong with the tourâcame to an abrupt end. Dueling public statements from both sides followed: Farrellâs wife said heâd been suffering from tinnitus and struggling to sing over a too-loud band, and Farrell apologized and took accountability, but Navarro referred to a âcontinuing pattern of behaviorâ and âmental health difficultiesâ on Farrellâs part. This was a 65-year-old man trying to punch a 57-year-old man, but it owned the music-news cycle for days. I was never a fan beyond âSuperhero,â the Entourage theme song, but I couldnât look away.
Another band, Akron, Ohio, duo the Black Keys, has been going through it publicly in recent months after a series of bad decisions. After poor ticket sales for the North American leg of their International Players Tour, which would have seen them hit a string of venues with âarenaâ or âcenterâ in the name, the band pulled the plug, issuing an Instagram statement that deflected from the real issue, invoking recent European shows at comparatively smallish venues like Brixton Academy in London and the Zenith in Paris (you had to be there) and promising to come back once theyâd figured out how to deliver a âsimilarly exciting, intimate experienceâ Stateside. A few days later, drummer Patrick Carney said on Twitter that the band âgot fucked,â and added, “I’ll let you all know how so it doesn’t happen to you.”
It was later reported that the Black Keys had split with their managers, Irving Azoff and Steve Moir. Azoff is a name you might recognizeâheâs the big-dog chairman of Full Stop Management and a notorious music-industry powerhouse whoâs worked with the Eagles, Van Halen, Steely Dan, and several other boomer rock acts. Heâs also the former CEO of Ticketmaster. Carney has not explained what happened, but before the split was public, he did retweet an Azoff post about nondisparagement clauses, sarcastically thanking Azoff for âalways looking out for the artist.â
So, like most musicians, the Black Keys had a problem and chose to blame their management. Then they signed with a new management company, Red Light, the worldâs largest independent music management firm. Problem presumably solved, right? Not exactly. Last week, the band announced that theyâd be headlining an event billed as part of the â2024 America Loves Crypto Tourâ at the Akron Civic Theater in their hometown. Itâs actually an even-more-cursed (and more political) booking than the name would lead you to believe.