Watch Slash and Perry Farrell play a song about a heroin addict with a violent boyfriend to an audience of children

Perry Farrell and Slash on the Kidz stage at Lollapalooza 2008

(Image credit: laminateman YouTube)

In 2005, mindful that a significant chunk of the youthful grungers, punks, metalheads, indie kids and hip-hop fans who attended the inaugural staging of his Lollapalooza festival in 1991 were now parents themselves, Jane's Addiction/Porno For Pyros/Satellite Party frontman Perry Farrell thoughtfully introduced a 'Kidz' stage (initially dubbed Kidapalooza) to the event so that mums and dads could enjoy the festival with their offspring at a safe distance from the main stage moshpits and speaker stacks.

In practice this meant acts such as Paul Green's School Of Rock All-Stars, Daddy A Go Go, an Atlanta band who promised 'original noise for kids that rocked', and Detroit's The Candy Band, who played punk rock versions of nursery rhymes and TV themes, would share a stage with more 'mature' entertainers such as Patti Smith, Ben Harper and master of ceremonies Mr Farrell himself.

On August 3, 2008, day three of the festival held in Grant Park, Chicago, Farrell brought his own adorable tiny children, sons Hezron and Izzadore, on to the stage to introduce them to the audience. He also a special guest in tow, Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who'd brought along his two boys, London and Cash, to the Kidz stage also.

The two Los Angeles-raised rock icons introduced their mini set for the kids with a couple of covers of timeless classics, Stevie Wonder's Superstition and Bod Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door, long a staple of Guns N' Roses' live shows. All good clean family fun. And doubtless the Jane's Addiction fans in attendance were also thrilled to see the duo reel out the Zeppelin-esque Mountain Song, from JA's masterful Nothing's Shocking album.

Whether or not Jane Says, a beautiful song inspired by Farrell's former room-mate Jane Bainter, chronicling her on-going battles with heroin addiction and an abusive, violent boyfriend, would generally be considered 'family entertainment' is probably up for debate, but fan-filmed footage of the performance shows enthusiastic kids bopping along happily as Farrell delivers lyrics such as "I’m gonna kick tomorrow".

Watch the footage below:

Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction are currently working on a new album.

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.