Review - Perry Farrell's Kind Heaven Orchestra @ the Fillmore (12/2/18)

Perry Farrell at the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating)

When Perry Farrell’s involved in a project, you never really know what you’re going to get. That was definitely the case last night when Perry Farrell brought his new Kind Heaven Orchestra to play their second-ever show for a benefit called The Festival of Lights at The Fillmore. A portion of the proceeds from the event benefit the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation in support of the Bill Graham Menorah Project. For those of you reading this who aren’t already familiar with the legendary Bill Graham, check out our interview from a few years ago with one of Bill’s sons, David Graham.

Perry Farrell at the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating)

Coinciding with the first night of Chanukah, the night was billed as a celebration and coming-out in a sense for Perry’s new project, Kind Heaven. A much larger Kind Heaven entertainment experience, reportedly costing around $90M in production costs, is being planned for the Linq Promenade at Caesars in Las Vegas next year. Also due for release sometime in 2019, the band’s debut album which will feature a who’s who of artists spanning the past 40 years including: Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Mike Garson (David Bowie), Matt Chamberlain (Soundgarden), Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction), Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Peter Distefano (Porno For Pyros), Dhani Harrison, Elliot Easton (The Cars), Joachim Garraud (David Guetta).

Etty Lau & Perry Farrell (Photo: Kevin Keating)

So with the expectation that the night was going to be a benefit celebration, my initial thought was that we’d be treated to a star-studded affair with contributing performers from the forthcoming album. As the night grew later, anticipation built until right around 10:20pm, when Bill Graham’s sons, Alex and David, came onto the stage to thank the audience for our support of their dad’s foundation and introduce the band. Unfortunately, David’s microphone wasn’t working so he spoke as loudly as possible without yelling and kept his remarks short before leaving the stage and allowing the main attraction to enter. As the band strode onstage, I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t recognize any of the performers besides Perry Farrell who surrounded himself with 13 musicians that included a string quartet, three background singers, keyboardist Matt Rohde, drummer Matt Chamberlain (Soundgarden/Pearl Jam), bassist Chris Cheney (Jane's Addiction), two guitarists, and his wife Etty Lau, who also contributed significantly on vocals throughout the show.

Etty Lau Farrell at the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating)

Perry was talkative in between nearly every song, telling short tales that briefly described some background to the song they were about to sing… all of which were new to the audience, and presumably, songs off the forth-coming Kind Heaven album. It’s hard for me to describe them exactly, but essentially, these were classic Perry Farrell rock songs infused with dancy synth beats and a backing string section. Perry’s iconic vocals led on all the tracks, but a capable three-woman and one male backing team enhanced the vocal arrangement. It’ll be interesting if I’m able to remember the performance last night and compare it to the eventual album’s release, but for long-time Perry Farrell fans, I doubt you’ll be disappointed in the direction that Kind Heaven is taking.

Kind Heaven Orchestra at the Fillmore (Photo: Kevin Keating)

The 70-minute set consisted of ten new Kind Heaven songs — possibly one more than the LA audience heard during their debut performance — and then to close the night, two of Perry’s defining songs from his career, the Porno for Pyros track, “Pets”; and of course, “Jane Says.” It’s been years since I last saw Perry perform, so it was great to see him back at it and supporting a great cause, but with expectations of the Kind Heaven supergroup, I couldn’t not feel a bit disappointed in the line-up — and I don’t mean to take anything away from the roster of performers Perry brought along! They all sounded great, and besides David Graham’s microphone snafu, there weren’t any technical issues throughout the night. Given that this was their second-ever performance, my guess is that they rehearsed quite a bit for these two performances, and it showed.

You can view the whole show from this fan shot video here:



Let’s hope they return in 2019 to support the official release of the new album and thanks for reading!  Be sure to follow us across social to at: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram