BEFORE the stylistic early 90’s Rock fad of Sonic-lumberjack plaid took hold, a home turf band swam deep in their Los Angeles back garden, breathing in moonlit beaches and neon-signed late-night carnage before trying to change the world.

Almost single-handedly responsible for guiding the fiercest of Hair Metal offenders to jump on a spandex bonfire of their own making, including Kiss-lite Motley Crue, who had by then permanently turned everything up to 11.

They arrived armed with the coolest and heaviest sounds, mixing up Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Brains, naturally adding their own musical potions and dark cabaret.

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Purveyors of a newer version of a much fresher Rock sound and poised to be stadium-level huge, kicking their self-made door wide open, with Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails quickly overtaking faded and ripped-sleeved Guns N’ Roses tees at gigs.

But Jane’s Addiction decided to hit the exit sign in 1991, leaving behind two unshakable Alt-Rock album monoliths: Nothing’s Shocking & Ritual De Lo Habitual.

A London gig a few days before appeared to be a fun appreciative gathering. But every non-Scottish band knows that if you give a Glasgow crowd respect and energy, you’ve got them for life.

This was to be nothing short of a near homecoming that some had waited 33 years for since their last visit to the Barras. This reviewer was there, and that time gap was quickly wiped away from the opening slow build of Eric Avery’s bass intro for Up The Beach.

While it’s easy to forget that Avery had taken a decade-long JA sabbatical, resisting the temptation to rejoin, and instead, picked up the bass gig for Garbage, during that time his old band released some great albums (although any material from Strays and The Great Escape remains absent from the setlist), yet despite rarely reaching these shores, we had to wait until this tour, along with drummer Stephen Perkins, to get a rhythm section that glides into absolute mystical chemistry.

We’re thrown one only new song, Imminent Redemption. Snakelike and drum-heavy, and not too far from their sound on Ritual. Dave Navarro punches out blasts of guitar on Ocean Size while displaying his usual trademark coolness and being easily among the greats such as the late Geordie Walker from Killing Joke and Jimmy Page’s dragon trousers.

Perkins is having an utter flailing limb party. From large-scale festivals to small venues like the long-gone Network in Edinburgh back in 1990, he remains as ever, a Punk Rock drum machine, and tonight, he’s draped in the town’s own Assia Records shirt and a kilt.

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The stage floodlights are raised after Stop! to signal a lack of an encore. The Barras audience is not happy. Within seconds the band return. “You guys just won’t let us leave!” and then they’re storming their way through Mountain Song and a tune so epic that it could give Axel Rose nightmares, Three Days.

Again, the floodlights are beamed out. Glasgow erupts. What? The big shake-your-booty song will go unaired? The lights sharply dim again.

“There was a time that I’d come into your city and rip off everything from the thrift stores…” and so we leave with Been Caught Stealing singing in our ears.

When you regroup into the original classic lineup and return to being one of the greatest bands in the world, 33 years seems like a weekend off. Glasgow knows.