“I’m getting teary” he told the crowd, before launching into their 1987 hit “Need You Tonight.” It was not immediately known if Farriss really meant it was the final show of their tour with Matchbox Twenty, but fan tributes began appearing on INXS’s Facebook page.
It is believed that longtime manager Chris M. Murphy held a meeting backstage with the band, and that a media statement will be released.
A message to Murphy from Pollstar to confirm the split was not returned at press time.
It made sense for the band to play its last in Perth: it was where they formed as The Farriss Bros. They moved to Sydney in 1977 and changed their name, going on to have worldwide success with albums as Kick, which sold six million copies in the United States.
Dave Gleeson, singer with The Screaming Jets and The Angels, said he’d hung out with INXS members. He found them “up and vibey about what’s been going on lately.” But he opined on the Triple M radio network, on which he has a show, that original singer “Michael Hutchence, he’s been very hard to replace for the last 15 years and obviously they’ve had enough.”
Since Hutchence’s 1997 death, INXS has been fronted briefly by singers such as Noiseworks’ New Zealand-born Jon Stevens, Britain’s Terence Trent D’Arby, Canada’s JD Fortune and, for the past 12 months, Ireland’s Ciaran Gribbin.