We came, we saw, we Courtney Loved. Newcastle Live took a time machine back to the 90s during Courtney Love’s show at Panthers last Friday night.
Let’s get one thing out of the way before we move on. I love Courtney Love. I think Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This stands up as one of the best albums of the time and still remains a valid piece of art today. When I’m driving up the coast, the Celebrity Skin album is part of my driving mix and I still hold dear the memories of Courtney telling everyone to ‘get F#@ked’ during Hole’s set at the 1999 Big Day Out in Sydney. I’m a fan, but I’m finding it hard to be fanatical about the show I just saw.
Walking on stage to a modest audience at Panthers, Courtney was both talkative and commanding. Her presence filled the room, and you could feel the anticipation of what was to come; Courtney Love was really in Newcastle.
Kicking into the new single Wedding Day, she assumed her rightful place at the rock n’ roll mantle; one foot on the monitor and one hand in their air with her (extremely sexy) Rickenbacker guitar strung low and to the right. And then…
“I am the girl you know can’t look you in the eye”. The opening lines of Miss World from Hole’s seminal album Live Through This rang through the PA. I’ve got to say, I don’t think I was the only one having trouble remembering we were all living in the year 2014. This is what we’d all come for. A walk down memory lane, and that’s what we got, and it was awesome. Shortly after Courtney told photographers, “Ok, I’m not Beyonce or Brittany, it’s time for you guys to go now”, and the show progressed through a selection of Hole’s most loved songs sprinkled with a few covers.
As the show went on, though, it was like the wheels came off everyone’s DeLorean time machines. I saw several people leave, and many were just busy busting off Instagrams of their friends dressed up in their best ’90s costumes. Yeah, she made smoking cigarettes (or ‘lucky strikes’ as she called them) look cool again, yeah, she played Doll Parts with all the angst the song deserves, yeah she she appeared to be quite drunk, but it all seemed a little cartoon to me.
Overall, I couldn’t help feeling that if this were a Hole reunion, it would have been so much better. That’s probably my problem, though and nothing to do with Courtney, because she was everything I expected, and everything she has been and continues to be. Overall, I loved that I was able to be there for what is bound to be Courtney Love’s first and only ‘solo’ show in Newcastle.
Courtney Love Live at Newcastle’s Panthers – Set List
Wedding Day
Miss World
Plump
Honey
Gold Dust Woman
Malibu
Reasons to Be Beautiful
Jennifer’s Body
Honour
You Know My Name
Pretty on the Inside
Olympia
Skinny Little Bitch
Asking for It
Violet
Celebrity Skin
Encore:
Northern Star
He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) (The Crystals)
Doll Parts
Courtney Love Live at Newcastle’s Panthers – Gallery
