Hole: Live 1995

I realized last night that I’ve been going to concerts longer probably than some of you have been alive – my first show was KISS, on the 1979 Dynasty tour.

This realization came to me while I was waiting for Hole to take the stage at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach. What brought this realization is watching everyone around me busy with their cell phones: texting, tweeting, taking pictures, and generally doing everything to remember this experience other than actually experiencing it. It made me feel old and annoyed thinking about how much the concert-going experience has changed over the years.

I remember when I saw Iggy in 1980 or '81, I was scared! The crowd was ugly. I later learned that it’s mostly in fun, but it’s rare these days to see a band and worry about your safety. Everything is very sanitized these days, which I guess makes venue owners sleep better at night. I compare that Iggy experience with the Hole show because the theaters are probably more or less the same size (I saw Iggy at the Hollywood Palladium in California) and Courtney, being Courtney, always brings the potential for some kind of disorder. There were no surging crowds last night; no one spit at Courtney; no one crowd-surfed or stage-dived; and there was no mosh pit full of sweaty, shirtless fat guys. Hmm, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

So how was the show?

Courtney Love released Nobody’s Daughter and is touring under the name “Hole.” Regardless, this is the Courtney Love show: She’s such a personality that, at his point, it doesn’t much matter whether it’s Eric Erlandson or Micko Larkin alongside her; it’s still gonna be the Courtney show. The current band has been together long enough that there’s some form of chemistry, but it’s really not “Hole” per se. And apparently, use of the name is still being discussed.

Regardless, this version of Hole opened with an appropriate cover of “Sympathy for the Devil.” They ripped through about an hour-and-a-half worth of material, mostly from Nobody’s Daughter and 1994’s Live Through This, going deep into the latter for songs such as “Plump.” As advertised, Courtney stayed clear of material from America’s Sweetheart. Also, regrettably, they didn’t play anything from Hole’s debut, Pretty On the Inside.

So, the band has changed. The concert-going experience has changed. Has anything stayed the same? Well, due to a DUI roadblock (Thank God and $12 beers I wasn’t drinking) it still took two hours to get home, just like the old days driving back from Los Angeles.

This recording goes back to the original Hole band; it was recorded February 1995 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. I also added in “Loser Dust,” one of my favorites from the new album, but a song they did not play last night.

Plump.mp3
My Beautiful Son.mp3
Miss World.mp3
Asking for It.mp3
Hungry Like the Wolf.mp3
Gutless.mp3
I Think That I Would Die.mp3
Credit in the Straight World.mp3
Teenage Whore.mp3
Violet.mp3

Loser Dust.mp3

Labels: grunge, live music, rock

posted by aikin @ 12:36 PM