Live: Hole at Brixton Academy

A couple of days late with this one, forgive me! Went to see Hole again (thanks, Atomic Kitten) on Wednesday and it was a totally different experience to last time’s horrendous crush. Brixton is such a good venue in that you can get a decent view from practically anywhere, but we had a pretty good spot quite near the front. Missed much of the support band but they looked OK from the little I did see.
Courtney was absolutely on fire. I’d heard good things from the Glasgow gig (thanks for the spoilers, D, I can see why you were excited though!) but I wasn’t expecting this. The set was brilliant, some of it the same as before, but a lot different too. Violet was amazing; I remember vividly being heartbroken listening to that as loud as possible when I was 16, so it felt good to belt that one out with everyone else. She did Nine Inch Nails ‘I wanna fuck you like an animal’ (it can’t be called that- Closer to God?) which I hadn’t heard for 15 years but always enjoyed and her version was great- and she even did a little riff from Who’s Porno You Burn at the end which made me squeal. I’d like to hear that again.
Boys on the Radio was my highlight because it’s my favourite Hole song. I wouldn’t say she murdered it, but it was definitely going too fast and she messed up the lyrics (it has got a lot of lyrics though, as Conor Oberst said when he messed up ‘Joy Division’ by Simon Joyner) despite her reading them off the ground. She was reading the lyrics for quite a few songs; shocking really, I know the words, so shouldn’t she? Still, it’s Courtney. She can do what she wants! Even with that, though, Boys on the Radio was magical; I cried. I never thought I’d hear that live. It was just special and I’m emotional anyway right now.
She did some other nice covers, and a bit of a shitty version of that Smiths song that I don’t even like when Morrissey does it. Is it Suffer Little Children? ‘Manchester, so little to answer for’, as Morrissey would acerbically say. Oh, he is a wag. Can you believe I don’t know all my Smiths facts? I’m a fraud.
I thought Letter to God was really moving, and she did new stuff that I liked such as Nobody’s Daughter and Someone Else’s Bed. Still can’t be doing with the new version of Pacific Coast Highway though; that end is awful.
Hmm, what else? Her banter with the crowd was ace, she kept demanding the lights be turned on so she could see us, and demanding to fuck us. She was really funny and silly. She was threatening to take her clothes off and I thought ‘no way’ but she did and she had the most beautiful underwear on underneath; all purple and black and lacy. She looked absolutely stunning (but still too skinny, eat a sandwich, mum). I wasn’t expecting that as she is in her ‘politician’s wife’ mode of dress at the moment. She did the rest of the gig in her undies. The woman is in her mid forties. She has got balls.
The end was pretty weird, when she dragged up some kid who looked like he didn’t know the words to sing Doll Parts. He looked embarrassed. Her voice was beyond fucked by the end, she was really struggling. In fact all the way through she was turning the mic to the crowd because she couldn’t do certain high bits.
I felt so happy watching this gig, seeing her so adored, and on such good form. I never knew so many people liked her! She’s a one off. I’m sure there’s loads I’ve forgotten. But it was really wonderful. I’m so glad I went again!