Review: Hole at Toad’s Place, New Haven, CT, Oct 8th, 1994

(Note: all “quotes” are from memory and are approximate)

Toad’s is a “rock bar” – kinda pleasant as bars go. The crowd was into it, but there was room to stand if you didn’t want to be in the pit – unlike the NJ show I caught.

Hole gave another _great_ performance, a little looser than NJ, with some more unusual material thrown in. Here are some (I probably missed a couple) of the songs played: Jennifer’s Body, Teenage Whore, Plump, Beautiful Son (those two seem to be the preferred first and second songs), Rock Star, Doll Parts, Violet (sang as “Fuckin’ Violet” in the second part of the song), Softer, Softest, Asking for It, Pretty on the Inside, Gutless, Credit in the Straight World, and Hungry Like the Wolf.

Courtney acted like she was really mad at the crowd, then kinda laughed and smiled. The crowd threw too much stuff on stage, but otherwise the vibe was good. She was in good voice, and the band was tight and very very good. Don’t believe everything your read in a piece of shit like SPIN.! More notes…

Unusual Songs
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* They played an expanded version of the “chant” that comes before Credit in the Straight World on LTT. The main refrain was “I’m So High”.

* Played a song with the lines “in my silk [or Sunday] dress, I walked right into this mess”. I didn’t recognize it, it could have been an old song that I don’t know, or a new one.

* She talked about being dissed by a model, then started Doll Parts… “I am, a bitch, a witch, I am, a dog, I’ve been dissed real bad…” [the rhythm got lost in my transcription!]

CL Sez…
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* “I saw a dick just yesterday… on a rock god… it was a _little_ one…” [someone from the crowd says something about ‘your husband’] “no, his was nice…”

* [CL said something to Melissa (bass player), then (into the mike)] “…maybe I should check America On-Line?” [some of the crowd (not many) cheer this] “…Shut Up!”

* “Kennedy’s in the crowd. Hey, you come on up here and do _this_ and I’ll introduce Candlebox…”

* “I’m staying in the company of women from now on!…I’m not homosexual, but I’m trying…”

* During the first song, the crowd kept bumping the mike stand, and ruined the vocal. CL said basically if it happened once more, the band was gonna walk, and don’t think they wouldn’t.

* [apparently, some guy (aren’t guys classy?) make some “bend over” comment from the audience, she said] “oh yeah, what are ya gonna do, huh? Come here [said in a nasty, not come-hither tone, with cocked finger] [needless to say, he shut up!]

Other Stuff
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* Courtney wore a black slip dress, with a red rose at the bosom, and the same kind of red rose in her hair.

* She played a green guitar (not sure what kind) all night, then switched to a white Strat for the encore. Played Hungry Like the Wolf (by Duran Duran), then Rock Star, then stage dived, _with_ the guitar. While she was in (over?) the crowd, she was still wringing discordant sounds out of the guitar (now you know why she switched!). Very cool.

* Toad’s has almost no backstage area, so the band had to come through the crowd on the side. I happened to be right there, and overheard two people say something like “she’s really messed up”…”Yeah, nothing a gram of coke wouldn’t cure”. This is BULLSHIT. She looked fine, and just walked past with some friends. Just walked past. No drama, no nothing. I’m no naif – I can tell if someone’s really wasted or not, and she wasn’t. It just shows how people can project their own shit onto others. Those people obviously _wanted_ her to be high, so they decided she must be. O brother.