Zeleste II, Barcelona
by Felix Ortega

English Translation

Huge Courtney Love! Finally, one of the most anticipated concerts arrived in Spain and it was really worth it. Despite the fact that she entered the scene with an incredible bad face and saying that it was a bad day (remember that that day was the first anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, although they found him on the 8th) Courtney Love – dressed made of gold satin and full of glitter – and her group Hole cheered up and gave us a great punk-rock concert. Miranda Sex Garden’s opening act was merely anecdotal.

The Hole concert can be seen in two different ways. On a strictly musical level, the concert was perfect. Almost all of their second LP “Live Through This” dropped, a couple of versions and part of the old material like “Pretty On The Inside”, “My Beautiful Son” and “Teenage Whore”. Thus, “Jennifer’s Body”, “Miss World” were also sounded as the third song of the night, and the riot of “Credit In The Straight World” and “Violet” that put the public in tune, causing various fights with the room attendants. As for the versions, the “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young, introduced by some phrases of “Hey hey, my my” fell, in clear reference to the end of the farewell letter from Kurt Cobain that cited a phrase from the theme, some stanzas from “Hey Jude” and an unrecognizable “He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)” from the Phil Spector era.

The band delivered to spare, especially Patty Schemel who, oblivious to all the provocation of Courtney, crushes the drums in a forceful way. New bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, who heard her name repeatedly chanted by the audience at Courtney’s initiative, did a good job although she lacks quite a bit of attitude (possibly the one that Courtney has left over) and we found it a bit “turkey.” The only uncle in the group, Eric Erlandson (a kind of Beck with two meters more), was effective and sober with his guitar, on which he sported an “I Hate Punkers” sticker. And Courtney, well, she is the center of attention, the true protagonist of the show. Between us things like that she is expecting another child but that she is not going to tell us whose child she is; to remember Kurt repeatedly and to direct us some sonorous “Fuck you.” Courtney makes Madonna look like a Celebrity doll next to her; it is more vicious, more provocative, more exhibitionist and more foul-mouthed. She extinguished cigarettes with her bare foot, ate and then spat out a bouquet of flowers thrown at her from the audience, showed us a tit, teased Eric and played with Melissa, and also played well and sang splendidly. Of course, “Rock Star” was the end, as wild as we sensed, provoking the public (who called it everything during the concert) and trying to avoid the security gorillas that prevented her from jumping on our heads. It would have been too much.

I suppose that many more things could be said about this concert, but for those of you who were there you already know what happened and for those who did not, no matter how much I write, you will not get an exact idea, so…those present had a great time. Whether or not it is “pose” Courtney Love I don’t know, there may be a bit of everything, but of course we need more concerts like that. Rating: NOT SUITABLE FOR SNOBS.