Patching the Holes at the Forum
by Robert M. Presser, March 23, 1999

After I set foot into the Great Western Forum March 14, the first thing that entered my mind was that it must be Halloween.

Even before Courtney Love and her band Hole took the stage, the plethora of bizarre adolescent youth in the crowd, sporting all black garb, the visible tattoos and piercings set the mood for the evening. To my dismay, a lot of the younger fans were escorted by their parents. Many concert-goers, like Janet Sherwood from Long Beach, thought Hole put on a mediocre show at best.

“I have seen Hole perform much better in the past. They were just not on the ball this evening and Love talked way too much,” Sherwood said.

Despite performing most of the tracks off their latest over-played, bubblegum album entitled, Celebrity Skin, Hole did manage to provide the crowd with some different material. Some of the highlights of their performance included a few acoustic songs from the Beatles that included, “Northern Lights” and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”

Towards the end of her performance, Love instructed the crowd, “To stop reading magazines or we will have a generation of retards.”

The floor of the arena was crowded with fans, yet they were relatively mellow throughout Hole’s gig.

As Hole left the stage, concluding their North American tour, amid reports of feuds between Love and Manson, Mario Roybal from Hollywood, said, “Now with Hole gone, it definitely brings up the intellect of the tour. Thanks Manson.”

Enter Marilyn Manson. His eccentric presence electrified the crowd. He changed costumes three times during the set, coming out once for a song with prosthetic-looking stilts. At the end of the Eurythmics’ tune “Sweet Dreams,” an enormous cross burned on center stage.

During the song “Rock is Dead,” Manson toppled as he fell down off some prop stairs and crashed onto the floor. Manson didn’t move, while the song still continued. Many fans, like myself, thought that what had just occurred was staged. We were wrong. After playing just half a dozen songs, the lights went on and the show abruptly ended.

In the parking lot, concerned fans hugged each other, alarmed and confused at the sudden cancellation. Many were in tears even.

Manson apparently sever-ely sprained his ankle and canceled his next three shows. He implied that he will make up the shows to the disappointed fans at a later date, so keep your ticket stubs.