May 18th
New York, NY:Roseland Ballroom
Please send your reviews and set lists here!
SET LIST
--- violet
--- pretty on the inside
--- dying
--- malibu
--- playing your song
--- doll parts
--- she walks over me
--- reasons to be beautiful
--- beautiful son
--- so get ready (?)
--- use once and destroy
--- boys on the radio
--- good sister bad sister
--- celebrity skin
Review donated by meri
my friend and i got there around 6:30 (and the doors opened at 7:30) and there was already SUCH a long line there. We were talking to the people there and some had been there since 12:00! I found that insane. So we stood in the rain for a little bit and then they let us in. I bought 2 shirts and a sticker and then checked my stuff in downstairs. We came back upstairs and ran (and got scolded for it lol) into the room where the stage is, and the lights were out and they were telling people to sit on the floor because there'd be a while to wait or something. we were pretty close to the metal railing thing, about 3 rows of people in front of us.
so then the crappy openening band came on and made idiots of themselves, everyone was just really wanting to see hole and not this crappy band that sounded like a cross between a really bad sonic youth/ a bad boy fronted veruca salt/ u2. they were just boring.
then, finally after about an hour and a half of waiting, hole came out. the begining of 'she walks over me' played (and i will awake your highness i'm so high i cannot walk...) and courtney looked so pretty! i was so close! she was wearing a long light pink dress that had silver sparkles all over it. underneath it she had a light pink satiny triangle bikini type thing, and i don't think she had any shoes on. at one point there was a dark pink run down her dress cos she spilled water on it, unless it was there purposely...but i'm pretty sure she spilled water on it. ;) she also came out wearing these pink and purple butterfly wings with silver glitter, and melissa had some on too but they were farther down and hard to see except from the back/side. her's were green and yellow with silver glitter. melissa wore this shiny green boustier type thing, with itty bitty little black shorts. i think eric had on a grey-ish silver-y glitter-y shirt, but i can't really remember. i got pics of him though and i'll show you guys when i get them developed. i couldn't see what sam was wearing, but her hair looked cool.
during violet i was right right in the front, it was great/horrible. i was getting literally SMASHED by these like older men who were all "courtney!" and their eyes were so hungry and it was scary. i got groped up and smashed and my hair got pulled and i was sweating so much and i left during the next song (pretty on the inside). after i regained my composition i went back in, snaking my way back to the front pretty unsucessfully until i teamed up with this awesome chick adrian who helped me get back to the front front again, where i found my friend again. it was about the end of the show then, and courtney was pointing out lots of people to come up onto the stage. so i crowdsurfed (in a dress!) and the concert guy pulled me over and i thought he was going to put me up onstage, so i followed all the other girls. but i ended up back in the crowd again, very dissapointed. i was right under courtney though! luckily, my best friend DID get to go up onstage, courtney grabbed her hand and pulled her onstage. there were about 30 kids up there sitting behind the band singing and it was so cute. my best friend got a pick from the strip of picks courtney had taped to the mic.
also, i snuck a camera in. i hid it in my bra, like in the middle. they did pat us down as well. i used up the whole roll during violet (lol) cos i was so close and i was afraid i'd get moved really far away.
courtney was pretty talkitive, making fun of the people on the guest list in the balcony, saying how they don't fuck and stuff. "i know who's on the guest list" she also said camern diaz wrote pretty on the inside "cos we don't write any of our music" at one point someone threw an adidas jacket onstage and it landed on courtney's face and it was really funny. then she put it on and looked very cute. she also commented about how she was "so sick of being white" and how sammy was "representin" and "teaching her about rap music 15 years too late". courtney also hung around melissa a lot in the beginning. also, someone had a lala (teletubby) stuffed thing and in the middle of the song courtney was like "gimmie lala!" and that person got a guitar (i'm pretty sure). i think she gave out about 5 guitars, but i'm not really sure. courtney kept telling us how she was scared of new york and melissa said that "the new yorkers (us) are pretty scary looking" eric and sam didn't really talk at all. once eric came out with a pinkish acoustic guitar and tried to play a song with courtney but if i recall she got frustrated and was like "no, it's not working" and they stopped. i don't really remember too much more because i was *exhausted* and dazed and it was pretty bad, but i loved every minute of it. it was over at about 11, and it seemed hole played for quite a long time.
xoxx --- meri
Review donated by Sugardeth1
What can I say except awesome. I got to roseland about 2 and immediatly headed towards the back door to see who i could meet. A little while later melissa comes strolling out of a cab, got her autograph. Eventually after standing by the door for several hours i got to meet everyone and get their autographs (cept sam i was too busy with eric) and eric even gave me a pick. So after courtney's big arrival i head for the front where the line's gotten pretty long, oh well. They let us in and i got a nice spot about 1 person away from the railing. Finally at about 8 imperial teen came on. They really sucked and seemed to rip off every band imaginable. After they leave the stage its another hour till hole apprears. They are incredible. The pit wasn't even half as wild as it usually is but the crowd seemed to be having fun. There were a good amount of people who knew all the songs. But when they played pretty on the inside there were lots of confused faces around me. Before the show a roadie was telling me how there was no way they were letting anyone on stage because in boston some of courtneys eqipment got ripped off. A few songs into the set courtney invited everyone up on stage. She yelled at security when they woulden't allow people up. "If their not insane let em up." I don't really remember the whole set list but they did a lot of celeb skin stuff, maybe 2-3 live through this and 1 or 2 from pretty on the inside. Overall it was a really good show, wished they played some more rarities like burn black or do it clean but they did do beautiful son so i was happy (not many people knew that on either.) That's all I have to say.
Review from the NEW York Times
Courtney Love Shows Her Control By Letting Loose
By Ann Powers
Courtney Love was in control at Hole's Roseland show Tuesday night, and she clearly felt excellent about it. "Let them up here if they're not insane!" she instructed the guards helping her fill the stage with young fans as Hole played its smartly constructed set. Ms. Love hoisted admirers up herself when not riding the shoulders of a bouncer to shake their hands or orchestrating the dishevelment of her slippery evening dress. She showed the blend of raucous spontaneity and intense calculation that makes her remarkable rock star.
When Hole abruptly left this year's much-touted tour with Marilyn Manson, it seemed that Ms. Love might be wondering how rock fit into her career. Yet those daunting dates with Manson offered the benefit of trial by fire, and now Hole has refocused on its strengths.
Instead of trying to replicate the relatively smooth sound of "Celebrity Skin," the quartet has found the raw power in its songs. The guitarist Eric Erlandson, the bassist Melissa Auf der Mar and the tour drummer Samantha Maloney meshed with this direct approach, displaying muscle instead of struggling to sound pretty. Rather than trying to get her voice to behave, Ms. Love wisely let feeling lead her, remembering that great rock singers often dare to miss the notes.
The set matched new songs with the older ones, like "Violet," which made Hole a paradigm of indelicate artistry. The juxtaposition indicated that refinement hasn't dampened Hole's fury. Sloppy covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "One More Time" and the Temptations' "Get Ready" were just for fun, the sign of a band relaxing.
What remains fascinating about Hole, though is the wrestling match between Ms. Love's brain and her gut desire. She dragged all those people on stage because she believes in rock's power to touch everyone with a little stardust. Then she posed like the madly narcissistic Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" and spat out lyrics about selling out. She knows that popular culture is a big lie, but she lives by it. As long as she walks that tightrope, she will merit the platform she's built.
The tour openers, the quartet Imperial Teen, showed a different approach to growing up with one's rock dreams intact. These men and women, most of whom are punk veterans, showed up irresistible delight in shaping their own tangy version of pop. Imperial Teen plays with rock's details: the way male and female voices mesh, or love songs can turn angry, or guitars collide with drums. This band's modesty leaves room for grace.
Review donated by Joe
i know they opened with violet... they closed with she walks on me, beautiful son and celebrity skin..... tennage whore was played along with miss wold and doll parts.......the rest of the songs were predominantly from the new album........ there was a couple of interesting things, they did a full blown cover of a song in which i cant remember, but melissa sang lead on it......i will ask my friend who attended with me and get you the title of the song.......also i think they played a new song or two.....sounded unfamiliar to me, it wasnt an album track and it wasnt an old b-side, it may have been a new bside because i dont have all the new singles......i thought the show was surprisingly good...... i have seen hole 6 times in the past and every show was great, with a lot of high energy, i was afraid that this show wouldnt be being that the new studio album lost a little of the hard edge that the previous ones had......but i was shocked, courtney did more or a stage show than usual...she performed well, she played without a guitar a lot, which shocked the hell out of me, she danced a lot and pulled a lot of people on stage, the entire stage ended up being full of fans by the shows end, which i thought was quite interesting......... i was wishing for a lot of old tracks and was quite pleased with the playing of beautiful son during the encore, i would have loved to hear old age, but beggars cant be choosers.....she walks on me was great as well.......anyway, if you need anymore info ill try to get it for you.....peace and love.....joe