A sizeable crowd gathers in front of tonight's venue, but not to see Hole. A prostrate body wrapped in a blanket lies in the road, and behind the motionless frame, ambulance lights flash prophetically. "Oh, God, something's happened to Courtney!"

That's my initial reaction, and it's not such a far-fetched notion. The last time I saw Courtney was a couple of months ago when she jumped onstage after a Lemonheads show and played despondent, shattered versions of "Miss World" and "Doll Parts". At the time, it looked as if she had only weeks to live. Now, it looks as if her time is up. But just as I'm about to clutch my head and scream, Courtney's cries echo from inside the club, and even through several sets of closed doors, they sound sober, alert and intimidating.

Clad in spiked heels, a white babydoll dress and a jagged frown, she looks equally arresting. Seductive and provocative, but undeniably dangerous, she staddles her guitar as if it were a motorcycle and she a vengeful vamp goddess with no time to mourn the demise of anyone. Even when she howls, "Someday you will ache like I ache" in "Doll Parts", her focus is outward and antagonistic. Rather than lament tragedy, Hole invite it, feeding off the energy it provides. When Courtney changes the lyrics of "Miss World" to " I am the girl you know the one who should have died", she's not asking for sympathy, she's reveling in contempt, converting sorrow into rage.

Tonight, Hole are savage and searing, and they attack with blunt precision. Songs like "Asking For It", "Softer, Softest" and "Teenage Whore" see-saw methodically between melodic restraint and exhilarating demolition. Courtney's voice heaves with blistering emotion, yet she nails every note, and even thought Hole are playing their first American show since hiring Montreal-born Melissa Auf Der Maur (ex-Tinker), the band's rhythms are as tight and threatening as a clenched fist.

As if the power of the music weren't enough, Courtney attracts extra attention by introducing her daughter Francis Bean Cobain and actress Drew Barrymore (who dates Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson) early in the set. Then, before a chilling version of "Doll Parts", Courtney tosses dolls into the audience, and at the end of the encore "Where Did You Sleep Last Night", a Leadbelly song Nirvana used to cover regularly, she dives into the crowd, which consumes her for a few long moments, before spitting her back onstage shoeless.

Call her a bitch, a whore, even a mankiller, but Courtney is a fine songwriter and a first-class performer, and for that I can't help but Love her to death.
 
 
 

Jon Wiederhorn
Rolling Stone Online @ AOL, 1994