At LIVE-105 extravaganza, Garbage is hot
 

SAN JOSE - A beautiful, powder blue Fender Stratocaster electric guitar sailed through the cramped, stuffy air of the Events Center Thursday night, with Courtney Love onstage screaming at the crowd to ensure that only a female audience member took home her spontaneous gift. At one point, it seemed as though Love, lead singer for the band Hole, was about to launch herself into the crowd to take the prize away from anyone checking in too high on the testosterone level.

While it was one of the finest moments of any rock concert in these parts ever, it also may have been the finest moment of Hole's performance, which was disappointingly staid and predictable. Rancid was the final band at the LIVE-105 "Not So Silent Night" benefit concert on the San Jose State University campus, but Hole was the band most of the crowd came to see. At least, they came to see Love, who has become bigger than the band, largely through her own grandiosity.

The big question with Courtney Love, largely unasked, is whether she would ever have been a rock star if she had not married the late Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's troubled driving force. The even bigger question, especially not asked, initially out of respect for Cobain's suicidal demise, was whether Love would be as big a rock star if Cobain had not exited this mortal plain in such a dramatic fashion. Early rock star deaths, horrific as they may be, make instant legends.

The answer to the first question, based on Hole's performance Thursday, is yes - she certainly has an unmistakable star quality. The answer to the second question is no - truthfully, watching the audience and gauging the band's proficiency, no one would be paying this much attention to her under different circumstances. Hey, somebody had to say it.

Love is a current media darling. Her unquestionable beauty - amply displayed Thursday is a tight fitting, low-cut gown - and her excellent movie portrayal as the drug addicted wife of magazine publisher Larry Flynt, have put her on endless magazine covers. And Hole's latest album, "Celebrity Skin," is filled with gems.

But if you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star - especially if you are going to include a surly attitude into the mix, you better be able to bring it live. And that's where Love and Hole dropped the ball. There was way too much posturing and way too little musical explosion. At times, like with the alternately lilting and slashing "Malibu," Hole clicked with the crowd. But too often the songs seemed to drone on while the audience headed for the nacho vendors.

LIVE-105 always has the best of the radio station mixed-bag concerts, because the station has been so instrumental in giving air play to otherwise unheard-of bands on the way up. Thursday night's line-up was no exception, with bands like Offspring and Garbage and Soul Coughing and Cake and Everlast taking half an hour to 45-minute stage slots.

Each of these bands could probably sell out a concert at the Fillmore Auditorium on its own, so seeing them together made the show a hot ticket. And while Hole was a great attraction, it was bands like Soul Coughing, and especially Garbage, that really lit the audience's fuse.

Ironically, Garbage's driving force and guitar player is Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana's breakthrough record, "Nevermind." With singer Shirley Manson leading the band through a raucous set, Garbage far and away won the battle of the bands. Manson, the Scottish firebrand, is an interesting contrast to Love.

While Love's sex appeal is based largely on her looks and angry, take-no-prisoners reputation, Manson is able to convey an equally captivating stage presence without resorting to revealing gowns - not that there's much to reveal, quite honestly. The energy she brings to her singing is the same energy Love often wastes yelling at photographers and demanding that the crowd form a mosh pit, both of which she did Thursday. Love may be a victim of her own unrelenting self-promotion, but a good band just rocks the place, and it was Garbage who owned the crowd Thursday on the basis of their musicianship.

Another group that fared well in their limited set was Offspring, the psuedo-punk popsters who had the crowd bopping non-stop through their catchy and ultimately forgettable tunes. If there is anyone alive in 20 years not related to the band who can name three Offspring tunes, they can look me up and get three free passes to take me off my life-support system. Which isn't to say the music isn't good, it's just not much of anything - the way you can eat a tub of movie popcorn and want to go out to dinner afterward.

Thursday night was an evening of Garbage's triumph, Hole's unmasking and a satisfying blend of some of the best ear-candy out there. Give me the real deal every time.
 
 
 

Craig Marine
San Francisco Examiner, December 11, 1998