Vanessa Lam
2 February 2015: Once described by Rolling Stone as the "most controversial woman in the history of rock", Courtney Love delivered some of that controversy as she took to the stage at the University of Canberra Refectory on 23 August 2014. Love was everything you would expect her to be: unforgiving, charismatic, talented and surprisingly sweet: the ultimate rock goddess.
The night kicked off with Melbourne band The Mercy Kills – as the support act for the woman of the hour – who were decked out in their matching white studded shirts. The band described themselves as "two parts dirty rock with two parts sleaze punk", which was just the right mix to keep the crowd on their toes ahead of the infamous Love.
They played songs from their upcoming EP Paradise Motel with a mixture of up tempo and plain old rock 'n' roll. The rockers gave it their all with high energy and enthusiastic stage presence, with the highlight of their set being a literally fiery drum solo, as the drummer showed off his fire-breathing skills while playing, sending the crowd cheering before the group faded into the darkness.
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for, the lights dimmed and Love sauntered on stage, dressed in black lace and flashing a coy smile that was all it took to send the crowd wild.
It's been 15 years since her last visit to Australia in 1999 as the front woman of Hole. Hole disbanded shortly after in the early 2000s before Love began her solo career. She's had her fair share of controversy follow her along the way – including substance abuse and the death of her husband Nirvana front man, Kurt Cobain – but at 50 years old, Love proved she can still put on a show.
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Courtney Love live on campus. Photo: Michelle McAulay. |
The bleach-blonde rocker started the gig with one of her new songs 'Wedding Day', from her double A-side single released earlier this year. With her leg hitched up on the guitar amp, Love went on to deliver some classic Hole songs that fans knew and loved, including 'Miss World', 'Celebrity Skin' and 'Malibu', before jumping into her other latest solo track 'You Know My Name'. She even covered The Beatles classic 'Hey Jude', leading the audience in a sing-a-long.
"Let's indulge ourselves together," she proclaimed.
She had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand as she shared some banter with them mixed with a healthy dose of playful profanity, shouting out things like: "I have the right to do whatever I want" and even declaring that her songs "might suck but I don't care". But she didn't have to worry about that, as the audience – who were a mixture of people of all ages and some of which even travelled from interstate – were shouting out "we love you Courtney!"
When someone in the audience yelled out "you're hot!" she replied as if it was the most obvious statement in the world, saying "I know I'm still hot, I haven't gone to a plastic surgeon in a decade."
Just when fans thought the show was over, Love returned for an encore, having changed into a flowing white dress and with a lit cigarette in hand she slowed it down with the acoustic tune 'Never Go Hungry' and finished up with 'Doll Parts'.
Living up to her image and as if responding to the controversy that surrounds her, Love ended the night by flipping off the crowd, but not before handing out roses to those in the first few rows, proving she's still got a bit of love left to give after all these years.
