Hole- Feb 17 2010 at Shepherds Bush Empire

Even though it wasn't the original line up of Hole, in fact Courtney Love was the only original member playing, I felt I couldn't miss out on this gig, what with Courtney Love being one of the biggest female artists out of bands I play on Pigtails, and of course her somewhat riot grrrl attitude!

I went with my friends Carina and Ruth, we decided to queue up outside the venue about half hour before doors opened, and there wasn't too many people there at the time, so once inside we managed to get right to the front.

The first support act was a band called Little Fish. A female fronted punky rock band who I really enjoyed, defintley one to listen out for.

The second support act was Foxy Shazam
despite sounding female fronted, and looking a bit girly (apart from the moustache) they weren't and I wasn't too keen on their music either. I'm not sure it was really a good choice for this gig as was expected there was a predominatly female audience, and this band were neither female fronted (let's face it lots of original hole fans love riot grrrl etc) or even remotely grunge-y sounding either.

The new incarnation of Hole came on around 10pm to mass hysteria and cheering, I thought moving a little bit backwards but was so stuffed in between people I had to stay, but it was worth it for the view and awesome photos I got out of it.

Courtney Love, being the unpredictable girl she is, I wondered what this gig would be like, I'd never see the original hole or her solo before, so I wondered if she would live up to the media carticture of her (have you ever noticed on every article about her, they also use some photo where she looks really messed up)? or if she would be all mellowed out, and perhaps a bit boring now, or whether she would be amazing and iconic.

Luckily, she did turn out to be amazing and iconic. As soon as she stepped out onto the stage, I knew she was going to blow us all away. She looked more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined and her voice was on top form as she brought us a blend of new songs and Hole classics, i was especially pleased that she done both "Violet" and "Celebrity Skin."

As for the new "Hole" songs I think they sounded great, back to the original raw, grunge tinged days of Pretty on the Inside, and much better than her solo effort (which I did like to be fair) America's Sweetheart a few years ago, which incidentally she didn't play any of the songs from.

The full set list was this:
Pretty On The Inside'/'Sympathy For The Devil'
'Skinny Little Bitch'
'Miss World'
'Honey'
'Violet'
'Letter To God'
'Pacific Coast Highway'
'Reasons To Be Beautiful'
'Nobody's Daughter'
'How Dirty Girls Get Clean'
'Malibu'
'Celebrity Skin'
'Samantha'
'Doll Parts'
'Northern Star'
'Never Go Hungry Again'

You can see the rest of my photos on my facebook page!