Enmore Theatre
Sydney, Australia
Jan 20, 1999
Updated: Wed Feb 3, 1999
Setlist
Thanks Erica and Julia!
Violet
Awful
Pretty on the Inside
Pale Blue Eyes
Heaven Tonight
Miss World
Plump
Dying
Malibu
Reasons To Be Beautiful
Doll Parts
Into Your Arms
Use Once and Destroy
Drag
Boys on the Radio
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Celebrity Skin
Encore:
Northern Star (acoustic)
Don't Hide Your Love Away (acoustic)
She Walks On Me
Paradise City
Good Sister/Bad Sister
Reviews
Julia (Feb/7/99):
Talk about a build up. The 45 mintues we had to wait for Hole to grace the stage seemed like the longest 45 minutes of my life. And then the sound people had the nerve to play the intro bit to Celebrity Skin, like the noise that sounds like wind or something, which got the crowd yelling and screaming. But Hole didn't come onstage then.
FINALLY, Hole graced the stage, and I have never seen so many people in awe. Courtney was wearing a halter neck gray/silver top with black leather pedal pushers and high heels, Melissa was wearing a blue type leotard top that had a slanted neck with a knee length black skirt with a slit up the side and knee high boots. Eric was wearing (I think) black pants and a black top (but I'm not sure). And Sam was hidden behind the drums.
They went straight into Violet and then in Awful and now I can't rememeber what songs they played.
Courtney pulled about 5 or 6 (not 10 or 20 ?) on the stage , saying she was going to teach them a lesson on capitalism. I have never seen 5 girls scream so much (cept maybe at a silverchair concert). But then hushed them towards the back of the stage where they were to sit for the entire show. It was funny cause all these other girls in the front row were screaming and reaching out cause they wanted to come up and Courtney told them to calm down and "come back tomorrow night ".hehe Before Plump, Courtney teased the crowd about playing Drag, but no one seemed to know the song, and she started to ask Eric if it was still on the setlist or if he'd taken it off. She then said she was going to play this other song, but it made her mad. They played Plump.
NOW this is one thing I found incredible and I don't think many people picked it up, but I thought it was amazing. During a break between two of the songs, and I can't remember which ones, Eric started playing the chords to "Do It Clean" the Echo and The Bunnymen song they used to cover. Courtney then proceeded to tell Eric to get over it because there are some things you just forget about and get over. I thought that he actually started to play that was very cool, considering I thought I'd never hear that song EVER played live, even a little bit.
When Pale Blue Eyes started to be played, I was like what the fuck ?!?! I couldn't believe that they were playing it. And Courtney sung it so beautiful , just by herself and the guitar "Linger on.....pale blue eyes......"
They FINALLY did play Drag which was brilliant, except Melissa didn't sing the intro with Courtney and they changed it a bit. With it ending before that bit where it starts up again. When Courtney said "Drag me into you" she made a lovely sexual gesture with her arms..if that makes sense. Melissa's voice in Into Your Arms is so beautiful, and she sings more of it than Courtney, but I think that's a good thing because the song suits her voice more. Courtney came over to Melissa and they sung together in one part.
Courtney continously kept getting the crowd to get Melissa to say "Fuck" but Melissa kept shaking her finger and saying that she wouldn't. Courtney kept teasing saying stuff about someone who was standing side of the stage and finally Twiggy from Marilyn Manson came out and kept saying he wanted to play the song they were about to play but that he couldn't because it was pop. "I'll teach you pop and you can teach me how to tear up bibles"
For the encore Courtney came onstage in the Cabaret type outfit with sequins and feathers and what not galore. They proceeded to sing Northern Star, which I was TOTALLY blown away by and then went into Don't Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles which was a bit strange......
The rest of the band came back on and they launed into She Walks On Me and then Paradise City before playing the Good Sister/Bad Sister medley (hahaha medly but I don't know what to call it) that was REALLY awesome. Some talking :
Melissa :"I do fuck, but I don't say fuck" Courtney : "Take your bow bitch" (when telling Samantha to get up and bow, which is she) Melissa : "Come back tomorrow night, and the next night, and the next night, we're going to be here all week" That's about it. Oh wait, the T-Shirts were too expensive. $35 ??!?!!?
Erica (Jan/23/99):
Let me start off by saying that the Enmore Theatre is a great venue. It's small and has fine acoustics, so not only are you incredibly close to the stage regardless of where you are, but the sound is fantastic as well.
Okay, so, as per usual the Litany girls played their support gig with two of their band members "doped up on cordazone" because they'd lost their voices, but they still sounded good - despite being heckled by screams of, "We want Hole!" and "Courtney! Courtney! Cooouuuurrrrtttneeeey!!!" ;-)
Hole arrived later than usual and Courtney commented on how it was great to be in a small venue finally. Melissa seemed kind of anti-social, spending the majority of the show in the shadows at the back of the stage. Eric wandered about and Sam didn't falter once - as much as I love Patty, Sam really is an awesome drummer.
Courtney was wearing (surprise, surprise) black leather pedal pushers, stilettos and a pretty silvery mid-drift top. She also had heaps and heaps of glitter all over her. Melissa wore all black - a short black skirt with a split that came up to the top of her thigh, black top and black cat ears on her head.
Courtney screamed at Sam to, "Stand up and take a bow, bitch!" after Courtney praised her for being "so fast" and "so good". Sam complied.
Courtney then had a bit of trouble lighting up her cigarette and goes, "When I'm a big rockstar I'm going to have someone light my cigarettes for me .. wouldn't that be a fun job?" she laughed. The stage-hands must have been listening 'cause later in the show they were handing Courtney lit cigarettes ;-)
Like their other shows, they opened with Violet, followed by Awful. And again like their other shows, Courtney wanted girls to sit on the stage. About ten or twelve girls got up onto the stage and sat towards the front. Courtney turned around and screamed, "I don't want to see you! Get back!" and she ushered them back with a fist yelling, "Back! Back! Further!". "I'm teaching you about capitalism." she said.
A few more songs and Courtney was checking the setlist. "Eric, did you take Drag off the setlist?" She got mad at him and asked the audience if they'd rather hear the Malibu b-side or something off Live Through This. "I love Drag," she said, "That's mine and Melissa's song ... those songs (off LTT) make me angry .." She ended up playing Plump and at the end announces, "Well now I'm angry!" then Eric started the intro to Dying and Courtney rolled her eyes and laughed, "Now I'm gonna be depressed."
Another smoke break and Courtney starts harrassing Melissa again to say "fuck". Melissa retorts the same line from Brisbane, "I do fuck, but I don't use the word fuck .." Courtney won't give up, "Oh come on, please Melissa ... if you say 'fuck' (really loud) I'll change places with you," Melissa doesn't budge. Courtney asks everyone to scream, "Melissa!" to encourage her, and we do. Melissa shrinks to the back of the stage covering her ears. Courtney tries her last resort, "If you say 'fuck' into the microphone I'll show em' my tits .. while I still -can-, before they fall."
Everyone cheered and Eric even came over and gave Melissa a hug from behind which made her laugh, but alas, Melissa wasn't going to say 'fuck', so Courtney didn't show us her tits ;-) "Melissa wouldn't say fuck, she'd say 'making love'," scoffed Courtney. "Speaking of making love, "said Melissa, "This is the part of the show where we do a song written by an Australian ..." The song once again, was "Into Your Arms" and Courtney and Melissa started talking about Evan Dando and then Courtney points off stage and goes, "Well, he's right there!".
Twiggy Ramirez from Marilyn Manson came out and gave her a hug and looked like he wanted to play her guitar, fiddling with it, but Courtney told him,"You can't play this. This is a pop song." Eventually Evan left and Courtney said they'd give him a lesson in pop and the girls on the stage a lesson in capitalism. They played "Into Your Arms" (quickly becoming one of my favourite live Hole songs) and when they'd finished Courtney told us that that song makes her happy. She did a mock-up of the first line of Teenage Whore and said, "See, that makes me depressed, but (sings) 'into your arms ..' that makes me happy." She recieved a mediocre response. "Oh god, you are so jaded," she told off the audience, "I took my top off in Brisbane because they weren't jaded."
They played Use Once And Destroy, "Melissa basically wrote this song .. we don't really know what it's about."
Courtney spotted some guy in the audience who looked out of place,"What are you doing here?" she asked. Then she kind of giggled and said even though she'd just bagged him out, she'd probably go out with him ;-)
Courtney took the microphone down to the moshpit and asked people what they wanted to hear. Some girl said Boys on the Radio and I could have screamed 'cause I mean this -is- the Celebrity Skin tour and there's more than a 75% chance that they would play that anyway, so couldn't she have asked for something more obscure? Er .. sorry .. I'll come off my soap box now and return to the review ;-)
"You guys look sad," Courtney said to those in the mosh-pit, "I don't have any presents." she told them before doing this great big diva huff, turning sharply on her heel. It was rather amusing ;-)
Courtney said that she was going to teach us all something with a "really old song" (Bob Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue) and Melissa said that she was still learning heaps from it.
Once again they closed the official part of the show with Celebrity Skin, but returned for an encore about ten minutes later. Courtney came out in something that was a cross between the cabaret number from the Brisbane show and a Playboy Bunny outfit - it had a kind of frilly attachment to the back. Courtney and Eric played a beautiful version of Hide Your Love Away, followed by the cigarette-lighter-waving-inducing Northern Star, before they were joined by Melissa and Sam again for Paradise City. Courtney went over to Melissa and hugged her from behind for ages and they looked really cute together, singing and smiling. When they finished Courtney goes, "Australia is a little bit of paradise. It's a paradise city and I like it ..." Followed by, "Australians are very healthy ... look at that guy in the Faith No More shirt's teeth! I was in that band you know .."
Melissa thanked the audience and told everyone to come and see them again, "We'll be here all week," before they played their final piece, the lines from Good Sister/Bad Sister. Courtney then pointed to some girl in a white dress and told her to come backstage, "You can have my guitar. I choose you." followed by, "But if you give it to a guy I'm going to shave your fucking head!"
A stagehand threw out free Hole t-shirts (Courtney did it herself at Brisbane) Hole departed and the night was done.
The Sydney gig was an excellent show, but Courtney seemed to be slightly distracted (perhaps it was Evan or Marilyn Manson awaiting her backstage? ;-) Nonetheless, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Till next time ....
Sharee (Jan/26/99):
First of all, Hole came onstage about 15-20 minutes late, purposely or not I don't know, so we were all getting really hyped by th time Courtney came onstage wearing (surprise, surprise) her leather hipster pants (which she later commented on by saying they were an exlusive part of the Elle McPherson line) and a gorgeous silver/green halter top with only one strap. Which reminds me, the top was split up one side, which made it able for all of us in the mosh to see that Clove had really bad bruising on her ribs, I mean really bad, dark brown bruising. That must've hurt.
Melissa wore a sexy long black skirt with a split going up the front of her left thigh, were you could see she was wearing fishnet stockings and her trade mark knee-high boots. Her top looked navy blue from where I was standing, and, well she doesn't look anorexic in real life like she does in some pictures. She's so gorgeous.
Eric was wearing a not-too-exciting black shirt and pant outfit, but after the encore he came out in a hot black see-though shirt. Anyway, when Courtney began playing the chords for 'Violet' and sang 'and the sky was made of amethyst' it was as if the whole room was being pumped full of adrenaline cause the entire theatre just went besurqe! No matter what anyone says about the band selling out or them becoming pure pop, they proved to me and no doubt the entire audience that their fire and rage was still their and raring to go. Personally I can't think of a better song to begin with, and as Courtney sings 'and the sky was all fucking VIOLET', it fucking does nothing but blow you away.
Second up was 'Awful'…sang brilliantly mind you, and of course it got the whole room 'oohing and aahing' just like the majority of songs on CS. As this song was finished Courtney went into a one-verse solo of 'Pale Blue Eyes', which she softly sung, it sounded so different compared to how it appeared on the 'Ask For It' EP.
Unfortnately from this point on I can't remember the exact line up of songs they played, but I'm pretty sure up next came 'Reasons To Be Beautiful'. Definitely a crowd pleaser, especially for all the 12 year olds struggling to keep their heads above the ocean of people around them in the mosh.
By this time Courtney had hand picked about seven or eight lucky girls from the front of the mosh to sit onstage with the band for the entire concert, then she made us all laugh by saying to the girls, 'no, no, sit back their I don't wanna see you'.
'Slut kiss girls/won't you promise her smack/is she pretty on the inside/is she pretty FROM THE BACK'. This song, my god, I read that they played it in the States but I wasn't sure if they were gonna play it here but they did! This is my absolute favourite song from 'POTI', along with 'Sassy' of course. This song is like an anthem among Hole fans that stands out like no other. Sure you've got Violet and Miss World, but Pretty On The Inside? Definitely a crowd pleaser.
'Miss World'. What can I say? Is their anyone out their who doesn't like this song? To say it gave me goosebumps would be an understatement, and, just as with the 'Live Through This' tour in 1994/95 she rearranged the lyrics to suit her mood. As she sang 'you watched me break/you watched me burn/no one was listening my friends' it brought back so many memories, you know when a particular song brings on flash backs from ages ago? Anyway, it went off, big time.
Stupid me can't exactly remember when this next part actually happened, but I'm absolutely sure I'm never going to forget it! The most delicious looking guy I've ever seen in my life, known to all as Twiggy Ramirez, just happened to walk onstage and strike up a conversation with Courtney. As any true Marilyn Manson fanatic would do I of course went fashionably ballistic at the sight of such perfection. Plus the fact that I'd been standing in the middle of Sydney for 6 hours in pouring rain all day just so the band could sign a CD for me (all to no avail because the band left when I had five minutes to go until it was my turn) it all got a bit much. AIYW
The next song, to Courtney's amazement, was 'Plump', which Eric shamefully admitted to putting on the set list. Courtney didn't want to play this song at all, complaining that 'this song makes me so mad, and I wanna be happy'. At this point in time no one knew what song they were talking about, so Courtney asked us what we wanted to hear and put the mike towards us, the audience. This one girl said 'Boys on the Radio', while practically everyone of us in the mosh wanted to hear 'Gutless', then Courtney said 'No!!! No Gutless, puh-lease…'. Hole then broke into 'Malibu', which was followed by 'Boys On The Radio'.
When that was done with she again asked us what WE wanted to hear. Everyone still wanted 'Gutless' which is when she said, 'What about Drag?' Hardly anyone knew what 'Drag' was though. 'Well? Do you wanna hear a song that me and Melissa wrote or what? Or should we play both songs ('Plump' and 'Drag') and make this an extra long show?' Of course we all wanted the latter, which is when they broke into 'Plump', and Courtney was right about the song making her mad because when the song was finished she just stood their strumming for about a minute with the most evil look on her face.
Then came 'Drag' which is definitely one of the best songs Hole have written lately, I just wanna know why it didn't make it to the album? It really should be on there.
Next up (I think) was 'Use Once and Destroy', and I have to say that Samantha Maloney, Hole's stand in drummer, was amazing on this track. As Courtney screamed 'I went down for the remains/sort through all your blurs and stains' everyone knew somehow she was directly reffering to, well, I'm sure I don't have to spell it out.
'I am, doll eyes,' If this couldn't get the crowd singing then nothing could. Apparently the lighters were being swayed etc…the full bit. 'K stands/for knife/for the rest/OF YOUR LIVES'
This sounded better live, in my opinion anyway, it was a lot harder, just the way I like it.
I also remember Courtney replacing her guitar with a tamborine on a number of songs. I read somewhere that she wanted a new guitarist so she wouldn't have to play the guitar at all. But then I also thought that the whole reason Courtney became a 'rock star' is because of the power she feels while playing guitar??? Go figure.
Somewhere along the line they played 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue', the Bob Dylan cover that appears on the Malibu single. I'm not really fond of this song although it was played really, really well.
Then came the ever so predictable 'show us your tits' saga that you can bet on when going to see Hole. Courtney wouldn't stop squeezing and caressing herself which only added to the crowds anxiousness. She is such a goddamn tease! Courtney then came to say 'I'll only show you guys my tits if Melissa says fuck onstage'. Of course this led to screams and please for the 'innocent' Melissa to say the word. Of course she wouldn't. She said something along the lines of, 'I'll do fuck but I won't say fuck', with Courtney pleading with her, 'Come on Melissa just say it' 'No, I'll say it in my room alone but not out here' so we basically didn't see any more of Clove's celebrity skin than what was on offer.
Then came everybody's current favourite; Celebrity Skin. This really goes off live, that's all I can say.
After the 10 minute encore Courtney and Eric came out alone, with Courtney wearing what l can only describe as a cross between a seventies swimsuit disaster and something a trapeez artist in a circus would wear…get my drift? Probably not. Anyway, despite the bad fashion sense, Eric and Courtney made a lot of us weep as they performed an acoustic version of 'Northern Star'. It was so beautiful, so loud in parts and Courtney, so full of emotion.
As 'Northern Star' finished Melissa and Samantha were welcomed back onstage and they began the Guns & Roses classic 'Paradise City'. This got everyone singing along, but according to my friend Sam, they got some of it wrong or something. I wouldn't know because I don't own a single Gunners item, but according to him they did stuff up.
Then, just as I was about to collapse in a heap from exhaustion and most probably dehydration, 'She Walks On Me' began. I couldn't resist this one so we all went crazy in the mosh, screaming 'KITTY, KITTY, PLEASE COME HERE/NO DON'T YOU TOUCH ME DON'T YOU DARE'…which reminds me, Courtney changed the lyrics on this song aswell. 'Where it usually says, 'hold you close like we both died, my ever present suicide' she changed it to 'YOUR ever present suicide', naturally. This was sooo good, you can't beat a little bit of 'Live Through This'.
At the end of 'She Walks On Me' became a chorus of 'Good Sister/Bad Sister' where Courtney just strummed her guitar and sang 'I'll be the biggest star/In your sky' over and over again along with 'I'll be the biggest dick that you ever had, the biggest DICK, the biggest DICK…' fading slowly meaning the end of the show.
All I can say to round this up is that this is the best concert I have had the pleasure of seeing in my life, and I've seen a few. My only regret is that I only bought tickets for two out of Hole's five Sydney shows, but I guess there's always next time. If you haven't seen Hole live before it is a must for everyone, Hole fan or not.
Oh, and one last thing, I wouldn't dare wear a Nirvana/Kurt shirt to a Hole concert because Courtney will spot you with out a doubt, and believe me, you don't want to be seen. Courtney ripped shit out of this guy for booing her onstage, she totally kicked his ass without touching him, and my god, did he shut up.
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