2008 Woodie Awards
Courtney Love: Trick Or Treat?
"America's Sweetheart" delivers half-hearted Halloween performance.
Issue date: 11/3/04 Section: Valley Life
- Page 1 of 1
Forget tales of goblins, ghouls and ghosts. The scariest story this Halloween was the legend of Courtney Love.
Between court appearances for drug abuse and assault charges, Love attempted to play a show at the Ventura Theatre Friday night. Apparently someone forgot to inform Courtney that the grunge act of standing in one place, staring at the floor and mumbling incoherently went out in the mid-90s.
Opening the set with her single, "Mono," Love acted as though it pained her to be onstage, straining with every movement and every note.
For the remainder of the night, Love spent most of the time arguing with her band over song selections or searching for her next pack of cigarettes. When she did manage to sing, she neglected most of the material from her solo album, "America's Sweetheart," opting to perform old hits from her band Hole like "Amethyst" and "Malibu."
During this lackluster set, Love's most animated performance of the night was "All the Drugs," which she fittingly described as a love song. If she had maintained half of the fervor and intensity originally pumped into this song, the concert wouldn't have been quite so disappointing.
Six songs into the set, Love attempted to end the show, complaining about losing her voice. Five minutes later, her handlers pushed her back onstage where she whined, "I have to sing, but I don't want to."
With this apathetic attitude, Love half-heartedly sang more of her older songs like "Reasons to be Beautiful" and "Miss World." When she muttered the line, "I'm Miss World, somebody kill me," it was one of the few moments of the concert where Love actually exhibited any emotion.
On "Celebrity Skin," one of the best songs of the night and of her entire career, Love sang, "My name was never was, my name was might have been, my name's forgotten." Well, Courtney, your name's not forgotten yet, but if you keep performing like that, it soon will be.
Between court appearances for drug abuse and assault charges, Love attempted to play a show at the Ventura Theatre Friday night. Apparently someone forgot to inform Courtney that the grunge act of standing in one place, staring at the floor and mumbling incoherently went out in the mid-90s.
Opening the set with her single, "Mono," Love acted as though it pained her to be onstage, straining with every movement and every note.
For the remainder of the night, Love spent most of the time arguing with her band over song selections or searching for her next pack of cigarettes. When she did manage to sing, she neglected most of the material from her solo album, "America's Sweetheart," opting to perform old hits from her band Hole like "Amethyst" and "Malibu."
During this lackluster set, Love's most animated performance of the night was "All the Drugs," which she fittingly described as a love song. If she had maintained half of the fervor and intensity originally pumped into this song, the concert wouldn't have been quite so disappointing.
Six songs into the set, Love attempted to end the show, complaining about losing her voice. Five minutes later, her handlers pushed her back onstage where she whined, "I have to sing, but I don't want to."
With this apathetic attitude, Love half-heartedly sang more of her older songs like "Reasons to be Beautiful" and "Miss World." When she muttered the line, "I'm Miss World, somebody kill me," it was one of the few moments of the concert where Love actually exhibited any emotion.
On "Celebrity Skin," one of the best songs of the night and of her entire career, Love sang, "My name was never was, my name was might have been, my name's forgotten." Well, Courtney, your name's not forgotten yet, but if you keep performing like that, it soon will be.
