Grrrly Talk: Courtney Love at Fillmore Miami Beach Friday

• I wasn't at the Boston show, but the New York ones were fantastic, if too short. But this guy below was and really proves that everything is subjective and that mob-mentality-same-ol-trainwreck-thesis hack Malitz is a bit of a bore. As a Miami native, I'm telling whoever's reading this: go see Hole. Stephen says: I'll be back to read your review. I was at the 9:30 Club on Sunday and left with a completely different impression than the writer from the Washington Post. It's an impression now popping up in national media by journalists and commenters who read it. It saddens me some that it's changing this "had to be there to believe it, but seriously" story for many in the audience who thought that for a very different reason. The show was raw, strange, adrenaline pumping, and yes, a long ride. They played nearly 30 songs. The sequencing was pretty good. After a jag of talking, they'd come back fast. Her feral scream is intact. I think the people who had a bad time were the ones in the balcony and way back at the bar (or the ones who had to work Mon. morning and catch the last train.) I was four deep, close to the stage, and off on Monday. I jumped into the mosh pit, watched people crowd surf and felt exactly the way you described your ideal Hole review for over two and a half hours. As I was (sorry) living through that, I thought about being 18, and living for how good Celebrity Skin made me feel, and here I was. It wasn't a trainwreck so much as it was a really powerful crazy train. Courtney Love interacted coherently - if not sometimes a little too literally - with the people up front. Spazzy yes, but I didn't hear her slurring her words or messing up chords when she played. She drank what looked like water in a bottle and smoked a ton of cigarettes. DC = no smoking, so I guess the staff were letting her be. She took obscure requests only she (not the band) seemed to know the words and music to - or some of her superfans - and held a bizarrely awesome Storytellers. She pulled folks from the audience to the stage herself after hosting what can be described as Hole Jeopardy. That took awhile and probably pissed off the people in the back. It was an awesomely well constructed and compelling trainwreck, if that's the metaphor you want to use. The highlights were Jennifer's Body and some girl who threw a bra on stage. Courtney Love went on to wear it and then throw it back in the opposite direction. That girl never got her promised free t-shirt (or her bra) from the concession folks. As I stood next to her at the end of the night, watching her channel her inner Courtney, she told me it was the best show she'd ever been to.

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