Show: Courtney Love
Date: July 26, 2013
Venue: Canyon Club
City: Agoura Hills, CA
Courtney Love
Photo by C Flanigan/Film Magic
Written by Dan Sinclair
It’s quite something to see just how many 40-somethings are in attendance this night at the Canyon Club to see the woman Rolling Stone once referred to as “the most controversial woman in rock.” But here we are altogether in this venue in a strip mall waiting for her, most of the crowd unable to wipe the oversized smiles from their face as they wait in eager anticipation.
Then Courtney comes out looking like… Stevie Nicks? She had the frilly blouse with the big cuffs working and the well-to-do makeup job as opposed to the better-known “just rolled out of bed from a month’s worth of partying and I’m ready to go another round” look that is Courtney Love. She was almost unrecognizable. But then she said, “Hello, Valley” in that raspy, unmistakable voice and the crowd roared. Agoura Hills was ready to rock for some dirty Love.
Courtney belted out a couple of lines from “Pretty on the Inside” before going into the more familiar “Plump” and the Canyon Club got moving. Everyone sang, “They say I’m plump, but I throw up all the time.” And from then on there would be no more confusion about whom everyone was here to see.
Courtney wasn’t too happy about the acoustics though: “This is the worst sound we’ve had on the whole tour. I couldn’t even hear what I was singing. You guys didn’t notice because we’re professionals.” There are some cheers mixed with awkward laughs, but then Courtney goes into “Skinny Little Bitch,” and everyone goes back to enjoying a rock show.
Before her rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman,” Courtney noticed the people sitting down at tables: “What are we doing here? Dinner theatre?” This time the crowd laughed without awkwardness. Then she continued, “Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I’m doing fucking dinner theatre.” But this didn’t stop her from climbing up on an amp to toss out roses.
Someone near the stage held up a sign I can’t see. But Courtney’s not digging it: “No, we’re not going to play that one, sorry.” Which makes me wonder what song they were asking for considering Miss Love played almost all of her hits tonight, including “Pacific Coast Highway, “ which was next.
Courtney on her bling: “One was a gift and one I bought myself. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” Then she goes and kicks out a great rendition of “Violet.” Somewhere around this time, she smeared her makeup, making her eyeliner run wild, looking more like the Courtney we know and love (pun intended). She followed that up with “Malibu” and nearly brought down the house.
She shushes the crowd for the slower “Letter to God,” but then also removes the frilly blouse, revealing a sexier black négligée-looking thing. “That’s all you’re getting. This is dinner theatre.”
During “For Once in Your Life,” Courtney lights up a cigarette on stage and teases a little more of “Pretty on the Inside” before launching into “Jennifer’s Body.”
Courtney wipes some of her makeup off her face just in time for “Celebrity Skin;” you know, for “When I wake up in my makeup.” Crowd goes nuts with screaming and even the oldest people in the crowd start gyrating in some sort of clapping/seizure-like loose interpretation of dance.
The set finishes with my favorite song and best performance of the night in “Miss World.” People are actually jumping all over each other up front, screaming, “Now I’ve made my bed, I’ll lie in it!”
Courtney thanks all and says good night, promising, “If you want us back here, you know what to do.” And the crowd cheers until she comes back, chanting “Courtney, Courtney!”
When Miss Love returns, she polls the crowd: “How many homos are here tonight?” The large gay and lesbian crowd rejoiced. Then “How many fucked up girls?” And after hearing the emphatic response to those two demographics, Courtney admits, “I don’t need to hear from anyone else.”
During the encore, Courtney walks around tossing more roses as she performs “Petals” and “Dying.” After that, she promises “I will never do another tour like this, but I’m going to play another oldie. You can say ‘I say I saw her one oldie tour.’” And with that, she closes the show with “Doll Parts” and the fans couldn’t be happier.
Courtney Love’s greatest hits tour promoting her upcoming next solo album kicked ass. And if you missed it, I guess you suck. For the rest of us, we can say that we saw her one oldie tour. So there.