Tour by Hole | |
Start date | August 26, 1994 |
---|---|
End date | September 3, 1995 |
Hole concert chronology |
The Live Through ThisTour was an international concert tour by the American alternative rock band Hole, spanning late 1994 through 1995, in support of their second studio album, Live Through This . The tour included dates in 14 countries and was widely documented in the media due to frontwoman Courtney Love's raucous stage behavior throughout, which divided critics.
Initially planned to begin in the early summer of 1994, the tour was postponed after the death of the band's bassist, Kristen Pfaff, on June 16 that year. In August, the band hired Canadian bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, and commenced the tour, with their first date being the 1994 Reading Festival. The tour was also highly anticipated as it marked Love's first public performance since the suicide of her husband, Kurt Cobain, in April. During the first week of the band's North American dates, Hole opened for Nine Inch Nails (who were simultaneously on the Self Destruct Tour) before proceeding as a headlining act. Supporting acts included Madder Rose, the Melvins, and Veruca Salt.
The tour was subject of a series of legal troubles for Love as well, involving physical altercations between herself, crowd members, and other musicians. In addition to Love receiving death threats at some performances, she was arrested twice during the tour, and pleaded guilty to punching Kathleen Hanna at a Lollapalooza date. She was also unsuccessfully sued by two male concertgoers who alleged she struck them during a performance in Florida in March 1995.
Days before the release of Hole's second album, Live Through This , frontwoman Courtney Love's husband, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, committed suicide in their Seattle home. [1] The Live Through This Tour was slated to begin in the summer of 1994, but was temporarily halted after the death of the band's bassist, Kristen Pfaff, of a heroin overdose. [2] [3]
On August 19, 1994—one week before the band's scheduled debut performance at the Reading Festival—the group hired Melissa Auf der Maur, a Canadian bassist from Montreal. [4] The first week of the tour after the Reading Festival had Hole as a supporting act for Nine Inch Nails before they embarked as a headliner for the following concerts. [5] In 1995, the band made appearances at several Big Day Out festival dates, and went on to join Lollapalooza in North America, performing with the traveling festival throughout the summer of 1995 alongside Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill. [6]
Critical response to the Live Through This Tour varied, with some local critics lambasting Love's performances. Reviewing their opening performance of the tour at the 1994 Reading Festival, critic John Peel wrote that Love's disheveled appearance "would have drawn whistles of astonishment in Bedlam," and that her performance "verged on the heroic ... Love steered her band through a set which dared you to pity either her recent history or that of the band ... the band teetered on the edge of chaos, generating a tension which I cannot remember having felt before from any stage." [7] New York Times critic Jon Pareles gave a favorable review of the band's fall 1994 concert in New York City, describing the music as "fierce, exploding from restrained verses to vehement choruses." [8]
Reviewing a September 26, 1994 performance in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Eric Deggans lambasted the band, writing that "Love's seeming disinterest in relating to the crowd or delivering a show ultimately sabotaged what could have been a legendary experience... Love and her musicians charged through the songs with an urgency that suited their angry, disillusioned message." [9] Journalist Natasha Kassulke, reviewing an October 1994 performance in Madison, Wisconsin, criticized Love's behavior during the concert, writing that "Ninety minutes was all it took to reduce Courtney Love, the angry bleached-blonde singer... into a half-naked, modern day Ophelia." [10]
Jon Casmir, reviewing a January 1995 date in Sydney, Australia, similarly found Love's onstage antics offensive, noting that she "picked up one of the plastic baby dolls strewn around the stage, mimed giving birth, then threw it straight into the audience," though he conceded that "in all likelihood, this was one of those shows which will burn into myth, the subject of reminiscence and folklore for a long time to come." [11] Casmir concluded that "For someone who wants to avoid the circus that surrounds the Cobain mythology, [Love] went out of her way to give the gawkers a freak show." [11]
Love's tendency to ramble between songs was noted by numerous reviewers. [12] Drummer Patty Schemel recalled: "It was hard [for Courtney] to continually try to push those feelings down. Certain things would remind her [of Kurt], and a lot of times onstage it would come out." [13]
In a retrospective, VH1 referred to the tour as "a series of emotionally-charged shows that were part therapy, part eulogy, and completely legendary." [14]
At the band's October 1994 appearance at the WFNX Birthday Bash event in Boston, the radio station received an anonymous call from a person threatening to shoot Love to death onstage during the event. [15] Prior to the concert's commencement, a man was ejected from the club after a gun was found in his possession. [15]
The tour went on to garner significant media attention, largely related to a series of subsequent legal troubles involving Love; [16] in January 1995, en route to Melbourne to commence the band's Australian tour dates, she was arrested for disrupting a Qantas Airways flight after getting into an argument with a stewardess. [17] Six months later, on July 4, 1995 at a Lollapalooza date in George, Washington, Love punched Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna in the face after alleging she had made a joke about her daughter. [18] She pleaded guilty to an assault charge and was sentenced to anger management classes. [19] [20] On July 31, Love walked offstage in the middle of a set after someone threw shotgun shells at her during the band's Lollapalooza performance near Pittsburgh, suggestive of her husband, Cobain's, suicide. [21]
Further media attention came in November 1995 when two male teenagers attempted to sue Love for allegedly punching them during a concert they attended in Orlando, Florida in March 1995. The judge ultimately dismissed the case on grounds that the teens "weren't exposed to any greater amount of violence than could reasonably be expected at an alternative rock concert." [22] Commenting on her legal troubles and performances during this period, Love stated that she was abusing Rohypnol at the time, and could not recall much of the tour. [23]
Supporting
Supported
Courtney Michelle Love is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, NME named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years.
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician who was the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona, Cobain's compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is highly recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
Babes in Toyland was an American alternative rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1987. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Kat Bjelland, along with drummer Lori Barbero and bassist Michelle Leon, who was later replaced by Maureen Herman in 1992.
Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Schemel, and bassists Kristen Pfaff and Melissa Auf der Maur. Hole released a total of four studio albums between two incarnations spanning the 1990s and early-2010s and became one of the most commercially successful rock bands in history fronted by a woman.
Celebrity Skin is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1998, in the United States on DGC Records and internationally on Geffen Records. It was the last album released by the band before their dissolution in 2002. Hole intended for the record to diverge significantly from their previous noise and grunge-influenced sound as featured on Pretty on the Inside (1991) and Live Through This (1994). The band hired producer Michael Beinhorn to record Celebrity Skin over a nine-month period that included sessions in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. It was the band's only studio release to feature bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. Drummer Patty Schemel played the demos for the album, but was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo at the suggestion of producer Beinhorn. This issue created a rift between Schemel and the band, resulting in her dropping out of the tour and parting ways with the group, though she received the drumming credit on the album.
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, but several years later, Chicago became its permanent location. Music genres include but are not limited to alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music. Lollapalooza has also featured visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. The festival, held in Grant Park, hosts an estimated 400,000 people each July and sells out annually. Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in the world and one of the longest-running in the United States.
Live Through This is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 12, 1994, by DGC Records. Recorded in late 1993, it departed from the band's unpolished hardcore aesthetics to more refined melodies and song structure. Frontwoman Courtney Love said that she wanted the record to be "shocking to the people who think that we don't have a soft edge", but maintain a harsh sensibility. The album was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and mixed by Scott Litt and J Mascis. The lyrics and packaging reflect Love's thematic preoccupations with beauty, and motifs of milk, motherhood, anti-elitism, and violence against women, while Love derived the album title from a quote in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Pretty on the Inside is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 17, 1991, in the United States on Caroline Records. Produced by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, and Gumball frontman Don Fleming, the album was Hole's first major label release after the band's formation in 1989 by vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson.
Patricia Theresa Schemel is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. Born in Los Angeles, Schemel was raised in rural Marysville, Washington, where she developed an interest in punk rock music as a teenager. She began drumming at age eleven, and while in high school, formed several bands with her brother, Larry.
Eric Theodore Erlandson is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002. He has also had several musical side projects, including Rodney & the Tube Tops, which he formed with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and RRIICCEE with Vincent Gallo.
"Polly" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the sixth song on their second album Nevermind, released by DGC Records in September 1991.
Katherine Lynne Bjelland is an American musician. She rose to prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band Babes in Toyland, which she formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1987. She has been noted for her unusual vocal style alternately consisting of shrill screams, whispering, and speaking in tongues, as well as for her guitar playing style, which incorporates "jagged" tones with "psychotic rockabilly rhythms".
Ask for It is an EP by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1995. It was the band's second and last release on Caroline Records, the first being their debut album Pretty on the Inside (1991). Although the EP was released after 1994's platinum-selling Live Through This, its contents were recorded by an earlier lineup of the band between 1991 and 1992. The EP comprises three songs by Hole as well as several cover versions of songs by the Wipers, Beat Happening, the Velvet Underground, and the Germs.
"Doll Parts" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love. The song was released as the band's sixth single and second from their second studio album, Live Through This, in November 1994 to accompany the band's North American tour. It was also the first single to be released following the death of bassist Kristen Pfaff in June 1994.
"Violet" is a song by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and guitarist Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. The song was written in mid-1991, and was performed live between 1991 and 1992 during Hole's earlier tours, eventually appearing as the opening track on the band's second studio album Live Through This (1994). The song was released as the group's seventh single and the third from that album in early 1995.
The destruction of musical instruments is an act performed by a few pop, rock and other musicians during live performances, particularly at the end of the gig.
The discography of Hole, a Los Angeles-based American alternative rock band, consists of four studio albums, one compilation album, three extended plays, and 16 singles.
"Old Age" is a song first released by the American rock band Hole, written by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana with lyrics later written by Courtney Love. At the time of Hole's recording of the song, Love was married to Cobain.
Hit So Hard is a 2011 American documentary film directed by P. David Ebersole. The film details the life and near death story of Patty Schemel, drummer of the seminal '90s alternative rock band Hole, and charts her early life, music career, and spiral into crack cocaine addiction. The film weaves together Hi8 video footage Schemel recorded while on Hole's 1994-95 world tour with contemporary interviews with her, bandmates Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, and Melissa Auf der Maur, as well as her family members. The film also features interviews with other female drummers and musicians, including Nina Gordon, Kate Schellenbach, Gina Schock, Debbi Peterson, and Phranc.
The Pretty on the InsideTour was the first international concert tour by American alternative rock band Hole in promotion of their debut album, Pretty on the Inside. The tour began in the summer of 1991, and concluded in December of that year. The tour largely had Hole as a supporting act, with them performing as an opener for Mudhoney's European tour, as well as The Smashing Pumpkins in the United States.
As for Love, she openly derided Harrison onstage at the Edge in Palo Alto last November during her most recent local appearance.