6 Music - Music News

Hole played their first live show since disbanding in 2002, but there was no appearance from Florence Welch, as promised by Courtney Love.

The singer had been vocal about her love of Best Album winner Florence and the Machine at the Brit Awards earlier in the week and said she would be joining her onstage at the show.

But Miss Welch was a no show, as the American rock band headlined London’s Shepherds Bush Empire (Wednesday 17 February).

Speaking about Hole's forthcoming album Nobody’s Daughter, Love told 6 Music: "It is on a Universal label, but I don’t wanna say...took five years to make it, five long years, because I threw out the first one and it’s been two years making this record. We’re releasing it slowly. It will be released by April."

Reports in Spin have revealed the US release date is Tuesday 27 April, which suggests it is likely to be out in the UK a day earlier.

"I thought it was Courtney Love at her very best."

A fan

It’s been 12 years since their last album Celebrity Skin in 1998.

Love, who was married to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, explained why she's glad to be back with Hole, even though the outfit has none of its original members.

"It’s just like Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails, I have Hole," she said. "I’ve had 16 members in my band but it’s my band. I work better in a band where people are putting input in and there’s just more ebb and flow."

Fan reaction

"I thought it was Courtney Love at her very best," one fan said to 6 Music after the show.

"I really enjoyed it. It could have been a bit more grunge, a little bit less acoustic but she hasn't been that good in a very long time. She's Courtney Love, she's still got it.  She'll always have it."

Another felt the line-up was missing key former players and explained: "I think she needs to patch things up with Melissa [Auf Der Maur] and Eric [Erlandson] because at the end of the day she can't really justify calling it Hole, but it was still a really amazing performance. It went a lot better than expected."

A younger fan was in awe of the frontwoman, saying: "It was a dream come true, glad to see her back in action. I wasn't alive when they first came out so this is just amazing for me, just another chance to see a hero."

"The new songs are amazing, and her old songs, you can't beat them," said another fan and it was a nostalgia trip for others: "It felt really '90s, but it was really nice. It was like a flashback. It's cool. There's still young people there but you know there's people that have been there the whole time."