last night's gig

Courtney Love Makes Nice at Hiro

A new (and improved?) Courtney Love shows off her Angelina arms.Photo: Tina Paul / Camera Press / Retna

If the crowd that packed Hiro last night came to see Courtney Love self-destruct or toss a mike stand at her public, it was likely disappointed: Her only moments of vulnerability came in the form of the Ensure some fans swore they saw her sip onstage, just before she voiced concerns about her age: “I am your mom,” she announced before her first song. These days, Courtney Love looks a bit like a Courtney Love impersonator, and when she took the stage at midnight, she acted like one, too — flirting with bad behavior but ultimately playing by the rules.

Sure, there was the usual hostility toward the audience (“I’ll play the oldies that I hate but not too fucking many of them so don’t get your hopes up”), and the demands that someone help her figure out her instruments (“What is that fart noise on my stage? Is that the bass?”) — but these were followed by chummy hugs.

Despite some indecipherable mumbling — at one point she either told everyone to “chillax” or she started talking about the band Shellac — Love was relatively coherent, which seemed to disappoint the crowd, who had lined up around the block to get into the free show. As the 90-minute set wore on, showgoers drifted off to idle by the bathrooms (there was candy in there!) or head for the exits. One wonders if, while performing for this young-ish group of semi-fans, she connected with one of her most notorious lyrics: “I fake it so real I am beyond fake.” —Phoebe Reilly

Courtney Love Makes Nice at Hiro