At 11:30 p.m. last night, Proud Galleries in Camden, London, was
packed with nearly 1,000 primped and glittered Courtney Love fans.
The venue's club night Smash and Grab was set to host a last-minute
appearance by the recently resurrected Hole, and at 12:40 a.m.
Mairead Nash, one of the promoters (and Love's longtime friend)
announced that the singer would arrive shortly and was "stuck" on
Park Lane due to a "squat riot" near where Love and her companions
were staying.
At 1:00 a.m., Hole's publicist showed an expectant documentary
film crew a text message from a member of Love's traveling party
saying simply that they wouldn't make it to Proud Galleries because
of the riot. Nash claims Love was planning to perform Joy
Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Celebrity Skin." "It
would have been the perfect Valentine's Day gift! I guess we were
just unlucky tonight!" Nash told Rolling Stone.
In the studio with Courtney Love: exclusive photos.
Love complained to fans about her dilemma via Twitter,
announcing, "There was, as you'll read tomorrow in the London
papers, a massive riot tonight outside my house, the cops wouldn't
let me leave."
Despite the anti-climactic no-show, crowd stuck around the club,
and sweatily danced to pop and indie hits for hours. Hole are set
to play a sold out show at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London
on February 17th, which is being heralded as the band's first
official comeback gig.
2/12/10, 9:43 am EST