Courtney Love‘s on-again, off-again consideration for reuniting Hole appears to be back on again. The singer revealed as much while making a surprise onstage appearance with Billie Joe Armstrong‘s covers band, The Coverups, during a show in London last night (Feb. 27).
Love sat in with the band for several songs, but before she said her farewell, she told the audience (per NME), “Later …. I’ll be back in Hole.”
Courtney Love’s Hole Reunion History
Courtney Love recorded three ’90s albums with Hole, each with guitarist Eric Erlandson. For a majority of that run, the band also included bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur and drummer Patty Schemel. But the 2000s brought about lineup changes and by 2010 a fourth album from the band with Love as the only member of that core four was released.
In the time since, the reunion of the band’s core has oft been discussed, but rarely have they played together. The lone time came in April 2012 with the four members coming together onstage for the first time in 15 years at a show in Brooklyn. The performance took place at the Public Assembly in Williamsburg as part of an after party for a documentary viewing of Hit So Hard about the band’s drummer Patty Schemel.
That appeared to open the doors for a Hole reunion, and in April 2014 Love declared that she had been back working with the classic lineup. But a month later she appeared to sour on the reunion, claiming that a reunion would only mean something if they did something relevant and by the summer she ruled out the reunion claiming she was not interested in the “oldies circuit.”
In 2016, Love reignited hope of a reunion by posting old photos online and speaking publicly of her desire to play with the band again, but nothing came of it. Then, in 2019, she stated that Hole were “definitely talking about” getting back together again.
But, in 2021, she once again threw water on the possibility of the band reuniting telling Vogue, “No, absolutely not. And you guys have gotta get over it. Our old manager Peter Mensch calls once a year to ask about a reunion: ‘Hey, just doing my thing I do every year with you and Jimmy Page [of Led Zeppelin].’ And I’m so honored to be in that company, but it’s just not gonna happen.”
She went on to add, “We’re all really good friends and Melissa and I are especially close—we talk every day,” said Love. “But Eric is kinda off-the-grid right now—I think he’s in Japan literally becoming a monk. I’m not even kidding. Melissa, Patty, and I think he’s become a monk or something on that level of aestheticism.”
In recent years, Love has spoken about working on new music and digging into writing her memoir. But as far as Hole’s future, Love hadn’t offered much in terms of an update until her comments last night.
Of course, Love’s claim that she’ll be back in Hole doesn’t necessarily mean a full-fledged reunion of the classic lineup. As stated, she has previously recorded under the Hole moniker without any of the other ’90s members.
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Courtney Love Joins The Coverups
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has taken advantage of his group The Coverups to revisit some rock classics and have a fun night out with fans and friends in recent years. On Tuesday (Feb. 27), that brought him to The Garage, a small venue in London, where he and his band ripped through such classics as Generation X’s “Ready, Steady, Go,” Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and Plimsouls’ “A Million Miles Away” among others.
But it was Love’s guest turn that was the buzz of the night. The longtime Hole vocalist has been largely out of the public eye in recent years, but on this night she turned up to play a few songs with Billie Joe’s band.
“My name is Courtney Love – you may not remember me. I’ve been living in a cave in Birmingham for about nine years,” she explained upon walking onto the stage. “We’ll give this a fucking try, right?”
Love sat in for performances of Cheap Trick’s “He’s a Whore” and Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers,” before later returning for the encore of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender.” See footage below of Love’s performances, along with several fan-shot clips from The Coverups as well.
20 Bands That Reunited With All of Their Original Members
It’s cool to see a band reunite with all of its original members, so we came up with 20 examples of that happening. Of course, that doesn’t mean they necessarily stayed together with all original members after. So, here, we show how long they were together — both originally and on their comeback(s).
Gallery Credit: Philip Trapp
