 - - - - - - - - - - - - - FRIDAY, JANUARY 15TH, 1999, BIG DAY OUT, ERICSSON STADIUM, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND By Kerri Just a quick note before I start this, for people who don’t know what the Big Day Out is, it is a travelling show that comes to New Zealand and Australia every year in January and has a huge array of bands and culture, which punters have the chance to enjoy from about 11am until midnight. Just a few of the bands that were at this years Big Day Out were Korn, Marilyn Manson, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Fatboy Slim and of course the one and only Hole. My friend Rachel and I had only found out we were going to the Big Day Out about a week before it was actually scheduled to be in New Zealand, so there was a bit of a mad dash to get everything done in time, you know book the tickets and find a motel in Auckland, which was "interesting" considering that every motel we rang up asked if we were going to the Big Day Out. Anyway we arrived in Auckland and I was totally hyped up about seeing Hole for the first time in my life, they are one of my absolute favourite bands, Courtney is so beautiful and talented and just to be in her presence is an honour!! The day of the Big Day Out rolled around and we were rearing to go, Rachel and I arrived at Ericsson Stadium at about 11am, there were over 30,000 people there and I could already hear some bands pumping out their music on various stages. As we were going in the gates a girl handed Rachel a flyer saying that we could have the opportunity to meet Hole, I flipped!!! I was so excited, I had an inkling that we probably wouldn’t meet Courtney but we might get the chance to meet Eric and Melissa and maybe Samantha. Ok this is a review of my Hole "experience", so I will just skip to that hence this review starts at like 5.30 pm!! At about 5.30 pm (doh! De ja vue) Rachel and I went over to the signing tent, Hole were supposed to turn up at about this time to sign some stuff, but there had just been an incident with the band Korn, all their fans had gone mental and Korn were to scared to come out and sign autographs. So as you can imagine there were a lot of angry looking security people walking around mumbling about "stupid teenyboppers", and "fucking arrogant bands" etc, all I have to say about that is one: I am not a teenybopper thank you very much and two: if they didn’t want to deal with the bands then why did they become security guards??, then again are security people ever not angry and pissed off??! Rachel and I lined up inside the tent and started talking to lots of people, mainly girls, who were also waiting to meet Hole, most of them were really young, and all were really cool, compared to the Korn fans, Hole fans were very relaxed and were happy just talking about all things Courtney, one girl even said that she would become a lesbian for a chance to be with Courtney which was interesting. At one point this camera crew came in and asked us what was so great about Courtney Love, most people had a lot of great things to say about her, but there had to be one fuck up in the crowd (in a Korn tshirt, is this just a coincidence??) who said the only good thing about Courtney was that she was married to Kurt Cobain, he then went on to say that Courtney murdered Kurt, that pissed me off so much, I was livid!!! I would have turned around and punched him in the face but by then he was being delt to by some other Hole fans! (Maybe at this time I can add in that think that guy Nick Broomfield, can burn in hell). 6.30pm rolled around and there was some cheering outside the tent, in walked Eric and Melissa, both of them looked really good, and were so nice!! I was one of the first to get an autograph and both Eric and Melissa posed for me. Eric looked really cool with his bleached white hair and big black glasses, and Melissa looked gorgeous in all black with a really cool neckless depicting a little girl and little boy kissing. My meeting with them was very brief but I felt so happy and was totally buzzing for the rest of the Big Day Out. After that it was a long wait for Hole to actually take the main stage, so Rachel and I got something to eat and had a look around, oh and sat through an incredibly dull performance by Korn and an incredibly weird set by Marilyn Manson (weird is good!!!). Rachel and I then went and found a decent place to see the stage, up on this little stairway overhang thingy, which definately had to be the best stage view I had the whole day. There was lots of cheering and screaming going on and after what seemed like hours Courtney finally walked onto the stage at about 9.20pm, she came up to the microphone and said something which I can’t remember. Courtney was so beautiful, she was wearing her shiny black hipster pants and this ripped up green-white fluffy tank top. The rest of the band then came onstage, looking very stylie and got straight into the music, Courtneys singing was tip top, Melissa and Eric were playing so well and with the new(ish) addition of Samantha Maloney playing the drums the group completely ripped. I can’t remember the set list but highlights were definatley "Miss World" (30,000 people singing "I’m miss world, somebody kill me" was one of the most awesome things I have ever heared), "Doll Parts", "Awful", "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu" and "Dying". Courtney was having a good old time hasseling the crowd and having a natter about when she used to live here. She said that her only friend had been a girl named Kiwi, and that the reason that Hole had gone pop was our fault (New Zealands) because this is where she had first started listening to pop bands, which I didn’t mind one bit because I, shamelessly, love Holes new sound!! At one stage Courtney spotted a girl in the crowd, and focused on her throughout the whole night, basically telling her that she should stop kissing her boyfriend and get out there and start a band, finally she got the girl to come on stage, and apparently gave the girl one of her guitars later that night. We also found out from Courtney that for every dollar a male earns women earn 60 cents but that Hole had turned that around and were earning the most out of all the bands touring on the Big Day Out, only Courtney could earn that kind of respect! There was also a lot of Courtneys celebrity skin flashing around, she loved torturing all the guys in the crowd, who were asking the obvious "show us yer tits love" with quick flashes of her breasts and then finally walking off the stage at the end with her top completely removed!! It was such a bummer when hole’s show was finished, but I was left with so many awesome memories, I now realise why Hole are one of my absolute favourite bands and why Courtney is my hero!! Anyone that ever gets the chance go see Hole, if you don’t you are just plain stupid!! On a final note if any fellow Hole fans read this then feel free to write to me I would love to hear from you at Kerribabe@yahoo.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - |