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I looked around this intimate room, with a model train steaming
around the tracks above our heads, and searched for an empty seat.
With the house band still playing, I spotted Melissa and went over
to thank her for inviting me and to ask if I could be a bit
obnoxious and take a few pictures during their set. "Sure," she
answered. We made small-talk for a minute or two and I looked
around the room once again for some place to sit. Just then, I
ran into Ian Ross, whom I’d met a few times at shows, and who works
for CBC Radio in Vancouver. We started cathing up on each other’s
lives, and next thing you know, I’m sitting at his table right in
front of the stage.
Melissa and Patty took to the stage and a soundtrack of talking
and spacey sound effects played through their speakers. Melissa
joined in on bass, and Patty on drums, and they were under way
with only their second such show. About half way through their
twenty minute set, one of Melissa’s strings popped, She looked
out at the crowd like, "Now what?". It’s not like their was a
guitar tech standing by to replace it, or even a back up bass.
The whole thing was so way-off from how you would usually see
them with Hole. It was nice to see them doing this semi-improvised
kind of thing, because you could tell they were having a lot of fun.
They would often exchange smiles while playing, like two best friends
just having a good time. This was a lot different from the last
time I saw them play with Hole at Lollapalooza in Vancouver. At
that show, the only looks I saw being exchanged were those of
frustration. Courtney Love was drunker than ever, doing her own
thing onstage while the rest of the band was trying to keep it
together and play a show.
I’m glad that I was among the lucky few who caught this gig at
the Railway Club. Melissa and Patty, don’t take this the wrong
way because I’m probably way out of line saying this, but you’d
be better off without you know who.
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