Courtney Love @ Enmore Theatre

Let’s agree on one thing: Courtney Love is an icon. Another thing: she’s earned that title. During her headline tour across Australia, a hatred for the former Hole frontwoman has become spectacularly apparent. Commentators have resorted to the same boring insults and tired speculations – one Adelaide punter threw a beer can at her, and Brisbane band Dune Rats made her the butt of jokes over Facebook. It’s like the boys of rock have forgotten that Kurt Cobain was a vocal feminist. But Love was and continues to be a musician in her own right, an icon in her own right, more than just Cobain’s wife.

But the love for Courtney is damn fierce too, made abundantly clear at her Enmore Theatre performance. Strutting onstage as a caricature of herself – tiara and all – Love had immediate charisma. After affectionately calling us “little shits” and thanking Qantas for not arresting her – like they did in 1995 – Love raised one foot to a podium, splaying her legs through opener and recent single ‘Wedding Day’.

‘Miss World’ and ‘Violet’ from Hole’s 1994 record Live Through This were next up, resulting in a whole lot of \m/ from the largely female audience. After her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Gold Dust Woman’ came Celebrity Skin’s ‘Malibu’. Although the 1998 track was Hole’s most acclaimed single, Love’s performance of it was the least impressive of the evening. Patchy screeching replaced the gentle sadness we know from the track’s vocals. No-one seemed to mind much, singing along regardless. Of crowd favourite ‘Olympia’, Love shrugged her shoulders and laughed. “I don’t understand why you all like it,” she mocked, while an infatuated crowd went nuts.

‘Celebrity Skin’ closed the set before Love returned – in a new outfit – for a four-song encore that the crowd had really pleaded for. Curtseying goodbye, Love then handed roses out into the audience.

Throughout the night she told one punter that she wanted to fuck him; she divulged that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails “wasn’t that great” in bed; she said she hadn’t slept with Nick Cave but “I have everyone else”; and she slapped the insides of her elbow, pretending to shoot up. Half the audience threw their bras onstage as Love hung them from her microphone and beckoned us to throw more. “If you can beat my record of 200 bras I’ll stage dive – which hasn’t happened since Miami in 1991.” Though the quota wasn’t met, Love joined in and showed us her bra.

If we can take anything from her final Australian show, it’s that Courtney Love has earned the title of icon and musician in her own right. “I’m not America’s sweetheart,” she admits. But we didn’t come for a sweetheart. We came for Courtney-fucking-Love, and that’s exactly what we got.