After teasing fans with cryptic posts earlier this week, Courtney Love has clarified that there will be no full Hole reunion – at least for now. Love, who fronted the iconic 1990s grunge band Hole, posted on Instagram and commented on a SPIN magazine post to set the record straight: “no Hole reunion.”
Instead, Love confirmed she will be performing with former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, who played with the band from 1994 until 1999. The duo plans to play “some shows, new songs,” though specific dates have yet to be announced. Love emphasized, “Not a reunion baby. Me and @xmadmx [Auf der Maur] touring new songs.”
Speculation flared earlier in the week after Love shared videos of Auf der Maur on Instagram, backed by Hole‘s 1998 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Celebrity Skin”, and teased, “So do we tell the kids about the tour @xmadmx?” Auf der Maur responded cryptically, “it starts with eternal love ….” Love also posted a vintage photo with Auf der Maur and former guitarist Eric Erlandson, taken at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont shortly before the release of Celebrity Skin.
Both artists have been promoting individual projects: Love‘s life story will be featured in the documentary Antiheroine, which premiered at Sundance, while Auf der Maur‘s rock memoir Even the Good Girls Will Cry is due out March 17. At present, no further information or tour dates have been confirmed.
Love and the original Hole lineup have flirted with reunions for over a decade. On December 28, 2013, Love posted photos with guitarist Eric Erlandson and tagged Auf der Maur and former manager Peter Mensch, hinting at a possible 2014 reunion.
Reports later that year suggested a Celebrity Skin lineup return, but Love quickly tempered expectations, calling her statements “very frail” and clarifying no concrete plans existed. In a 2014 Pitchfork interview, she admitted releasing Nobody’s Daughter as a Hole record had “cheapened the name” and suggested saving “Hole” for the lineup fans actually wanted to see.
Further attempts occurred in October 2019, when Hole were photographed rehearsing in Los Angeles with Love, Erlandson, Auf der Maur, and drummer Patty Schemel; and in March 2020, Love and Auf der Maur planned a performance at the Bans Off My Body event, which was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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