KROQ Christmas Benefit Turns Into Smashing Love Fest

Was there really any doubt that the ultra-competitive Courtney Love would steal the spotlight during the opening night of KROQ’s weekend pair of Almost Acoustic Christmas benefit concerts at the Shrine Auditorium?

Hard-rock melodramatists Korn charmed the mostly teenage crowd by walking on stage with a squad of Scottish-clad bagpipe players.

And streetwise Offspring caught everyone off-guard by teaming up with pop’s unhippest figure, rapper Vanilla Ice, during its hip-hop-styled satire, “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy).”

But Love, who has begun to slowly retest live performances with her band Hole after a lengthy hiatus devoted to acting and recording a new album, simply outmaneuvered them.

First, she guaranteed herself a choice spot in Rolling Stone’s “Random Notes” by bringing out actor Edward Norton, her reclusive beau, to play guitar on “Malibu,” an enchanting song from the band’s new “Celebrity Skin” album. Then, Love, who has resisted even acknowledging a relationship with Norton, gave him a kiss and climbed aboard for a brief piggy-back ride.

To capture the night’s spotlight even more, Love announced that Hole’s short Shrine set would be followed by a full-length, after-midnight performance at the Roxy. Suddenly, the KROQ benefit was no longer the most exclusive ticket of the night. As prized as the tickets are, 6,000 fans got to see the Shrine event. Fewer than 500 could crowd into the Roxy.

More important, the Roxy set’s additional length would give us a glimpse of how Love and Hole are progressing at a time when many in the industry feel the band is at a crossroads.

The transformation of Love from punk goddess to Hollywood glamour puss has shattered her credibility in some pop-rock circles, and the question is whether she can win it back. The “Celebrity Skin” album is a great start, but the battle will be won on stage and the Roxy show underscored the challenge.

In both the Shrine and Roxy sets, Love showed she is one of rock’s most charismatic and electric figures, someone capable of bringing passion, risk-taking and individuality to her own music. There were flashes of brilliance in the loose, informal 90-plus-minute Roxy set, which ended at 3:15 a.m.

But the raggedness of the latter set--the pacing was off, the “Celebrity Skin” songs didn’t soar melodically the way they do on record and Love failed to step into the emotional heart of some of the new songs--pointed out the difficulties of being a part-time musician.

By the end of the Roxy set, which included such surprise covers as Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” you wondered whether Love, with her acting options and her A-list celebrity status, is willing to pay the price that rock ‘n’ roll demands.

For all the valuable things she brings to the music, she’s not irresistible enough to captivate us by simply stepping on stage. Talent and inspiration are key elements of rock excellence, but so is commitment--and that’s what Love needs to demonstrate, preferably with a tour that begins answering questions.

For those fans whose musical night ended at the Shrine, Offspring generated many of the evening’s most satisfying moments, though the band’s use of four Billy Barty-sized dancers for some playful S&M; antics during a band medley that went from Soft Cell’s “Sex Dwarf” to Devo’s “Whip It” fell flat.

Headliner Korn’s set unleashed dark, relentless, grinding rock that aimed for, though generally fell short of, the liberating intensity of Nine Inch Nails and, especially, Rage Against the Machine.

Aside from the nicely crafted pop and good humor of Barenaked Ladies, the remaining offerings ranged from the relatively anonymous pop-rock of the Cardigans to the kind of featherweight novelty acts--Blink 182, Sugar Ray and Reel Big Fish--that somehow find a welcome home on the KROQ holiday shows alongside the truly memorable alt-rock heroes such as, in this year, Love and--from Saturday’s bill--Billy Corgan.