Courtney Love – reviews of singer's 'captivating' UK tour

What you need to knowAmerican singer-songwriter Courtney Love is on tour in the UK and kicked off her visit with a gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Sunday. Love is best known as the former wife of Kurt Cobain from grunge band Nirvana and the front-woman of alternative rock band Hole, which is rumoured to be reforming.

On this tour Love appears with a four piece band playing past solo and Hole material, as well as new songs including You Know My Name and Wedding Day. She will appear in Glasgow, 15 May, and performs at various UK venues until 22 May.

What the critics likeLove looks as though she's found herself again and is "every inch the riot grrrl", says Betty Clarke in The Guardian. Her innate unpredictability makes her compelling and she pulls off the ultimate trick – she leaves us begging for more.

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Love is "completely captivating", says Alice Vincent in the Daily Telegraph. And her music is strong too, from the fresh and gritty new track Wedding Day to Celebrity Skin's angry, pithy lyrics 16 years on – we're seeing her at her best.

Love is as unpredictable as ever in her latest comeback making for "a compelling performance", says Andre Paine in the Evening Standard. Age has not mellowed her, judging from new single Wedding Day for which she emitted a cobweb-clearing scream.

What they don't like Sometimes her wilful immaturity is grating and "she comes across like a 49-year-old little girl doing anything for a bit of attention", says Will Hodgkinson in The Times. But underneath the miasma of dysfunctional exhibitionism, Love is at her best when dealing with uncomfortable truths in her most sophisticated songs 20 Years in the Dakota and Doll Parts.