Credit: Bill Olive and chron.com

Courtney Love had a valid excuse for being a bit late to the stage Tuesday at the House of Blues.

“Hey – I couldn’t find a bra,” she said. “So there was some panic.”

It was the first of several disarming moments. And with that, Love dropped her trenchcoat to reveal a simple black dress and launched full-force into a nearly two-hour set that included covers, classics and lots of cigarettes.

But there were no meltdowns. No look-away moments. Nothing except a fiery rock goddess on top of her game.

Love was frequently funny (“It’s harder to play and sing when you’re skinny. It’s better when you’re chunky”) and friendly (shouting out Twitter fan @famousrichard). She talked about turning 46 Friday and missing former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. And she never missed a beat.

The reincarnated Hole includes a quartet of male players, but Love is clearly the attraction. She raged through a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For the Devil, attacked new song Skinny Little Bitch with gusto — and stopped to blow her nose. Fans near the front of the stage threw bouquets of flowers into the air before handing them to Love.

She sounded and looked fierce. Love charged through oldies Miss World and Violet and the crowd sang along, entranced. As a raw live performer, she could tear any current female star apart. (And probably would.)

This was what a rock show, minus any pointless adjectives, should look, feel and sound like.

There were several covers, including a snippet of Feeling Good, Steve Nicks’ Gold Dust Woman (of course), a Leonard Cohen tune and an able rock reading of Nine Inch Nails’ Closer.

The crowd joined in during an a cappella snippet of Jennifer’s Body, and Love said she hadn’t performed Petals since 1998. Every song — Live Through This, Celebrity Skin, Awful, Doll Parts — was a mad blaze of guitars and full-throttle vocals.

“It was a lovely date. Let’s do it again soon,” she cooed after an encore that included another Stones cover (Play With Fire), Boys On the Radio and a twangy Never Go Hungry Again.

Love-ly, indeed.