Southampton, Guildhall Square 26/06/24
Placebo are one of those bands that when I first heard them in the 90’s I really enjoyed their blend of alternative rock, Brian Molko’s unique vocal and the amount of trashiness in their songs.
I bought a split 7″ single they had which featured their track “Bruise Pristine” on. In the mid 90’s a label called Fierce Panda was releasing some really exciting stuff, 7” compilations, split singles and one off singles by wonderful bands like Kenickie, Three Colours Red and more. I grabbed quite a few of these at the time and played the Placebo side over and over again, what a song. Sadly though I did sell all of these when I downsized and decided I just couldn’t be bothered with having to change the 7” single all the time on the turntable.
Then came “Nancy Boy”, what a tune! The whole androgynous image of the band which stood out amongst the current influx of lad culture Britpop that was filling the charts, the airwaves and the press at the time. Placebo had this edge about them. They seemed to just go from strength to strength as well with tracks like “Every Me And Every You” and “Pure Morning”, absolute classic rock tunes that still hold up all these years later. I’ll be honest I did lose my way with the band a bit, I started to listen to more American punk rock bands as the whole Britpop thing had become stale and the whole lad culture was not for me. It’s been years since I’ve listened to them, other than when “Nancy Boy” appeared on a compilation, it’s been on so many of them it seems over the years. It instantly brings back good memories, a proper 90’s banger as they say. But the chance to see them play live again tonight was pretty exciting as to be honest my life has changed a lot in recent years and I don’t get to hardly any gigs like I used too, so this is a pretty rare thing for me. I even looked it up and I last saw Placebo in December 2006 at Wembley Arena and to be honest with you I can recall next to nothing about this show.
Arriving in Southampton it seems the event is set up in a square, between the Guildhall and the surrounding buildings, blocked in and a huge stage greets us. Being outside this already has a nice feel about it, almost like it’s going to be mini festival feel and I am feeling excited to realise that during the Placebo set that the sun will go down and we’ll see an impressive light show I’m sure. This is already shaping up nicely.
Supporting tonight are a band I’ve not heard of before, Friedberg. Coming out on stage it does feel very much like a mid afternoon slot at a festival like Reading, the band in sunglasses. Music wise they play a mix of rock mixed with post punk and indie, a tad Breeders at times. Musically decent, vocally it was rather repetitious and it felt at times that the band didn’t quite know how to move away from a verse, there were no catchy choruses for the crowd to pick up on. But the set was impressive enough, a welcoming feel to their sound, very much like I said when you wander into a field at Glastonbury for example, mid afternoon and you see a band that you’ve never heard before, nothing overly new and exciting but enjoyable enough.
The crowd were ready and maybe five minutes or so before Placebo were due on the voice of Brian Molko came over the speakers, with an image projected onto the stage. Urging the crowd to not watch the show through their mobile phones, to not video and block the views of others. To help the band connect with the crowd, to be in the now as he called it. Greeted with cheers from the crowd and then a few minutes later the band were on the stage…
Kicking the set off with “Taste In Men” from their album “Black Market Music” and we were all instantly in the moment. The sound was so impressive from the offset. Placebo are known as a two piece these days, just Brian Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal, well I say bassist, he also plays guitar and for a couple of songs in the middle, the piano. Backed with a group of 4 other musicians and between them all they managed to really create a huge wall of sound, like I just mentioned, a seriously impressive sound right from the off. With Brian changing guitars between every single song this really was a crowd pleasing set as tracks like “Beautiful James” and “Happy Birthday In The Sky” followed as Molko announced they were a European band.
During “Surrounded By Spies” though Brian stopped the song in the middle after a fight had broken out in the audience. Telling them there’s no fighting at his gig and launching out expletives in their direction. “This needs to be a safe place, you’re making it unsafe” to which the crowd cheered and the chant of “kick them out” arose. After a few minutes Brian and the crowd had calmed down, the show restarted and huge respect to Brian for calling people out and ensuring the safety of the rest of the crowd.
Placebo were absolutely immense tonight. The fact that all these years later and Brian Molko sounds exactly as he used too, absolutely perfect vocals. I realised I knew a lot more of their songs than I thought I did, “Every Me And Every You, “Slave To The Wage” for example all encouraged sing along moments. After around ninety minutes we were nearing the end and they played “The Bitter End” and what a song that is! That could easily have closed the set, but they then played the one many had been waiting for, “Nancy Boy”. Now I love this song, it’s an absolute belter but believe it or not it actually felt really flat tonight. Not that they did a poor job or anything, cause they really didn’t, more the fact that this is an older song from their catalogue and the rest of the tracks just show a huge shift in their sound, things are much fuller now and it’s easy to see how they transitioned from almost a scrappy rock band into a festival headliner… I’m going to use that word again… it’s damn impressive.
With an encore of “Infra-red” before their absolute classic Kate Bush cover, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” which was to close the night out.
The dark evening, the light show, the choice of set, this really was a whole experience event. Minimal phones on display, sure a few here and there, but usually there’s loads in view, which was not the case tonight. To summarise, this was an incredible evening, a band on top of their game musically, a perfect setting and it has most definitely ignited a spark in me to listen to them much more…
Set List: Taste In Men / Beautiful James / Scene Of The Crime / Happy Birthday In The Sky / Bionic / Surrounded By Spies / Soulmates / Every Me Every You / Sad White Reggae / Try Better Next Time / Too Many Friends / Went Missing / For What It’s Worth / Slave To The Wage / Song To Say Goodbye / The Bitter End / Nancy Boy / Infra-red / Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)
Review by Mr. T
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