I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 29, 2023] Placebo

When Placebo announced their first American tour in ten years, I immediately grabbed a ticket.  I was vaguely surprised that my wife wanted to go–she loves a couple of their songs, but doesn’t know much else by them.

I had forgotten that originally, they had announced the tour in the fall of 2022 (with no Philly date, the closests show was Brooklyn, boo).  But they had to postpone for logistical reasons.

She did, however, guess exactly right what the show would be like–loud rocking guitars, cool lights and a fun time.  I, a big fan for decades, was completely wrong about the show.  I didn’t think it would rock that hard–knowing that they have moody songs as well.

Before the show, I checked setlist, not to see what they were playing but to see album distribution.  I found that they were playing 11 songs from their new album (!) out of 22 songs in total.

I was a little bummed about this, not because I don’t like the new album, but because I’ve never seen them before and I wanted to hear a greatest hits show.  I mean it’s been ten years.  [Turns out the band hated doing their retrospective tour ten years ago and almost broke up because of so clearly they weren’t doing that again].

But they came out (with a very strict policy of no cameras) in a wall of lights.  Brain Molko and Stefan Olsdal stood up at the front.  Brian switched guitars nearly every song and Stefan switched between bass and guitar with stark frequency.

Along the back was a keyboardist/violinist, drummer, second (or third) guitarist and another person who I couldn’t see at all.

And then up front came Brian (with a crazy cheesy mustache) and Stefan (my wife joked that Stefan looked a bit like Jeff from Community with the vest and no shirt on).

I had read some posts on a Placebo reddit which were very critical of the band’s live show recently.  That Brian wasn’t really into it and that he was phoning it in.  And worse, that they sounded stale. They also suggested there was a pretty good chance that the tour would be cancelled (they had been cancelling a lot in the last few years).  So, let’s just say I wasn’t especially excited about the show.  Not like I would have been had I not known anything about what I was getting into.

But all my fears were extinguished immediately.  I was happy that I’d listened to the new album a few times so the songs were at least familiar.  And certainly the first few songs were.   They opened with the first two songs from the new album–both great.

I’ve always enjoyed Brian’s lyrics.  The main line for “Hugz” is oddly spot on but weird as well: “A hug is just another way of hiding your face”  Catchy as anything, though.  He told us (yes, he did engage with the audience, despite what that redddit group said) “Happy Birthday to the Sky” was written for his brother who had died last year (I had no idea).

Stefan then introduced a song for all of the old old fans.  They played a song from their debut–an album that I loved–and yet one that I didn’t recognize, at least not right away.  It’s the third song on the record and is right between a bunch of singles.  It was a nod to the fact that they weren’t playing any of the huge old hits.  This was the only song from before the 2000s.

Then it was back to the new album.  Brian switched guitars every song and Stefan switched from guitar to bass to piano and back.

The band had asked before the show that no one film anything–it’s distracting for the band and for the fans around you.  And this lets you be in the moment with the band–the reddit group had a problem with this too.  For the most part people were good about it.  Even me, who likes to document shows, resisted taking any videos, although I did have to sneak in a quit snap or two (which came out terrible, I’d think because of the lights they had set up).  There was a girl near us who was videoing pretty much the whole show.  But she had her phone up in the air and was waving it around (like she didn’t care).  That will be the worst video ever and will make anyone who watched it nauseous.

“Surrounded By Spies” was especially good and “Sad White Reggae” was really catchy too.

They started throwing in some older songs at this point.  “Too Many Friends” was a particular highlight for me–earlier in the show when he said that he had too many pedals, I immediately thought of this song, and was happy he played it.    I also enjoyed “For What It’s Worth” and “Come Undone” from battle for the Sun, an album I didn’t know I knew so well.

I had a list of about fifteen songs that I really wanted to hear.  Somewhere on the list was “Slave to the Wage” which I have to admit sounded amazing probably because it was the song I knew best.  And yea, I was really excited to hear it.

I’m guessing I never really listened to the album Meds very much, because I didn’t really recognize “Song to Say Goodbye” (which they jammed out for about 8 minutes) or the song that EVERYONE went crazy for, “Infra-Red.”  In fairness, the song sounded amazing and my wife said it was her favorite song of the night.  I knew them enough to groove to them, but it made me realize I hadn’t listened to Meds enough.

Another highlight for me was “The Bitter End.”  I have always loved the weird synth notes that sprinkle through the song–making it sound even more haunting.  And boy did it sound good.

So, basically, they played two songs that I really wanted to hear.  And yet, the show was great.  The band sounded amazing and all the new songs were terrific–I mean, honestly, if you like Placebo at all, you’re pretty much going to like anything they do.

But this meant, surely, that the encore would check off a couple of songs that I really wanted to hear.  At least, surely they were going to play “Pure Morning” or “Without You I’m Nothing” (the only two songs that my wife knew going into the show.

But it turned out to be the worst encore ever constructed.

I don’t say this because they didn’t play any songs I wanted to hear, but because they did a three song encore which consisted of two covers and a song from the new album.  What the hell?  I didn’t realize they had released a new cover of tears for Fears’ “Shout” (making this the second Tears for Fears cover of the night which was doubly weird).  I didn’t love it.  I mean, it was fine, but whatever.  I assumed it was just for a chance to have Stefan sing lead.

Then they played another new song (bringing the total to 11 of 13 songs, the only ones left out were “The Prodigal” and “This is What You Wanted”).

And they ended with their cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” a song which I love but which I think everyone agrees is a little overplayed (and over-covered) right about now.  In fairness, they did their cover in 2003, so they were way ahead of the curve and they should be able to capitalize a little.  But still, I’ve never been so disappointed by an encore.

And yet, I still consider the show a rousing success.  Nothing like what I was expecting–they played none of the top ten songs I wanted to hear and yet I still walked away feeling great and having really enjoyed myself.  That’s a pretty good result.

Setlist

1. Forever Chemicals ⊗
2. Beautiful James ⊗
3. Scene of the Crime £
4. Hugz ⊗
5. Happy Birthday in the Sky ⊗
6. Bionic ¶
7. Twin Demons ⊗
8. Surrounded by Spies ⊗
9. Chemtrails ⊗
10. Sad White Reggae ⊗
11. Try Better Next Time ⊗
12. Too Many Friends £
13. Went Missing ⊗
14. For What It’s Worth ©
15. Slave to the Wage (with band intros) ß
16. Song to Say Goodbye ‰
17. Come Undone ©
18. The Bitter End
19. Infra-red ‰
    Encore
20. Shout (Tears for Fears cover)
21. Fix Yourself ⊗
22. Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Kate Bush cover)