Placebo have always ploughed a lonely furrow. The band’s androgynous persona and noisy, angst-ridden rock has never bent to accommodate the fashions that have come and gone over the past fifteen years of their existence. You know who Placebo are and they’re not going to change. Perhaps it’s this quality that has maintained their original fan base and, judging by the crowd last night at Brixton Academy, picked up plenty more along the way.
Placebo in Brixton Academy, London, 9/27/2010
They appear on stage, singer and guitarist Brian Molko conservatively dressed in a white shirt and waistcoat and bass player Stefan Olsdal resplendent in a metallic suit. Everyone is immediately in their thrall as they kick off with ‘Nancy Boy’, their breakthrough track of 1996, which they’ve stubbornly refused to play live for years. It’s a shock to hear open chords of this statement of sexual ambiguity and reminds you how fresh their sound was when you first heard them, back in the days of an overripe Britpop scene. The pace doesn’t let up as they launch into ‘Ashtray Heart’ and Molko cranks up the drama with a brooding version of ‘Battle for the Sun’.
The Redux version of their last album is released 28th September, but really there’s no new material, so this turns into a showcase for their best work: ‘Every Me and Every You’, ‘Special Needs’ and ‘The Never-Ending Why’. But ‘Meds’ does suffers from the loss of Alison Mosshart’s vocals which appear on the recorded version.
Placebo always play one great cover version during their show and this time it’s Nirvana’s ‘All Apologies’. Only Placebo could pull this off. Most bands would make it sound like a tribute act or pull it apart until it’s no longer recognisable. Placebo manage to stamp their distinctive sound over it, whilst maintaining the plaintiff and longing of the original. There’s a rousing version of ‘Bitter End’ before they walk off stage.
Brixton Academy then turns into something like the party before the Apocalypse. Men in suits shoot T-shirts into the crowd from plastic bazooka guns and balloons descend from the ceiling before the band return with the polemic ‘Trigger Happy Hands’. Dry ice is pumped into the air and confetti rains down on the crowd as they finish with ‘Post Blue’ and ‘Taste in Men’.
It’s a rare band that maintains its energy and integrity over so many years. Placebo’s live show have always matched their recorded output and with so many nineties band indulging in cynical comeback tours, it’s nice to know bands like Placebo never go away.
by Olivia Isaac-Henry
