Live: Placebo at Brixton Academy (16 December 2013)

I arose from my pit to go to my annual gig last night (although I think I saw Desaparecidos this year too) and staggered out to Brixton Academy to see Brian and the boys (and girl). I decided on my usual no coat/ no drinks policy to get as close as possible: I didn’t count on pissing down rain and a car going through a puddle at high speed in Brixton soaking us from head to foot. Oh, well. At least any beer splashed on me after this point seemed harmless.

We just caught the end of support act Toy, who looked quite decent, and slinked down the side, so we were one place behind the barrier on the side (my favourite spot). The people around us seemed quite normal. So far, so good.

No dirgy intro vids with Placebo (I’m looking at you, Morrissey), they hit the stage promptly soon after nine, opening with crappy single B3 –‘ passion flower, catherine wheel’, check. Still it was exciting to see our Brian on the stage. I knew the set would be new album heavy which I didn’t mind as I really like the new album but they played such a lot of other songs that it didn’t seem that way. I wanted to hear a mix of brand new or quite old, and I wasn’t disappointed.

 Loud Like Love was the first one they played and ‘breathe, breathe, believe’ sounded epic at this volume (and right by the speakers).

The last album was only touched on with the Gameboy kitsch of For What It’s Worth and later, Speak in Tongues, which was pretty much the right balance (although I did miss Battle for the Sun). Me and my boyfriend exchanged glances when they played Twenty Years as neither of us like it, as it seems to go on for twenty years, but actually the second half of the song is quite good live. I might need to give it another chance. They followed it with the unmatchable Every Me, Every You (the only time a song has ever been ‘reimagined’ live to be better than the original) which really got the energy going. The couple next to me were very enthusiastic!

Too Many Friends was brilliant and made highly ironic by all the camera phone idiots filming it whilst Brian sang the line, ‘when all people do all day, is stare into a phone’. The camera phones, and the size of them, do make me feel a bit old, and the bouncers were like vultures, pouncing on anyone who was filming rather than taking a pic. One particularly annoying girl got hers knocked out of her hand by a bouncer after he’d told her a few times, and it seemed to stop working, which cheered me up immensely, as she’d been bumping into me about five minutes before. Thems the breaks, indeed.

Scene of the Crime was really good (handclaps! Washing machine!) and Rob the Bank is gloriously stupid. A nice surprise was Space Monkey, one of many tracks off Meds to follow (although sadly not Because I Want Youuuuuuuuu-ooooooo). My boyfriend recognised Space Monkey long before I did. I must admit, I still do pine for the toy megaphone. I think a computer does the voice distortion now. Still, better than when he just did it with his own hands one year. Space Monkey and all the fab Meds songs bring back memories of the best Placebo Gig EVER Rock am Ring, with the sunset going down. I think we must have watched that about 20 times. Not that I was there. But I wish I had been. There were some good visuals for Space Monkey going on at Brixton, too. Next they played Blind, which is OK, but I don’t think I can ever get over the lyrics of ‘your eyes forever glued to mine’ – ouch.

It was lovely to hear Meds (was dancing quite a bit by this point) and not at all lovely to hear the terrible Song to Say Goodbye – not helped by a vertically challenged little dick trying to pick a fight with me. ‘Is there space there for a midget?’ No there isn’t, plus I’M a midget. He ended up pushing my boyfriend, which is always delightful. I just love leaving the house and mingling with the human race!

Anyway, this ended up as a bit of a result for me, as my boyfriend moved me in front of him, out of the midget eyeline, and I ended up having a better spot, just in time for the singalong greatness of Special K. The crowd was really going mad by this time, and there was a great atmosphere. By the time the first notes of The Bitter End kicked in, the roof was off. Yeah, I said it! The roof was off. Amazing.

After the encore, they came back and did the slowed down version of Teenage Angst (I’d prefer the normal version) and the epic Running Up That Hill. I love the way Brian sings ‘God’ as ‘Gaaaaaaad’.

The best part though, were the final two songs of Post Blue ‘It’s in the water, baby’ and the unstoppable Infrared. I was amazed they did so much off Meds, and if there’s a better line on record than ‘Someone call the ambulance/ there’s gonna be an accident’ I’d like to hear it. Just a fantastic way to end.

Brian doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t need to, the songs do the talking. He and Stefan have a great rapport with the crowd, and with each other, and looked genuinely happy to be there. And despite a puddle and a self-proclaimed midget threatening to ruin things, the force than is Placebo could not be ruined. Thanks for a good night, Brian. 

Placebo: live at Brixton Academy

Went to see Placebo at the beautiful Brixton academy last night, which was pretty much doomed from the start. First I got the wrong tickets (the circle instead of standing) and then they released a 2nd date so I could have got standing tickets, but couldn't afford them, so was grumpy anyway after that.
When we arrived the queue was massive, so we went round the corner for a drink. The queue seemed full of small goths with the occasional old person (ie. us). By the time we got back the queue had gone and we got fairly decent seats in the circle.
The night was badly marred by a fat, pathetic attention-seeking cretin who sat in front of us. Red flags were raised when she began introducing herself to everyone, before headbanging to the (dire) support act. When Placebo came on, she decided to stand up, even though everyone else was sitting down. When the bouncer told her to sit down (repeatedly), she went ‘fuck you’ and started calling her names, so I was forced to tell her to stop being a cunt. But she couldn’t be. Cunt DNA was running through her. Luckily, after about four songs, her and her cronies fucked off to make someone else’s life a misery. It’s a good thing too; I’d have happily thrown her over the edge of the circle had she stayed.
Anyway, that wasn’t Placebo’s fault. But here’s something that is. Playing virtually the same setlist that we saw LAST YEAR. Last year! That’s a long time ago. The only variations were Trigger Happy Hands (mindlessly stupid, but fun to sing along to live), Teenage Angst (seemingly remixed by Coldplay) and ‘It’s in the water, baby’- (WTF is that song actually called) which was the best song of the night, and they spend a few quid on smoke machines and glitter cannons at that point, too. The light show was good, but not as good as it was at Manchester.
I quite liked Teenage Angst version they did, though, with a loud riffy guitar over it. I do like the way the experiment with old songs and sometimes it pays off (Every Me, Every You) sometimes it doesn’t (Because I want You), Obviously knocking the end shouty part off Bitter End still hurts, too. Oh they did All Apologies too, which was quite good (married, buried, etc)
Brian didn’t seem to say much, and looked the same as always, and stood in one spot the whole night as he has on the whole tour. Stefan was wearing his silver suit, recycled from the O2 dates. I wish they could mix it up just a little.
I enjoyed Nancy Boy, Every Me, Every yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, Meds, Bitter End and Infra-red. I didn’t enjoy sitting in a chair with no leg room and the bouncers constantly telling people to sit down- a battle they lost about 5 songs from the end.
They caned the (not new anymore!) album, too, obviously. And they even ended with Taste in Men! Zzz. It’s worse that Morrissey with First of the Gang to Die. I mean, if they’re boring us, they must be boring themselves, right?
To top it off, my boyfriend was in a foul mood and didn’t even clap one song. I’m sure the gig was great if you were down the front, but it felt like we were watching from over a hill, whilst needing an injection of antidepressants. Which is probably what being a Placebo fan should feel like.
I know one day I will see the Placebo gig I deserve. But it’s just not going to be this year. But that’s OK- my Placebo obsession has calmed for the moment anyway. I’ll consider reinstating it when they sack the ‘Trigger Happy clown’ (I preferred Peirrot).

Live: Hole at Brixton Academy

A couple of days late with this one, forgive me! Went to see Hole again (thanks, Atomic Kitten) on Wednesday and it was a totally different experience to last time’s horrendous crush. Brixton is such a good venue in that you can get a decent view from practically anywhere, but we had a pretty good spot quite near the front. Missed much of the support band but they looked OK from the little I did see.
Courtney was absolutely on fire. I’d heard good things from the Glasgow gig (thanks for the spoilers, D, I can see why you were excited though!) but I wasn’t expecting this. The set was brilliant, some of it the same as before, but a lot different too. Violet was amazing; I remember vividly being heartbroken listening to that as loud as possible when I was 16, so it felt good to belt that one out with everyone else. She did Nine Inch Nails ‘I wanna fuck you like an animal’ (it can’t be called that- Closer to God?) which I hadn’t heard for 15 years but always enjoyed and her version was great- and she even did a little riff from Who’s Porno You Burn at the end which made me squeal. I’d like to hear that again.
Boys on the Radio was my highlight because it’s my favourite Hole song. I wouldn’t say she murdered it, but it was definitely going too fast and she messed up the lyrics (it has got a lot of lyrics though, as Conor Oberst said when he messed up ‘Joy Division’ by Simon Joyner) despite her reading them off the ground. She was reading the lyrics for quite a few songs; shocking really, I know the words, so shouldn’t she? Still, it’s Courtney. She can do what she wants! Even with that, though, Boys on the Radio was magical; I cried. I never thought I’d hear that live. It was just special and I’m emotional anyway right now.
She did some other nice covers, and a bit of a shitty version of that Smiths song that I don’t even like when Morrissey does it. Is it Suffer Little Children? ‘Manchester, so little to answer for’, as Morrissey would acerbically say. Oh, he is a wag. Can you believe I don’t know all my Smiths facts? I’m a fraud.
I thought Letter to God was really moving, and she did new stuff that I liked such as Nobody’s Daughter and Someone Else’s Bed. Still can’t be doing with the new version of Pacific Coast Highway though; that end is awful.
Hmm, what else? Her banter with the crowd was ace, she kept demanding the lights be turned on so she could see us, and demanding to fuck us. She was really funny and silly. She was threatening to take her clothes off and I thought ‘no way’ but she did and she had the most beautiful underwear on underneath; all purple and black and lacy. She looked absolutely stunning (but still too skinny, eat a sandwich, mum). I wasn’t expecting that as she is in her ‘politician’s wife’ mode of dress at the moment. She did the rest of the gig in her undies. The woman is in her mid forties. She has got balls.
The end was pretty weird, when she dragged up some kid who looked like he didn’t know the words to sing Doll Parts. He looked embarrassed. Her voice was beyond fucked by the end, she was really struggling. In fact all the way through she was turning the mic to the crowd because she couldn’t do certain high bits.
I felt so happy watching this gig, seeing her so adored, and on such good form. I never knew so many people liked her! She’s a one off. I’m sure there’s loads I’ve forgotten. But it was really wonderful. I’m so glad I went again!

Live: Morrissey at Troxy vs Morrissey at Brixton Academy

So the rescheduled Morrissey gigs changed from a Tuesday and Thursday night to a consecutive Saturday and Sunday. We decided to try and get down the front for the Troxy so we could just relax and have a drink on the Sunday at Brixton.
Troxy was a really cool venue, with interesting art-deco style architecture and features, and rather fetching carpets. We got right at the barrier, but a bit towards the side, which was a result really, as we were just on the cusp of the craziness, but could still see very well.
Doll and the Kicks were good, but I prefer her blonde. We like their song that sounds a bit like Pink.
There was the usual suffering through the intro vid, and then there he was. We were pretty close to him, and the view was excellent. He seemed a bit subdued, not really saying much. The setlist had changed from Yarmouth more than I expected, and he did 'I just want to see the boy happy' (zzzzzz) and Pigsty (yay!) but no Seasick. Also, no 'Squeezing my Skull'. I think he should have hammered the new album more, and cut some of the Smiths songs. As for The Loop- give us a break. Still, very enjoyed You Just Haven't Earned it Yet Baby, and I liked his changing of the lyrics at end of 'How Soon Is Now' to 'and now half my life is gone... thank god'. When Last I Spoke To Carol is also really brilliant live; especially when Moz adds his 'waaaw' sound effects and wing-flappy bits.
A few people were chancing getting on the stage, but the bouncers were quite heavy handed. Moz was shaking hands and generally quite friendly, just a bit quiet.
There was less pressure on us on the Sunday as we presumed it would be the same old setlist and we could just kick back and have a drink. I've been to Brixton Academy before (to see Morrissey!), but the memory must have fallen out of my brain as I had totally forgotten the sloping floor and everything. It's actually a very cool venue which means you can see a lot more easily from most places. We were in the middle towards the side I'd say, and could see pretty well. The sound was also good in there.
I was surprised that the setlist was so different; and very happy indeed when he played 'Mama..' which I'd been dying to hear! I could have lived without 'I Keep Mine Hidden' but that 'Moon Over Kentucky' cover version was pretty good, and he even made 'Because of My Poor Education' listenable. Not sure why he insists on finishing with First of the Gang To Die... I'm totally over it. Similarly, Crashing Bores gets on my nerves.
On the whole though, two excellent gigs. Yarmouth was something else, it just had that extra special quality because it was touch and go if he would be there, and it just felt like magic was in the air that night, but these two gigs were good, too. Personally I'd like Moz to ditch the Smiths songs (OK, he can do I Know its Over) and bang out a load of stuff from Viva Hate/ Arsenal/ Vauxhall. Oh and play It's Not Your Birthday Anymore. But it's Moz. He'll do what he likes.