Placebo live at Brixton Academy - 20 years

Brian and Bowie

Disclaimer: much of this blog is about my personal life and idiosyncrasies as much as the gig. 
I think I've only gone to see a band on my own three times, and each time has been really great. No one to worry about, just get to the front and have your one on one time with the object of your musical desires.
Going to see Placebo on my own was a bit of a weird one, though. You know when a band is so entwined into your relationship that every song is your song and then that relationship ends horribly and you have to try and rebuild your relationship with the band because you don't know how to rebuild the relationship with that other person and a relationship with a band is easier to manage. That.
I have a really weak bladder so employed my strict 'no fluids after 4pm rule'. I took Smint, Fruitella and a packet of Randoms instead of a drink. Randoms are actually pretty good, even the foam ones. I need to invest in a large bag of those. The only sweet I would have also liked was orange Tic-Tacs. They are great for gigs. Top tip there for you.
So the queue was massive but as usual it's full of short girls (hello, me) so not too bad, except the woman in front of me with what looked like a dead Labrador on her head. So I got into the venue and went straight to the barrier. Left seems to be my preferred side. The first layer of the barrier was taken but there was a gap just the row behind where you can still position yourself so you're standing on the metal and you're quite immovable. However, the young Grotbags tapped me on the shoulder and said her friend was standing there but would be back in a minute. Those two things are not like the other! I went 'Er OK' with no intention of moving for the next four hours. The friend comes back from the toilet and I hear Grotbags Junior go 'I tried'. Barely. Toilet girl then taps me on the shoulder and asks me to move. Now help me out here, but do people have the right to guard invisible spaces for their friends? The answer is 'fuck no.' I went 'how can it be your spot if I'm standing in it?' Which I feel was a good point. There was much whining and complaining. I said 'I'm in here on my own and didn't go to the toilet.' i.e. I planned ahead, bitches. They continued to moan and groan and my final word on the matter was 'are we still talking about this?' God I miss arguing with strangers since I stopped driving. Thank god for the internet. 
I'm only small anyway so it's easy to see over me. Plus if you're guarding the barrier, stand on the barrier, dummy. Never cared. Later, drunk men come lolloping in, punching women in the face a foot from me. Worry about that shit, not an imagined turf war with me. 
The support band were called like The Musty Hoops or something (yeah it wasn't that) and were a bit proggy. They had something about them (I'd fuck all three of them if it was the Apocalypse or something - sorry to objectify skinny young men but welllllllll) but they were no Silversun Pickups (a previous Placebo support band I'd seen and enjoyed.) 
So I'm just going to do this review from memory and not look up any facts from it. Placebo are celebrating 20 years (woo) although that does give them the excuse to play the song Twenty Years (as if they needed one) which I despise. There was a video package first with a video for Every You, Every Me I'd never seen before where Brian is mooching about the ladies loos. It was REALLY good! Have they dug that out from somewhere? I'm sure that's not the real video. Unfortunately that was all the Every You, Every Me we were going to get tonight, sad face. 
So they opened with Pure Morning, which I was sure Brian had stopped singing because he said the lyrics were crap. Did I dream that? I feel like that was a thing at one point. Great song, though. Second song was Loud Like Love, which was brilliant! His voice sounded good. It was only after that when he stopped and told us that he had a bad throat: 'I woke up sounding like the guy from The National then lost my voice two weeks ago' that I noticed his bad throat. He said he was going to have to sing some of the songs a bit differently, which was not good news. Brian is a one for reimagining (code for 'ruining') songs at the best of times. But he said it was going to make the night special. And in a way, it did, because him not being able to hit the high notes, made me appreciate all the times he DOES. Which I just took for granted before as he is so fucking good live. I cannot tell you the amount of days I have spent watching Placebo gigs on YouTube. He just always delivers. Even tonight he delivered as much as could, while sick, which is more than you get from Morrissey, ha. 
Brian also asked people to help him sing along (no problem) and to put away phones as they distract him (good call).

This pic would be better without security guy's head

Did I mention Brian's hair? It's an interesting look he's going for at the moment - sort of a Friar Tuck vibe. I wish he'd shave it off, he looked so good in the Meds video. I was also struck by how little he was tonight! Weird because I've seen him a few times. I do like my popstars diminutive: see also Conor Oberst. Another thing I noticed was he changes guitar after every single song! Talking of guitars, how cool is Stefan? I just love their relationship. 
So the next song (and I will forget some) was Jesus' Son which I really like but he had to sing it one key down so it was really hard to sing along to. I noticed his voice was properly shot then and was wondering if he would change the set list accordingly and sing loads of dirgy ones. Sure enough (not in this order) we got Twenty Years, Soulmates Never Die (that was actually good), Special Needs (not too bad) and the dreary Devil in the Details (no). Too Many Friends should have been amazing but he just couldn't get up there - that song is ALL about the high notes. The music sounded great and I felt for him and I love that song so much. I'm glad he didn't cancel the gig because there was still a great atmosphere and it was good fun. For me it was very emotional. Exit Wounds in particular was painful because that is from my relationship break up album and lyrically that song is very apropos so I just got transported back a year and a half and it fucking hurt. There's no getting over some songs, even if they helped you at the time.
The best songs Brian sang were ones without too many high notes (which is a shame as my favourite thing about him is when his mouth flips in two like a muppet and you can see all his fillings). There were glimpses of high notes but not many and it was sad because I know how brilliant they would have been and I had a great view where I was (haha).
A lovely surprise for me though was I Know, which I looooooove, and they did a really good section where they played Protect Me From What I Want (although I do prefer Protege Moi cos it's sexier and the lyrics feel less stupid in French), For What It's Worth (go no butter!) which his vocals sounded good on and Without You I'm Nothing, where Brian was forced to sing the David Bowie part because it's deeper. Pictures of David Bowie were on the screen behind him and I cried, but it was nothing to do with Bowie. 
They tried with the big hits: Special K and Slave to the Wage sort of worked with a lot of audience participation, The Bitter End held up reasonably (thank God for all that guitar) and Infra Red struggled but is always a joy. The crowd seemed mega into it and supportive the whole way though. The saddest part was no Every Me, Every yoooooooooouuuuuuuuu because you can't go 'yooooooooooouuuuuu' when you have a bad throat. But that's my favourite. So that was really disappointing. But I just don't see how he could have done it because he just couldn't hit the notes. You could see him struggling. He still put on a fantastic show and the band were really great. The light show and graphics always look brilliant at Placebo gigs (take note Morrissey). Oh and he also sang Nancy Boy for the encore but the tune/ vocals was all over the shop (but then that long deviated from the original version anyway). I still love 'eyeholes in a paper bag' though. Magic.
Should Brian have cancelled the gig? The crowd seemed to love it from where I was (in that girl's spot!). I personally needed to see Brian and I don't regret going. I know on my next YouTube Placebo gig binge, it will make me appreciate those high notes and fillings all the more. I realise now how important his voice is, and the aspects of it I appreciate, and how it's something that helps me get by. 
So as we left the bar very handily put cups of water on the side, which was much appreciated, so here's the shout out for the water. Fruitella can only get one so far in life.
I'm not sure this review even was a review or relevant to anyone else, but I felt like I needed to document it somehow, so here it is. Now I really need to go to bed. PS: My feet hurt. Night!

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: Loud Like Love

Yes, it’s time for one of my album reviews, one where I go through every song and say what other songs by that artist I think it sounds like, because that’s what I want when I read music reviews, not a load of bluff and bluster and showing off.

So let’s begin. I love the new Placebo album! Not a surprise, you may think, but I was expecting to be disappointed for some reason. I think because Placebo just became this huge obsession and then we kind of cooled on it, I was expecting the decline to go further, but instead I could be just about to reignite my crush. Plus I’m going to see them in December which will be the first gig I’ve been to since Desaparecidos – woo.

Loud Like Love is the title track of the album and is just lovely, jangly guitars, atmosphere, ‘love on an atom, love on a cloud’ but what it’s all building too is the chorus chant of ‘breathe, breathe, breathe, believe’, which is a mantra I can get behind. It’s Placebo at their best, energetic, positive, singalong and catchy. You can’t go wrong unless you’re a total sourpuss.

Scene of the Crime begins with moody handclaps. The song has got a grimy feel to it, and hangs on the hook of the lyric ‘we almost made it, but making it is overrated’ which has a nice ring to it. There’s also a good crunchy dance bit in it (almost wub wubs, but not quite) that reminds me of the English Summer Rain days, and then there’s some Pierrot the Clown style piano. The end is quite theatrical with him just yelping ‘scene of the crime’ which is quite enjoyable. All in all, it feels very much like a Placebo track. Which is what you want, right?

Too Many Friends was the first song I heard from the album and I love it. The lyrics are absolutely ludicrous – ‘My computer thinks I’m gay, I threw that piece of junk away on the Champs-Élysées’ – but isn’t that what we want from Brian (except in Special Needs)? If you can get over the hump of the first verse (and the word ‘communiqué’) it’s actually an excellent song. I love the way it builds up and the chorus is great. Brian Molko moaning about people on their iPhones, you’ve got to love it. The climax of the song is ‘all that people do all day is stare into a phone’. I think he means ‘stare into their phones’ but it’s not the last bit of English he fucks up on this album. I love the ‘I’ll never be there’ lyric at the end, and can happily imagine him singing this live.

The next song is called Hold onto Me. Unfortunately there’s a Courtney Love song called this that’s better – a trap Placebo have fallen into before with their Devil in the Details (Bright Eyes got their first). This is the first partly dreary song on the album. It’s perfectly acceptable, but that’s not what I want from a pop song. I want to be stirred! Instead, it feels a little plodding and whiney. The piece de resistance is some muttering talking part, most of which I can’t make out, but he seems to be talking about some David Icke type shit about ‘the fourth and fifth dimensions’ and ‘this is the bridge to an entirely different energy level’. Ok, then.

Next up is Rob the Bank, which is like a more palatable Trigger Happy (cringe). The lyrics hit a new low here, including ‘rob the bank and pick your nose’ which had my boyfriend howling with laughter. It’s not a bad song, sort of Placebo by numbers, I think, but it is a silly one. There’s a bit of xylophone on it later which is nice for Bloc Party fans.

A Million Little Pieces – no, not just the excellent book that really pissed off Oprah Winfrey – but now a middling song on a Placebo album. Brian sings:  ‘No more glowing in the dark for my heart’ – probably for the best; sounds like a health condition. It’s not a bad song, but I feel it’s got delusions of grandeur; songs about leaving town always do, like someone having an internet strop and threatening to quit Twitter. I do however like the end piano bit where it goes ‘All my dreaming torn in pieces’ – this album has definitely mastered the art of a strong ending for each of the songs.

Exit Wounds has a drum beat that really reminds me of cool-videoed dance song by The Notwist – ‘Pick up the Phone’. This reminds me of the previous song in that it’s quite dark and moody – has Brian had his heart broken recently? This has a chorus that’s telling you it’s epic, but it’s not quite getting me. There’s also some really stinking lyrics here: ‘If I could I would hover as he’s making love to you, making rain as I cry.’ Dearie me. Why doesn’t anyone tell him? Come on Stefan, grow some balls. I do like the different parts to this song, it’s got a weird sound in the middle, and again a strong ending: ‘put me in the ground’, which is reminiscent of one of the best songs of all time; I Know It’s over by The Smiths. If I Know it’s Over is 10, then Exit Wounds is 878,985. But still.

I suspect Purify will be the next single, it just has that single-y feel to it, it kind of reminds me of For What It’s Worth off the last album. I do like it, but it’s like Breathe Underwater or something; it’s just there and energetic, but not grabbing me emotionally.

Begin the end namechecks heroin, and includes the words ‘misconstrue’ and ‘misapprehend’. It kind of reminds me of A Million Little Pieces in that it’s quite moody. I like the line ‘I’ve tried, God knows I’ve tried, but there’s nothing you can do to change my mind’ because let’s face it, who’s not been there? My editorial side gets a little antsy after that, as there’s a line that goes, ‘And I don’t enjoy to watch you crumble, and I don’t enjoy to watch you cry.’ Surely he means ‘watching you crumble’? It’s like ‘someone tried to do me ache’ all over again. Brian; why do you do this to me? Apart from that bugging me every time  listen to it, it’s a decent song.

Bosco is the final song on the album, and really one of the best songs, almost the best song, in a way, after Loud Like Love. It’s an anti-ballad, and it had me crying in my car this morning (I was hungover though, and also cried at an advert on the side of a bus). The use of the word ‘happenstance’ is to be appreciated, even though you suspect it’s just to rhyme with ‘circumstance’ that comes next. He also shoehorns in the words ‘partisan’ and ‘belicose’, the second of which I had to look up. What is this, a Will Self book? Incidentally it mean ‘demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight’ which is probably a word I need to know (ahem). But the killer is the ending, just him repeating ‘how I suck you dry’ and it sounding like the saddest thing in the world. It’s another Placebo song with lofty ambitions, but this time it hits them. I want to say mesmerising but that sounds wanky, so I’ll say it’s something like mesmerising.

Finally, if you get the deluxe version of the CD, you get a DVD of some studio recordings of the tracks, which was very enjoyable to watch. Brian has Nancy Boy-era hair and looks very attractive (how does he stay so skinny?) and they seem to have sealed the drummer off in a plastic booth. I do think 10 tracks on an album is a bit tight; 12 even seems low, but at least the quality is good and there’s little filler. The song on the DVD that isn’t on the album is called Pity Party (of one). You can probably tell from the title that’s not going to be a winner. It’s like a less charming In the Cold Light of the Morning, so quite glad that didn’t make it onto the album. On the whole though, pleasantly surprised with the album and looking forward to seeing them in December, especially as the fans are all quite short so you normally get a good view. Win/win! 

@damebrianmolko: a Twitter war

A couple of years ago my boyfriend and I were unhealthily obsessed with Placebo, to the point where our friends almost had to stage an intervention. We’d watch five or six concerts on my laptop in a row, and extol the virtues of Brian’s megaphone, boots, jacket, various hairstyles, clunky lyrics, the way he smoked a fag, his ridiculous pretentiousness: everything he did was entertaining and a thrill.
Meds-era concert Rock Am Ring was our zenith: everything was perfect about that gig, with the sunset going down, and the most amazing set list. We must have watched it forty times. We bored people rigid as everyone else on the planet went off Placebo in about 1996. We had too, but this second flush of love felt all the more real. It was also at a time when our relationship was still a bit of a novelty, so I think the two feelings intertwined.
I had the idea of setting up a Placebo-themed Twitter account because Placebo lyrics were bouncing round my brain so much. My boyfriend thought of the name @damebrianmolko and we both planned to tweet together. I think my boyfriend only did one in the end, but it was still a cool idea and I ran with it. If you read the tweets from the start it was a real labour of love, with some references that only the most geekiest of Placebo fans would get. I enjoyed doing it, but as my crush on Placebo faded a bit, my tweets also slowed down.
The tweets were silly and cheeky. I even did some in French which must have made zero sense. My intro was: London, Paris, Belgium. Singer, writer, sodomite.
Here’s a few sample tweets:
‘Wondering what songs to 'reimagine' later; I might write some new lyrics for Pure Morning, and then put a bit of trumpet on it.’
‘Steve Hewitt got my toy megaphone I used to use on Infra-Red as part of the divorce settlement. Instead I squawk thru my hands. Just as good.’
‘I put Stefan's silver suit on a hot wash when he was out. Now it fits me! He's gotta learn, I'm the frontman, I wear the silly clothes.’
‘Spite and Malice gets some stick, but Dr. Dre was doing the rap originally. Had to pull out because his nan was poorly. These things happen.’
‘Not quite sure how to tell Fiona that there won't be any violin on the new album. We're going to scrape a knife over a dustbin lid instead.’
‘Steve 2 hasn't called for a bit- hope he hasn't gone back to the Backstreet Boys.’
‘Going to a Halloween party as Kat Slater tomorrow. Have to tone down the eyeshadow a bit.’
Now, do they sound like something the REAL Brian Molko might write? Would the real Brian Molko really call himself DAME Brian Molko, for God’s sake? It’s an obvious pisstake. And if the REAL Brian Molko was on Twitter wouldn’t he have a tick by his name? And wouldn’t he be going on about jet lag and coffee and musical influences like he does in those interminable documentaries they release once per annum? I mean, come on, MY tweets were funny.
Apparently not, according to River Management (Placebo’s record company) and Placebo World (allegedly Placebo’s fan club, but also Placebo’s record company, as I got exactly the same message from both of them). They didn’t bother with any niceties, they simply sent me a DM saying: ‘you have been warned once to remove this account. get it done right now.’
Even reading that message again now makes my blood actually boil (yes, actually!) One: they’d never messaged me before in my life. Two: who the fuck do they think they are?! Twitters OWN POLICY states you can have spoof accounts: mine was barely even a spoof. Their behaviour, high-handedness and complete lack of respect for their own fans just really got my goat. Read those tweets again. Read this one: ‘When you get the Brixton DVD, you'll see the role of Stefan is being played by a stunt double, as it was his aunt's 60th birthday that night.’ Are they really hurtful? Are they really damaging Brian’s image, such as it is? Is anyone really fooled? Come on, now.
Never once were my tweets nasty or insulting (there was one about Brian having a zit once, but I didn’t even write that one, and that was as nasty as it got!) Never once did I ‘pretend to be Brian Molko’. If the odd foreign person asked me if I was, I said no.
The annoying part is you can’t even reply to those direct messages, so I messaged them openly on Twitter. Here are some of the replies I got back from the protectors-of-the-fans-and-image at @rivermanmgt and @placeboworld: ‘Plenty of people think it's real, you are a fake pretending to be Brian Molko?? Please delete your fake account.’ ‘you are a very sad and disturbed human being pretending to be Brian Molko. Lying to a lot of people is hardly 'fun'.’
They also hysterically tweeted: ‘DAMEBRIANMOLKO is a FAKE account, please do NOT follow this account. it IS 100% NOT BRIAN MOLKO.’ Note the capital letters for the hard of thinking.
One of my tweets said: ‘My beer can co-star in the Meds video became a good friend for a while, but things soured. Know your place, beery. In the recycling bin.’ And people think that’s real? And I’M the one who’s disturbed? Seriously, now I understand why when I used to read the NME in the 90s they had to put an asterisk after the end of sentences and go *this is a joke – it’s for thickos! I’m seriously considering sending out a few hundred emails out from a bank in Uganda and a dodgy hotmail address saying you’ve won 12 million on the lottery, all you have to do is wire me 100 grand, because people REALLY ARE THAT THICK. I’m astounded. I surround myself with sentient people, so to be face to face with such humourless, po-faced boneheaded denseness is actually quite shocking. It stunned me. Do they think that fake Cheryl Cole and that dead Princess Diana are real, too? Does dead Diana need a disclaimer for the mentally ill? Should we all write as if we’re writing for people with the mental age of three at all times, just in case someone gets an ickle bit confused? Put down that pen, next literary genius! *~*Eyelinergrrl*~* in Istanbul doesn't understand words of more than one syllable!
I don’t write for thickos, they’re not in my remit. I assume anyone who reads my blog to have a basic level of understanding of the written word, humour and an acceptance of stupid references. I thought Twitter was the same. Apparently not.
I got lots of supportive messages and tweets when I outed River Management and Placebo World as the humourless old crones they are, as well as a few cry-baby tweets from mental people saying ‘I thought you were real’. Yes, they thought this tweet was real: ‘Angelic fruitcakes are two for one in Asda all week’. Someone believed the actual Brian Molko was saying this. That Brian Molko was selling angelic fruitcakes (something that doesn’t even exist, need I remind you, and I think I DO need) in a cut-price supermarket. And that’s MY FAULT! Would it be MY FAULT if they thought the earth was flat, too, or if they accidentally drove their car off a cliff, because they were too dim-witted to work out where the brake was?
I think @TiaraBarbie summed it up best when she said to @RIVERMANMGT ‘well then plenty of people, including yourselves, are a bit thick. Treat your main bands fans better, seriously.’
No one could have written the tweets I did without encyclopaedic knowledge, and therefore love of, Placebo. Someone taking the piss would have had plenty of cannon fodder for a hateful Brian Molko character, (some of my friends have said things about Brian Molko that would make River Management’s eyes bleed) but I never did that. I’ve always defended Brian, no matter how humourless and silly he was. I’ll even defend those ‘think of me stuck in my chair that has four wheels’ lyrics if you really want me to, because they’ve given me enough laughs (although that was what made me go off Placebo for about four years). My Twitter account was tongue-in-cheek, fun, silly, whimsical. My Brian Molko was watching X Factor and Eastenders and tweeting about the Brian Molko museum in Belgium, FFS. Perhaps I should have mentioned the 100 foot Brian Molko effigy in France that is traditionally burnt over Halloween*
*this is a joke. They’d never burn that effigy in France, they love him over there.
Anyway. Placebo World and River Management have won. They’ve sucked the fun out of poor damebrianmolko. And they’ve cost the REAL Brian Molko money so far, because I didn’t buy the Brixton DVD as I was planning, because I refuse to line their pockets after they were so needlessly nasty to me. Instead I took a free month’s trial of Love Film and watched the live show and the documentary. Personally, I want my money back on the documentary, and as I said, I didn’t pay for it. But I enjoyed the gig. I enjoy Placebo’s music and although we haven’t watched Rock am Ring for a year or so, I know one day we’ll watch it again and moon over the decent version of Because I Want You (before it got reimagined) and we’ll coo over Infra-Red, and we’ll complain about Song to Say Goodbye. Because that’s what real fans do. They don’t blindly follow their idols, they know their idols faults, and they love that about them, too, and they make jokes about them, and talk about them. I know one day we’ll bust out Gurtenfest and dance to English Summer Rain and wish he moved around like that these days, and admire his mullet. But it won’t be the same. That crush is over, and River Management tore up the photos.
What a short-sighted, narrow-minded way to treat your biggest fans. It often amazes me how companies and organisations get things so wrong on social media, and end up alienating their target ‘market’. Well this is a prime example. I’ve probably given Placebo about £500 over the years on CDs and gig tickets, but I won’t be giving them any more. I wont be giving River Management any more, anyway. But I still love Placebo. Only slightly less than I used to.
And I’m not going to delete damebrianmolko. Because they really want me to, and I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Besides, he might have something else to say, yet…
Anyway. It was started with love, and generally met with love until the bouncers got involved. As Brian himself said, 'the world is run by lying, balding know-it-alls.' Probably after he came out of a meeting with River Management.

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: Placebo at Manchester Central

My name is lightupvirginmary, and I am a Placebo addict. I have listened to nothing but Placebo for 6 months. My boyfriend and I watch Placebo play live at Rock AM Ring 2006 pretty much every weekend, combined with a bunch of our other favourite Placebo gigs, interspersed with our Placebo remix youtube disco. It is obsessive. My last FM has seen Placebo overtake The Killers, Patrick Wolf and Bloc Party. Even Morrissey has looked nervously at their onslaught. (Bright Eyes has a fairly reasonable lead, but with his latest output, even Conor would be wise to be worried).
So it didn't feel real that we were going to actually get to see them; although how I've not seen them beforehand, I do not know. I must have seen the Manic Street Preachers ten different times at festivals over the past 15 years, so why never Placebo, as I was always a fan? Because it was all building up to this moment, that's why!
I really didn't want to go see them at the O2, as I saw Coldplay there and it was like watching a gig in an aircraft hangar. So we decided to go up to the old Gmex in Manchester and make a weekend of it. Beforehand I was dreaming about Placebo pretty much constantly, panicking Molko was going to get killed in a plane crash or something. Or that I'd get killed and he'd come to my funeral and hook up with my boyfriend. Serious anxiety dreams!
We arrived about 6.30 and there was quite a sizeable queue. I expected everyone to be about 16 but there was a bit of a mix, and more men than I thought there'd be. We got a pretty good spot, to the right side of the barrier (Stefan side!) and did the usual no liquids policy so we could stand our ground all night. The support bands weren't that great; the name of the first one escapes me, but it was quite unwieldy and they were a bit bland. The second support was the Horrors; great if you're into Gonzo from the Muppets shuffling round impersonating Pete Doherty. I SWEAR I saw the singer yawn at one point! I saw the Horrors once before and they were shit then, and shit now, but with an 80s keyboard thrown in. Fuck off.
And then... the Battle for The Sun began! We saw the mics being set up and were a bit miffed because Brian's was right on the left hand side of the stage (we'd gone right for Stefan!) But I shouldn't complain because we were in the front row, and some of the footage of people's view at the O2 was so bad may as well have been on a different continent.
They opened with For What It's Worth, then did Ashtray Heart and Battle for the Sun. I think I was in shock for the first three songs, because I can't remember then very well. The lights were spectacular; when you're used to seeing Morrissey in small venues, this was a bit special; they'd actually spent a few quid. The big screen behind them was tilted at an angle and looked quite epic. The first old song they played was 'Soulmates' which I can't stand so I got my camera out at this point, but my photos were all pretty awful. There was a glut of dodgy songs in the middle; Follow the Cops Back Home (which is obviously a fan favourite, but I think the lyrics are lame) and Special Needs (enough said). But songs like Breathe Underwater and Julien off the new album were fun to hear. The definite highlight of the first part was Every Me, Every You- the guitar bit they do at the start and the end is just magical. And I can die happy now I've heard him go 'every meheeeeeee and every yeeeeeehooooow!' You couldn't wipe the smile off my face after that (although it did waver when he played Blind, which is the dullest song on Meds by a mile). He's doing a Moz and making us work for the good stuff, which is his right.
Was also thrilled to hear the actual song Meds. Was un-thrilled to hear Song to Say Goodbye (my oh my) as it's such a weak song, and when they went off after it, I just thought it was a bit lazy (goodbye, then off for the encore).
But they came back on with a vengeance. Bright Lights sounded lovely live. Special K was a singalong classic (as it should be) and The Bitter End was just fantastic. I was really scared that new violinist was going to screech all over it but she didn't. I still miss the 'suicide' bit at the end, but Brian obviously can't be arsed to sing that bit anymore.
Then they went off again and I thought that was it and turned to my boyfriend and went 'where's infra-red?' because it's his favourite song. And at that exact second the intro to it kicked in. Honestly, it was soooo good! It was really amazing. Then they finished with Taste in Men, which I think is a weird song to end with, but it did sound really decent. Stefan also came down into the crowd and was larking about which was a bit of excitement.
What else? I really like the end when they all came to the front of the stage and bowed, there was a nice feeling to it. Stefan was wearing a silver suit which was the best thing I've ever seen him wear (and we've watched a LOT of gigs, as I said). Brian looked cute with a little bob (my boyfriend said he looked haggard but he loves writing off every popstar we go to see).
When we got in we watched a 2009 gig from Paris and he gave them some of the same patter he gave us! Cheeky. And I will not rest until I hear Because I Want You live. Seriously, I need to hear it.
All in all, totally lived up to my expectations, and can't wait to see them again. I love Brian so much. I wouldn't at all be surprised if we went abroad to see them. How else are we going to hear Protege Moi?

Placebo- Battle For The Sun

I've got weirdly into Placebo again lately; like rekindling an old forgotten relationship I left back in the Irish Centre in Northampton in 1995. I thought Black Market Music was distinctly patchy, but I've fallen head over heels for Meds in the past few months. It's CATCHY! The greatest hits is sublime, too. I was so into them around the time of Without You I'm Nothing, and they always do good singles. I'd really like to see them live, actually. I have never seen them, which is just weird. It makes me laugh when people call them a 'British' band. He doesn't sound very British, does he, our Brian?
So, the new album. I thought on Kitty Litter, the first track, Brian's voice didn't sound whiney enough. It's all about the twang. Ashtray Heart is just a Placebo title by numbers, even Brett Anderson would turn his nose up at that one.
'Brother... mother... lover' rhyming on title track Battle for the Sun. His voice sounds just a little too polished. I wanna go into the Matrax! Actually this is the best track yet; it has a bit of melodrama to it.
For What Its Worth has an infuriating computer game sample in it- what is it? Hold up, lover doesn't rhyme with gutter.
I liked the song The Neverending Why, mainly because I thought he was singing 'whine'.
Overall I thought this album was good; perhaps a little too slickly produced, trying to be a little overblown, but I'm sure it'll be a grower anyway.
I thought the last song on the album was probably the best, but nothing grabbed me round the throat on first listen.
I like Placebo though; I like their tenacity; I feel sentimental towards them, how they never really fitted in and were much maligned, but still just produced great pop songs, despite everything.
Except you know, Special Needs.