Placebo, stalwart of the alt-rock music scene, have been a purveyor of teenage angst and eyeliner for almost twenty years, from a ‘Nancy Boy’ in 1996 to ‘Loud Like Love’ in 2013. The gig at the sold out O2 Academy brought together an eclectic mix of gig–goers: old and young, ‘indie’ and emo and those of us somewhere in-between. There was a sense of brooding anticipation and wanton abandon as the crowd longed for their band to take the stage (although my own brooding anticipation was slightly hampered by consistent need for the toilet brought about by a few too many vodkas). Nevertheless, TOY was the main support to whet the crowd’s appetite and, unlike many support bands I have seen, they did not disappoint.
Rather hazily, I stared down at my, now half empty, vodka and lemonade and wondered: Has someone put a little extra in my drink? To my surprise, and delight, it was not LSD in incognito but the psychedelic offerings of TOY. Opening with, what I now know to be ‘Conductor’ from their new album ‘Join The Dots’, I was mesmerised from the first pluck of the guitar and the twist of knobs by the rather beautiful girl on the electronica arrangement. If you imagine TOY as the lovechild of psychedelic rock and Radiohead’s ‘How To Disappear Completely,’ you’re not far off the mark. Closing with their title track, ‘Join The Dots’, Toy’s short but sweet set was over and, with the lights dimming, it was time for Brian Molko and co. to take to the stage.
Although enthusiastic, the somewhat indifferent, ‘B3’ (the title track of the EP that precluded their latest album ‘Loud Like Love’), fails to galvanise the audience in anything more than a half–hearted flail of the arms. However, do not despair, things soon picked up when they knock out one of their biggest hits, ‘Every You, Every Me’, with gusto and have the crowd exactly where they want them: lights ablaze, the audience jumps with abandon and even Molko looses a rare smile. This is alt–rock at it’s best: angst-laden lyrics, fervent emotion and some cracking guitar riffs. The gig starts to stagnate when Placebo start playing their new material, which fails to wholly connect with all but the most diehard in the audience. However this is not a reflection on their performance, as the new material is really rather good but it seems the crowd are just plain unfamiliar with it. In the dying strobe lights and running eyeliner, Placebo know how to close a show: drug–infused ‘Special K’ (Not your average breakfast cereal) and the frankly stunning ‘The Bitter End’ crank the energy up to fever point and leaves the crowd wanting more.
Not one to disappoint, hysteria mounts and Placebo come back with another hit, taking us back to 1996 with a fantastically reworked ‘Teenage Angst’: A whinging ode to adolescent hopelessness. In the time of older bands peddling the same old hits, in the same old style, it is refreshing to see a band shake things up a bit. Nothing so far has quite compared their hauntingly beautiful cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, which, if you have not heard, I strongly recommend you check out.
While Placebo might lack the original aggression and gender–bending that made them famous in their post–Britpop heyday, musically and lyrically they are stronger than ever.
You can follow Callum, the author of this review, on Twitter at @callumweir1.
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