By Jase Walker
Nothing makes me happier than seeing bands I listened to in my formative days of getting into rock and metal persisting all the way into my ’30s, and a big part of that was Placebo. Feeling my attention firmly captivated by the likes of ‘Nancy Boy’, ‘The Butter End’, and ‘Pure Morning’ is a strong memory for me and tonight I get to see them smash it at Victoria Warehouse. Out in support of their latest album, ‘Never Let Me Go’, which is a cracking album that’s still consistently as dreamy and atmospheric as their previous works, as well as bringing along Cruel Hearts Club for this run. I’ve gotten myself my favourite spot in Victoria Warehouse up on the mezzanine for the best view (in my opinion) in the venue.
Cruel Hearts Club kick off their set and it’s immediately apparent that the bass has been solidly whacked up which I’m quite pleased about, a nice solid signature chunky fender tone! It’s a bit of a curve ball in terms of sound compared to Placebo, it’s very 60s femme rock n roll and they’ve got fantastic singing voices as well with both bass and guitarist vocals often harmonising throughout each song. I’ve just twigged where I know that sort of bass tone from and it’s Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads, it’s strong and it’s heavy and does a fantastic job of supporting the twangy guitar while the drums smash out the best in the background.
Some of these sins are a real bop though with real earworm licks and catchy drum beats as well choruses that are pretty easy to pick up and sing along to. Judging by the fairly static audience I think there’s very few people here who know of Cruel Hearts Club but make no mistake, they’re quite focused on them all the same so I think they’re probably winning over a number of new fans! They’ve really blindsided me with a cover of TaTu’s ‘All The Things She Said’, which is a really cool choice of a cover, great song and they’ve done it justice too! As we draw towards the end of the set, it’s also occurred to me how their lighting choice is actually quite interesting in the way they’ve opted for generally static lighting with violet and yellow hues.
What started as a ’60s rock and roll vibe has steadily become heavier and evolved into more of a modern indie rock sound as the set’s gone on. Cruel Hearts Club were a pretty damn interesting act to open up tonight’s show, solid show.
The show begins with an announcement from Brian Molko kindly requesting the audience to not spend the entire show recording it on their phones which is fair, it can be a bit annoying sometimes. Placebo takes the stage with six members total including the two primary parts, Brian and Stefan. That stage lighting is incredibly bright as well and serves to flood the room with light as the band proceeds to do the same with sound, it washes over the now incredibly packed venue.
Starting out with material that leans heavily on the new album, it’s quite striking how clear the sound is, the balance is fantastic but it’s not at the expense of any bass elements, this is how big live shows should be! I really love the stage production they’ve got with them for this show, not only is there various flood lights with really intense and vivid colours, strobes but there’s several screens behind them lined up which plays live videos of the band as they’re performing with various distortion effects on it and it’s just cool as fuck.
Placebo are a band where I’m definitely way more familiar with the older stuff due to listening to them a ton when I was younger, so I am kind of hoping for a few of the classics but they’re already on the track for that with “Bionic”. Brian’s voice sounds every bit as good as it ever has, his signature, feminine tone is such a wonderful contrast to the broody and sometimes dissonant music that goes along with it. I’m also struck by how Brian and Stefan are changing guitars for quite literally every single song, how many do they have for this show? An it if an odd combo of ‘Breathe Underwater’ followed by wheeling in a full piano for Stefan to play for ‘Too Many Friends’, it’s a bit baffling because carting round a full piano sounds like a lot of work but Placebo have never exactly been a conventional band.
Saving the best for the last parts of the set, ‘The Bitter End’, which I totally wasn’t singing out loud on the tram over to the venue. They really built it up into a massive crescendo towards the end of the song as well and I love that a fully live set, no backing, means bands can freely improvise parts like this. After a brief “finish” we’ve got some more to come with the encore, starting with Tears For Fears’s ‘Shout’ which sounds incredibly fierce yet adheres closely to the original’s synth laden sound. And finally with a cover of “Running Up That Hill’, it brings Placebo’s show to an end, and what a way to end it other than an extended “messing with synths and effects” for five minutes.
The setlist was wildly more varied than I could have anticipated, ranging from the extremely new, to some real deep cuts in their older stuff. A full 90 minute set from Placebo, and one that I won’t forget in a hurry, there’s good reason that Placebo still persists after so long and they’re still at the absolute apex of their game.
- The tour continues, with all remaining dates sold out:
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