It feels like yesterday that I was attending Placebo’sdisastrous performance at Train, in Aarhus, to kick off their 20 years anniversary tour, but, as a matter of fact, it’s been 10 years almost to the day already. Still scarred by that night and holding the divine right to listen to my favorite tunes from the first two albums of the band, I step into K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen, hoping that this time will be Once More with Feeling (to paraphrase the title of the singles collection from 2004).
The intentions of an evening full of human connection, emotions, be in the moment were all laid out from the very beginning via a plea by Brian Molko to put the phones in the pockets and leave them there, but has the band really delivered on that promise? Keep reading to find the answer to this question.
This anniversary tour was advertised as “playing songs from Placebo and Without You I’m Nothing” and the setlist was evenly distributed between those two albums plus a few more songs. Promise kept.
The concert started with two classics (but what’s not a classic tonight?): Pure Morning and Come Home. I wish I had the chance to really enjoy those two bangers, but I was more focused on understanding what I was photographing beyond the fog and the blue and red lights on stage.
Once done with the photographer duties and and by the time the cameras were back at the coat check, another piece of my youth – You Don’t Care About Us – was over, leaving room for a triplet from Placebo (36 Degrees, Teenage Angst and Bionic) that rocked the sold out venue.
Then the song I was waiting for since 1998 arrived: Without You I’m Nothing, title track of Placebo’s sophomore album, a concentrate of gloom and glam, decadent lyrics, the crepuscular melody and the grandeur of the the tail with violins and lonely hearts. It’s a song I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to hundreds of times, I’ve known the lyrics by heart for decades, and yet, the magic of seeing it played in front of my eyes made it sound like the first time – that’s the beauty of concerts, the little imperfections of a live performance that makes the song unique, and this is my justification to go and attend anniversary concerts.Some might call it nostalgia; I see these events as the possibility to listen to songs that usually don’t make the cut of the let’s-promote-the-latest-album-setlist performed on a stage (also) for me.
If a song was worth a whole concert, that was it.
I’m going to try and be objective though, because beyond the emotional impact that Without You I’m Nothing had on me, I have to admit that so far the performance on stage was quite standard if not a bit “just another day at the office”.
The songs rolled by one after the other, with deep cuts such as I Know – with finally a particularly felt interpretation by Molko, My Sweet Prince and Lady of the Flowers for the pleasure of the longtime fans. This trip down to memory led to the freshly released single HELEN KELLER, that highlighted mercilessly the weakness of the newest productions in comparison to the older material. The reason for it? The total absence of a proper rhythmic backbone given by the drums of Steve Hewitt since he left the band in 2007.
The concert ended with a few more hits and a couple of covers – I Feel You by Depeche Mode and their signature closer Running Up that Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush. Could have they picked something else, maybe the less obvious but more in line with the era the band is celebrating T. Rex’s 20th Century Boy? Sure, but it didn’t happen.
So, we are at the hard truth moment:has the band delivered on the emotional connection promised in return to keep our phones in the pockets?
Honestly, a mere sufficiency.
The songs did all the leg work, triggering memories and being very good at keeping the crowd in the here and now, but Molko’s and Olsdal’sperformances, unfortunately, remained at an exercise-of-style level more than a heartfelt, passionate embrace to the audience.
Try again, next time, possibly, with more feeling.
