That the popular British rock group Placebo performed Monday evening in the old hall of the Melkweg had a history. During the tour a few years ago along international stadiums, because of the anniversary of their debut album (from 1996), only old repertoire was played and that was not very satisfying. Now, with the eighth album Never Let Me Go had just been released, the group mainly wanted to play their new songs in smaller venues.
From opening track ‘Forever Chemicals’ it was clear that the small stage was not designed for a giant drum kit and large speaker boxes, so the five musicians stood in rows behind each other. Front-left frontman Brian Molko, in black attire, with black page haircut and black sunglasses, sang in the sharp, measured tone that still reminds him of David Bowie. The new songs, which are accompanied on the album by dramatic synthesizers, such as ‘Beautiful James’, were now framed by three gruff guitars.
Since the beginning of their career in the mid-nineties, Placebo has stood out for their gender-fluid presentation combined with a penchant for macho rock. This resulted in an enthusiastic and loyal following for the group. Monday evening’s expectant audience, which was able to attend the quickly sold-out concert, could already sing along to the new songs. Perhaps because the songs of Placebo are mutually similar. In the course of the evening it appeared that the performance hardly developed: the tempo was largely the same, the instrumentations are virtuoso but monolithic, Molko always sings in the same mean tone. There were beautiful details, such as the repeated impulses in ‘Try Better Next Time’ (his dark vision of the future): “Grow fins, go back in the water”. Despite the jumping crowd, Molko stood distant and unmoved. The sunglasses stayed on.