Yep, Placebo sure do have an affinity with the ‘Burg, not least due to origins but also in terms of fanbase and the sheer number of times they’ve played venues here over the past two and a half decades.
This show, though, promises to deliver something altogether different.
With a career spanning more than 25 years, the band, led by Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal, remain one of the most distinctive voices in alternative music, known for their raw emotion, sharp lyricism and genre-blurring style.
Formed in the mid-’90s, Placebo carved out a unique space in the post-Britpop landscape, blending glam, punk and alternative rock into a sound that still feels singular today.
From early breakthrough tracks like “Nancy Boy”, “36 Degrees”, “Bruise Pristine” to later anthems such as “Pure Morning”, “Without You I’m Nothing”, “The Bitter End” and a glorious cover version of “Running Up That Hill”, their catalogue has continued to resonate across generations.
This year marks the 30 year anniversary for the release of their eponymous debut album and with that comes the news that a new version of that LP is coming, across multiple formats.
Placebo RE:RECREATED, sees the band revisit that breakthrough album. Fans needn’t fear that the redux will take away from what many see as bone-fide classic, with Brian Molko at pains to state that the band “think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.”
Hinting at a certain naivety in being swept up in the rush of all that early success, the band are able to refelct on the inauspicous beginnings and review the tracks that made them with a newer maturity and a lifetime of experience.
“When we made the first album”, says Molko “we didn’t yet have the experience or the studio knowledge to fully translate what was in our heads. Over the years, the songs took on a life of their own on stage; they grew, they developed, they kind of completed themselves.”
With their live shows known for their intensity and atmosphere (I’ve seen them in dive bars, student unions, new bad tents, headline stages and, of course here in the GD) fans are sure to relive one of the very best debut records released in the 90s.
“It’s a celebration of where we began”, Molko confirms, “and a meeting point between who we were then and who we are now; a way of honoring that innocence, while letting the songs exist with the scale, confidence, and energy of the band we’ve become.”
With that in mind, a setlist that spans their career, blending fan favourites with deeper cuts and more recent material is surely on the cards.
If, like me, you’ve followed them since the ’90s or discovered them more recently, this is a chance to experience one of alternative rock’s most enduring acts breathing new life into the record that started it all.
Placebo, Friday 9th October at Rockhal.
Tickets and full event details are available via Rockhal (pre-register) and you can pre-order Placebo RE:CREATED here.
