Concert review Placebo @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne - 27/02/2014 by our soulmate Trev Cameron
This is my opinion:
The atmosphere and crowd would have been A LOT better, IF the band adopted something like what Pearl Jam does. Their fan club, Ten Club, members get first access to tickets. The first row back (however many rows at seated venues and usually an entire GA section in the front at GA shows and festivals) are reserved purely for them. There are lotteries held by the club on the night and you have a chance of winning front row.
Now, I've seen first hand how this works better for the crowd, and the band. The band gets their loudest, hard core fans right near them, singing along, NOT HOLDING A PHONE IN THE AIR ALL NIGHT while the casual fans who just know songs from their first 2 albums aren't just standing there complaining how they aren't playing Jeremy.
The simple fact that 10C members are not only assured the best seats/standing areas (with early entry for things like big day out etc) makes a massive difference to the kind of people you get up the front. Super fans then aren't stuck right up the back thinking ''fuck all these people I should be up the front these people don't even know these rare songs!!''
Secondly, the set lists. Again as a comparison, PJ's setlist changes nightly. You'll never hear the same set twice. You never have this feeling of ''it's gonna start with "B3" and end with "Infra Red'' it makes it exciting and the anticipation and appreciation the crowd shows, is really evident.
Last night I had girls to the left of me, saying ''next is gonna be "For What its Worth'' 'next is "Meds'' ''next is "encore break'' etc.. what a buzz killer. It just does make it like a show, not a gig.
Thirdly, the singles off new albums. Loud Like Love, Too Many Friends and Rob the Bank are not songs that are going to appeal to young people these days who DON'T download albums anymore. They download singles. A Million Little Pieces, Exit Wounds and even Purify would GRAB people and make them say ''THATS Placebo??'' I know, I've tested on friends. They all HATED TMF and LOVED Exit Wounds.
The band / management need to think in terms of what will get people excited, not what the band loves most as songs. Because lets face it, Placebo is more of a business these days than ever. And if they want to make money and get bigger and bigger, rather than smaller and smaller, they need to change things.
Thats not just my views, many friends of mine, who dismissed BFTS and LLL purely because the singles were...not to taste, yet to learn of more to-taste songs later, have said the same thing. Go back to Sleeping With Ghosts days and release singles that will blow people's minds like A Million Little Pieces would have.
My opinion, thats all
Thank you very much Trev for your helping hand and this intersting concert review.
Credits photos: Trev Cameron, Instagram / http://
