Placebo: Every concert is unique - Interview with Sabrina S. from France by Placebo Anyway

Placebo tour 2015 & Placebo20 soulmate never dies interview
Interview by Susie Bosco, Diana E.T.Foghing, Mary Scott , Xenia Gerasimova and Zaryinta Molko – The Placebo Anyway Team  in colaboration with  Sabrina from Toulouse, France  about the London concerts  24/03/015 & 25/03/15 and the latetes news, the 20th anniversary and much more…

Our favourite band was on tour again.  We were enjoying the biggest UK & Irish tour Placebo ever had.  Let’s have a lovely chat with soulmate Sabrina about this amazing tour and much more intersting things about our favourite band: Placebo!!!

Placebo Anyway:  Lets start with our first question is. How were both  gigs and did you get more in touch with the band’s roots in the smaller venues?

Sabrina: Gigs were extraordinary, particularly the 24 one. Probably the best concert of my life !

Boys were happy to play there and I felt a lot of complicity between Bri and Stef.

Waouh, I have no words… 

Little venues, of course, allow more emotional closeness with the band, they look at us in the eye , they smile to us...

And the lightnings, waouh ! Marvellous !

Placebo Anyway: Compared to the gigs do you find any differences?

Sabrina: I would give a small « bonus » to the first one because this pleasure of playing at home was authentic and very communicative.

There was a lot of energy at the 2nd one, including from the crowd, but personally I am more sensitive to this type of unique emotion of pleasure they transmit to us. They enjoyed I think the 2nd gig, but it was already experienced the day before, simply .

Credits: Kennerdeigh Scott - hitthefloor.com

Placebo Anyway: Why did you went to both gigs? Can’t get enough Placebo? 

Sabrina: I never have enough of Placebo ^^

I came from France, so even coming up London, as coming for a while and enjoy a maximum. The two gigs were obvious.

Placebo Anyway:  Band's members are usually very restrain, non-talkative and laconic on the stage. We read some reviews about their concerts and people often are so unsatisfied with this "Placebo's bad behavior". What is your opinion?

Sabrina: Oh, I don’t expect them to be such of show lens, you know ? We all know their perfectionism and how they conduct Tours, this is a bias, we like it or not , but at least we know what to expect to.

However, during these concerts and throughout the UK Tour apparently, Bri was quite talkative and funny, and most importantly, the complicity between them was so beautiful to see ... I do not expect anything else.

Placebo Anyway: About Molko little speeches before the songs. What’s your opinion?

Sabrina: I think he could indulge in a little more spontaneity and improvisation and renew : D

But we know how he is, it's not his thing, I think he’s such a man who likes to control everything and prepare his stuff, etc… A desire for perfection leaves no room for improvisation , I guess…

Placebo Anyway: Regarding the new set list this time they added two classics Special Needs and I know, but One Of A Kind was eliminated from the set list . What are your thoughts about this?

Sabrina: Arg, I Love so much OOAK live! But there was I know, and that is priceless… One of my favorite songs. It was so beautiful, I cried!    

                                                                                                                          

Placebo Anyway: Have you noticed a difference regarding the version of the songs they are playing?  (For example in Edinburgh STSG was a bit faster than it usually is)

Sabrina: I think that each interpretation is one of a kind, right? But I haven’t noticed something different particularly... I know was 2008 version, like we all know, for example. 

Placebo Anyway:  Which live song is the best for you in a emotional way and why?

Sabrina: For these gigs, that was I Know, decidedly. And Exit Wounds, which is my fav’ one on LLL. 

But more generally, I dream of seeing on stage Twenty Years.

I am fortunate to have seen live a long time ago My Sweet Prince, my favorite song of all , and WYIN ...

So ... When I’d have seen Twenty, I could die in peace! : D

Placebo Anyway: What would be your dream setlist incorporating songs from every album?

Sabrina: That’s so funny! With my best friend, we were entertained before the concerts to compose a sort of Birthday Setlist, selecting 3 songs by album + Twenty years, or 22 songs , which remains plausible :)

But we have also created our perfect set list with all our favorites (negotiation was tough !:D )

I can give it to you :

Placebo Anyway: When you get to the point where you realize that this particular gig is really kind of magic...Or every placebo concert is unforgettable and unique experience for you anyway?

Sabrina: Every concert is unique, of course,  each one has its share of anecdotes and small special moments, but those ones were truly exceptionals.

Perfect, amazing, transcendent… The magical thing, I think, is a kind of communicative energy, something that Brian explains very well indeed, the energy of the group that goes to the public and vice versa.

Placebo Anyway:   What do you think about behavior of Brian Molko connected with using of camera's and smartphones during concerts?

Sabrina: Honestly, I like to take some pictures but no more. I prefer to enjoy the show, do not miss it now, I think I did not even blink ! : D

I live the moment fully and generally do not even think to take pictures.

And from the viewpoint of the band, as I understand Brian !!

How to criticize his lack of interaction with the public, when the public is not quite there, and when all what is offered to him is an army of screens ? No, thats sucks !

Credits: Daniel Quesada 

Placebo Anyway:   What do you think about official live pictures published on the Inet and illegal usage of them? Should they keep their taken pictures on PC only? Or it doesn't make sense if they are published or not allowed to be used...?

Sabrina: I have not asked myself ... I love having pictures of concerts , especially those I attend, but I don’t share these pictures... I think a professional photographer, who published his photos, stamped with a logo preventing copyright, and offers them for sale in a better quality of course, is not a good compromise ?

Placebo Anyway:  A new tour, a new tour drummer. How was for you the moment you read on the social networks about Steve Forrest leaving Placebo?

Sabrina: Oh my God, I cried!! It meant for me the end of an era or even the end of Placebo, I did not know what it was and I was worried about the future of the band.

But as soon as I was reassured on further Placebo, nothing negative .

I know many people are nostalgic for a given time, and sometimes I also have associated memories with an era or another that makes me a little bit such of nostalgic... But I like so much news, changes, surprises! I'm so excited for the future!

Placebo Anyway:  We wish Steve and his band Planes  good luck. There will go on tour soon too. Will you go to one of their shows?

Sabrina: No. I don’t like what they do, so…

Placebo Anyway:  Do you see any difference between Steve Forrest and Matt Lunn? How do you think do the band members feel convenient touring with him?

Sabrina: I loved Steve very much, and I think he was perfect for BFTS. For LLL, he seemed less essential , I mean, another drummer could have been as effective as him.

He was good and had his own style, the perfect style for me for BFTS. I think Matt do the job very well for a LLL Setlist. 

Credits: Kennerdeigh Scott / hitthefloor.com

Placebo Anyway:  Would you like to see Matt Lunn as an official drummer?

Sabrina: The guy is cool, but I think, for the moment, that there will be no official drummer. If , however, there had to have one, Matt would be perfect :)

Placebo Anyway: One thing that we have noticed about this tour is how sometimes people are going alone and ask in the fan pages for company. In fact, the official twitter account once twitted a request for a fan. This is certainly not common behavior in other fan bases . Why do you think this is?

Sabrina: I don’t know if it’s not common… I was not alone this time, that’s right, and I prefer to share the moment of a gig with someone I love. But if I have to go alone, no problem. I enjoy the gig as well.

Placebo Anyway:  What do you think, does Placebo music sound better live or recorded?

Sabrina: Live of course!!! I’m not for the “perfection”. They’re really good, you know, and I think their records sounds marvellous. But Live, it sounds loudy, or with more emotions, and all the little imperfections take part of the show for me, and are what make the show unique.

Placebo Anyway:   How do you think can all Placebo concerts be special, as for you and them as well?

Sabrina: I think the magic of a concert can not be predicted, controled, and I could not explain it. This energy which I spoke, also comes well what the group gives you, but also how the public receives it, and returns . This is a chain reaction in fact.

For me, I also find magical moments when there is total silence in the room, when everyone is hooked to Brian's lips and only his voice resonates throughout the room. I almost hold my breath, I am captivated, this is a moment of hesitation, almost unreal . " I know" was.

Performance Twenty Years at the Rock Am Ring 2006 or The Crawl at Glastonbury in 1998 were.

A unique moment, unreproducible.

Placebo Anyway: Let’s speak about Placebo members and their projects. Did you get Brian’s book “Selected”? What kind of version did you order and how do you feel with this book, what does it give to you?

Sabrina: I ordered a personalised signed one and I was lucky to obtain it. Until I have it in my hands, I could not believe it, I thought of so many complications that could occure with the order, the delivery!
But it was there. My feeling was special. I watched the dedication immediately, of course, then it took me two days to read the introduction, and some days even before reading it entirely. As if I wanted to savor the moment.

I was pleased with the size, color, appearance. But there were no surprises, we knew very well what to expect even before ordering .

As for the words, no big surprises either. I was mostly interested in the songs chosen ​​by Brian, necessarily significant. And the fact that he chose this version of I know, and some changes of words on Black-eyed...

Placebo Anyway: What do you think about the introduction of the Brian Molko book “Selected”?

Sabrina: I have no words because it’s so subjective.. I felt him sincere, transparent enough, and it occurred to me exactly the way I imagined he is. I found it very touching.

Placebo Anyway: Did you find any surprises in the lyrics in this book?  Different words than you thought?

Sabrina: Just for Black-eyed, no surprised by the words, that I knew, but why this change?

Placebo Anyway: Were you expecting something different?

Sabrina: Not at all. We knew exactly what to expect and what we purchase, no surprises, it was very clear.

Placebo Anyway: Let us speak about more projects. Stefan presented on the famous Spanish radio Channel ‘Radio3’  a song in colaboration with Digital 21. We could listen to the song “war” at the ‘Siglo21’  programme and we would like to ask you, what do you think about this project and  also the other social activities of Mr. Olsdal.

Sabrina: That’s quite cool! This is not what I listen often, but I like to follow the different projects of the group members, and that's good enough!

By cons I do not like the music of Hotel Persona !

I like Stef, but especially in Placebo: D

Placebo Anyway:  On the Placebo Facebook page we could see the last weeks a comment about “a new album”. If you could choose a theme for this new album, what would it be? A live album, an accoustic album, more like the old days or similiar to LLL or something completly new?

Sabrina: Something completly new! What they feel at the moment, that’s all.

I'm not against a Live or an acoustic album, but not as a new album.

Placebo Anyway:  We are celebrating  Placebo's 20 years. The first special thing Placebo prepared for their fans was the posibilty to listen to all their albums remastered online .  We enjoyed them a lot with this amazing sound. Did you like this idea? What about the upcoming vinyls? Do you want to get them even if you don’t have a vinyl record player?

Sabrina: I love the sound we have with vinyls. I have a vinyle record player, and some vinyls.

I thought it was a wonderful gift to streaming albums with such a sound, and it amused me also, compared to Brian and his way of talking of this :p

About the “upcoming vinyls”… We are on April 18th today* (*the day we had the interview), and I cracked! 2500 copies in the world, one vinyle in my Records Shop, and only one… How can I resist??

Placebo Anyway: Imagine you could prepare a special Placebo20th party in a small venue, band included. Choose a place which do you think it would be perfect and what would you prepare for this party?

Sabrina: What a difficult question !! A small room , of course, and in London, home for them, seems to me obvious.

Music, then maybe guys could DJ’ing? Delicious food , champagne ...

A very classy thing, very intimate.

Placebo Anyway: Now let us go online. Imagine you have to organize something really special for the band on a virtual way. What would you do, including every soulmate all over the world?

Sabrina: Humm, maybe I’d like that an entire crowd sings a song in front of the band, a song  that we would have chosen and decided previously. But but this not include every fan, unfortunately…. Maybe a big book,  where everyone chooses HIS favorite sentence among all the Placebo songs, and list them in a pretty and poetic way. 

Placebo Anyway: It is a known fact that it's impossible not to be hooked on Brain Molko...What do you find so attractive in him and how do you consider him? As a close friend (a soulmate), you could relay on, or just a handsome man with a great vocal skills and beautiful songs? What traits of character do you appreciate in him most?

Sabrina: It’s so difficult to answer. A talented writer, an unique voice, a sensibility that touches me so much… I love him, his manners, his way of speaking, his gestures, his facial expressions, his humor, what he transmits about his values ​​and his philosophy of life...

But also his bad temper and his small defects, he is so im-perfect, so human, I find him incredibly endearing.

Placebo Anyway: What would you ask Brian Molko from 1996?

Sabrina: “Hey, asshole, where do you think you’re going like this?”

Placebo Anyway: What would you ask Brian Molko in 2015?

Sabrina Skowron: “So, did you go where you wanted to go? And what this way taught to you?”

Placebo Anyway: What would influence your questions?

Sabrina: His mood I think, my position… But I think that I'd like a more general question as posible.

Placebo Anyway: Many bands from the 90's are turning 15, 20 years what do you think makes Placebo so different?

Sabrina: I don’t know. My love is intact since 1996. When I discovered them, I was 15, certainly at this time of my life what they contained , and their songs spoke to me. Placebo has continually evolved, with me, I grew up with them, and I never felt stifled by any nostalgia or routine. Their difference for me is that, I think, they are able to renew themselves constantly, surprise me, hold me, making that every time I found myself in their music. They are artists, true ones, who create and evolve.

Placebo Anyway: Coming to the end of the interview, please define the London concert with 3 words.

Sabrina : Only three? Waw!! So… Loud. Like. Love.

Placebo Anyway: Now imagen you could give Brian and Stef a Thank You gift for the wonderful last 20 years with the band. Which gift would you choose?

Sabrina : My thanks, my compliments and my loyalty already, and that is priceless ! :p

But if I could have knowledge of an object they are looking for, a book, a record, a dud for example, I would do anything to find it for them.

Placebo Anyway: Thank you for the interview!

Credits: Daniel Quesada

Interview by The Placebo Anyway Team & Sabrina