𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔!
Last week, I started talking to you about 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 with a gong bath meditation as a very special opening performance for it. Today, I’m coming to you with a wonderful heartfelt 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 of this concert published in 𝑰𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝑶𝒖𝒕, which I translated for you.
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"It was a Supermoon last night. I was on the streets of Milan and I was looking at it. We are made up of 80% water, and if the Moon can have an effect on the oceans then it can also affect us. Has anyone slept badly? Has anyone had a headache? Me. If we don't take care of water, there will be an environmental apocalypse on this planet, the end of the human species, which we perhaps deserve, given that we are using the Earth as a garbage can. So, when we die because we run out of water, we'll see each other on the other side, whatever fucking place it is. We will see you in a parallel universe. And do you know why? Because soulmates never die”. So Brian Molko, the forty-four-year-old frontman of Placebo, introduces 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐞 which follows a tribute to Leonard Cohen on an empty stage and the projection of the video of 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞, before starting in earnest with 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (a song that was missing on a setlist for years), 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 and 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬’ 𝐒𝐨𝐧, the latest single.
This is the twentieth of the 20 Years anniversary tour, at the Mediolanum Forum di Assago. It soon becomes clear that it will be a concert for the fans. "Welcome to our birthday party". And what do you do on a birthday? We sing happy birthday to you! Sex? Why not? But Placebo have thought of something more transgressive. Like having fun. And let the party begin!
Molko has never made any secret of his reluctance to bring the more commercial songs to the stage, but he recently stated that the setlist for this tour would be designed to give fans what fans want. And the fans particularly want an old Placebo from the 90s, depressive and melancholic. And Placebo gave themselves that way, without reservations.
Anyone who knows Brian Molko, is aware that he has never been too open with the audience, but yesterday he gave himself absolutely: he thanked, laughed, talked to himself, made sarcasm: "Feel free to miss the concert to film and see it at home on a small screen, where everything will look and sound like crap.” Fair enough.
The sound path alternates moments of melancholy and abyss with more energetic and engaging pieces, as in 𝐋𝐚𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬 where the violin instrumental part (by Fiona Brice) triples in duration - and a hundredfold in intensity - compared to the studio version. Molko spares no good words for those who share the stage with him: the session players, but above all Stefan Olsdal (on bass, keyboard and back vocals). It’s moving to see them two leave the stage embraced, testifying how having resisted celebrity and fan obsessiveness, Molko's rehab, creative downs and abandonment by three drummers has not been easy in these twenty years since the birth of Placebo.
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| Brian Molko during the 20 years tour, 2016. Photo credit: Sylvain Fragneau |
The audience doesn't even scream. They’re hit! The moment is immediately lightened by the acid colors of the visuals for 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 in which portraits of the split members of the band appear, a bit demonic. Molko gets excited letting his guitar hang behind him and caress his body while he sings. That is his way to know how to be sensual despite the complete absence of masculinity in movements and attitudes, an eternal manifest of his sexual ambiguity. The acid wave and a bit electronic 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲 follows. Then it's the turn of 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 […] On stage they go wild, Molko rails on the guitar, sings, distorting the original version of the piece. With one hand in the sky, at the end, he passionately plays the strings of his white and blue Goddess Fender Jazzmaster. Poetry. There’s a trembling, because everyone is waiting for 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, a song that has always been one of the most loved by Placebo fans (but also by Bowie's). This masterpiece, in fact, comes from a collaboration with the White Duke. On the screen, appears a video in which Bowie and a little over 25-year-old Molko sing together in a backstage.
The video is a testimony of a legacy: a legacy of the late God Bowie currently transmitted into the young Belgian, Brit by adoption, with a multifaceted personality, feminine appearance and incredible power. Just like Bowie. “Thanks Milan. And thanks David”. Silence. There is a need to break the rhythm, to jump, to rejoice. To sweat. Thus comes 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡, followed by 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞 with the scenes of people in tie looking up motionlessly. It's a race for rats to die, the song goes, testifying to Molko's political position […] By the way, a visual with Donald Trump's face on a box of cigarettes does not spare us. "Seriously harms you and others around you", reads the notice on the package. He definitely goes crazy with 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐊, 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 and 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐝. That triad, together with the performance of 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 (completely rearranged with a perpetually pulsing mononote on the piano that lasts for the whole piece while ‘happy birthday’ signs stand out from the front rows) are definitely those famous moments made for the fans. The encore sees a very old 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭, 𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲 (with Stefan raising his rainbow colored bass to the sky on the intro to manifest their contribution against homophobia) and 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚-𝐑𝐞𝐝, that plunges us into a sort of Matrix.
We don't want the concert to end, two hours weren't enough. A kind of heartbeat with an empty stage and blue lights introduces 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥, a cover of the beautiful piece by Kate Bush, which definitively closes this immense live, which we will remember as one of the best in recent years to redeem the years when Molko did not managed to complete a live, to play for more than an hour and the last, in Denmark, when he had to interrupt the concert.
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| Brian Molko during the 20 years tour, 2016. Photo credit unknown |
(𝐴𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑎 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑖, 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 16, 2016)
As the review was started with 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆 introducing 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 (how do you like it, by the way?), I’ve chosen this video to watch tonight together. In a case it’s not enough for you I prepared more links to great performances from the concert in Milan.
𝐸𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠!
And I hope this great article, literally written by heart, will strengthen your hope of seeing Placebo on stage again soon…
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 – 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬’ 𝐒𝐨𝐧, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 – 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝟑𝟔 𝐃𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 (𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧), 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞, 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧, 𝟏𝟓.𝟏𝟏.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
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| Brian Molko during the 20 years tour, 2016. Photo credit: Ekaterina Sirazitdinova |
Every You Every Me
(Casino video (unreleased promo video) on the screen)
Pure Morning
Loud Like Love
Jesus' Son
Soulmates
Special Needs
Lazarus
Too Many Friends
Twenty Years
I Know
Devil in the Details
Space Monkey
Exit Wounds
Protect Me from What I Want
Without You I'm Nothing
36 Degrees (slow version)
Lady of the Flowers
For What It's Worth
Slave to the Wage
Special K
Song to Say Goodbye
The Bitter End
𝑬𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆:
Teenage Angst (slow version)
Nancy Boy
Infra-red
𝑬𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 2:
Running Up That Hill
Post by Olga
