๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!
Last week, I started talking to you about ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐๐ with a gong bath meditation as a very special opening performance for it. Today, I’m coming to you with a wonderful heartfelt ๐๐๐๐๐๐ of this concert published in ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐ถ๐๐, 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 ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ which follows a tribute to Leonard Cohen on an empty stage and the projection of the video of ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐, before starting in earnest with ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ (a song that was missing on a setlist for years), ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ and ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ’ ๐๐จ๐ง, 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 ๐๐๐ณ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ 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 ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ 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 ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ค๐๐ฒ follows. Then it's the turn of ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ […] 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 ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ , 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 ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก, followed by ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ 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 ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐, ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ๐ and ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐. That triad, together with the performance of ๐๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ (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 ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฒ (with Stefan raising his rainbow colored bass to the sky on the intro to manifest their contribution against homophobia) and ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐-๐๐๐, 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 ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ, 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 |
(๐ด๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ก๐, ๐น๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ 16, 2016)
As the review was started with ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ introducing ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (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.
๐ธ๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐๐ก๐โ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ !
And I hope this great article, literally written by heart, will strengthen your hope of seeing Placebo on stage again soon…
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ – ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ’ ๐๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ – ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ (๐ฌ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง), ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ง, ๐๐.๐๐.๐๐๐๐
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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
๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐:
Teenage Angst (slow version)
Nancy Boy
Infra-red
๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐ 2:
Running Up That Hill
Post by Olga
