๐ฐ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ2 ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ถ๐ท.
The reactions on this album were not good at all. The rock fans of this band were desperate about the new electronic direction that U2 has set out on.
And to this day, it is one of my favorite albums from this band. It is probably clear to you that this tour did not leave me cold.
When Prague confirmed that the giant stadium in Strahov will be one of the U2 PopMart stops, my joy was huge.
I had the opportunity to enjoy a concert attended by 61,000 people!
But it was not my first experience because a few years earlier, in 1994, Pink Floyd performed in Prague with the participation of 130,000 fans.
It was an incredible memories for a lifetime.
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| U2. Photo credit: Olaf Heine |
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ข๐๐จ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐
https://bit.ly/3ngzHnG
Unfortunately, the band Placebo played as the opening act for U2 in only five cities in Western Europe, so they did not reach Prague.
Too bad I couldn't see two great loves in one day…
There is not much to be said about Placebo's support on this U2 tour, just a few mentions in some interviews, such as in the 2000 NZ Herald:
"U2 was an incredible opportunity which was too good to turn down," Molko says.
"We were trying to stop touring because it was keeping us out of the studio. We had decided to stop, then the U2 offer came in and we couldn't say no to that. We had others, too, but were in the fortunate position of being able to say no.
"We're very flexible. We've got a big enough set of songs so that we can tailor it to whatever audience we're playing. We'd play a few more of our gentler songs for the U2 crowd, but if we were in a room with a few hundred people who were our fans we'd probably play full-out punk rock."
Placebo accompanied U2 on tour in September 1997 in the following cities: Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Montpellier. But it wasn't easy at all. It was a very ungrateful task, to try to attract an audience that was looking forward only to their beloved U2. There are almost no records from these Placebo opening sets.
But today I will share with you everything I have been able to find.
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| Placebo backstage at the tour with U2. Photo credit unknown |
"Placebo were the ones in charge of starting the hostilities. Their singer, Brian Molko, spent half a performance asking the audience: "Am I a boy or am I a girl?" It must have been the little he was able to say in Spanish, but the fact is that among those gathered there doubts arose. Keep in mind that Placebo were unknown at the time, only somewhat popular thanks to their theme Nancy Boy, included in the film Airbag, by Juanma Bajo Ulloa.
In any case, they gave a more than dignified performance, something that must be really difficult when you have to face the public Taliban of U2."
๐ฐ๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ผ2 ๐๐๐, ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
https://bit.ly/2LfDCUG
Fortunately for us, in the interview with Sally Stratton in 1998, Placebo also mentioned a tour with U2:
๐บ๐บ: ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ2 ๐ ๐๐ ๐'๐ ๐๐๐?
Brian: Yes we did, yes we did five gigs with U2 at the end of last year on the Popmart tour. They gave us our biggest gig of our lives which was the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, you know 80 to 100,000 people as the sun was going down in the rain, what a buzz. Then we got on the Lemon jet and flew to Portugal.
๐บ๐บ: ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
Brian: The show is just so amazing, really. We felt quite privileged to be able to like do a show and then you just like step out into the front row and then you've got this amazing visual spectacle, you know. And they were even playing stuff from their first album, do you know what I mean, it was like really, really quite exciting.
๐บ๐บ: ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
Stefan: Yes. We hung out, sort of had a chat with them on the plane. I wasn't feeling very well that day but yes, they were really sort of accommodating and you know quite down to earth. Larry was sitting there reading his book you know...I mean you've got to admire them really for what they've done and how they've actually managed to maintain a really good rapport with the bands they tour with. I mean Bono was rolling around on stage and screaming 'Placebo' at the end of the show, and I was just like 'whoa, I can't believe this.'
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| Brian backstage at the tour with U2. Photo credit unknown |
Placebo were supporters of some European U2 dates and, on the occasion, their frontman Molko was able to overcome his atavistic fear of flying, as he himself said. "They took us with their jet, bound for Lisbon, where our next concert stop was. I drank a lot to calm myself down, but when we ran into this terrible turbulence, I thought we were going to die. Then I remembered we were with U2 and I immediately calmed down, because they are eternal.
Post by Marti
