The first show of this tour took place on August 8, 1998 at the great Spanish festival Benicassim and the last performance was on October 10, 1999 at a one-day music event called Witnness in Dublin, Ireland, where the main star of the evening was their friend and mentor David Bowie.
This 14-month tour was really big and very successful. During this time, the band toured almost the entire world. In addition to Europe, Placebo has performed in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.
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| Brixton 1998, Screenshot |
๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ’๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ “๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐” ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ค "The whole industry, and everything that goes around fame and being in a band, is an enabling machine for the ego, basically. It was like being force fed, like one of those French ducks, so our livers were screaming—literally and figuratively. We welcomed it, because we wanted to be the biggest band in the world, but I think we were racking up hundreds of hours of time with therapists in the future. That’s essentially what we were setting ourselves up for back then. Like I said, we were probably a little bit unprepared for it all and didn’t know how to handle it. And at the same time as looking after each other, we had to deal with inter-band relationships and egos and being to ether all the time. The smallest things can ignite the biggest of rows. But the success also allowed us to start reaching further and further out into the world. We headed out to New Zealand and South America and across the US, connecting with misfits everywhere."
(๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ธ ๐๐๐. 2018)
What do you say to Stefan's memories of twenty years ago?
I believe that the influx of fame, touring around the world, together with the crazy pressure of the media, was very demanding for young boys, especially mentally. After all, Brian confirms this in the following interview:
๐พ๐'๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ป๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐
MM: What have you been up to recently?
๐ค BM: "The first part of the Australian tour has been riddled with injuries and serious jet lag. Stefan fell off-stage in South Africa and broke his arm, so he's got a cast with our autographs on, and Garbage's as well. That same evening I slept in the same position for 10 hours, and woke up with a compressed vertebra in my neck. Since then I haven't been able to feel half of my head. It's the strangest sensation, especially when I shower."
MM: Have you been pushing yourselves a bit too hard?
๐ค BM: "Well, we desperately need to get off the road, because we're falling apart at the seams. It's been coming up to a year now. The festival season was really successful, except for the British ones. We got really slagged off in all the weeklies. The reception's been great in the rest of the world. We spent a lot of time hanging out with Hole in Germany. "We're on tour in Australia with Silverchair now. We've gone gold in Australia with this album already, and it looks like we're going close to platinum. That's why we're here rather than in America. We weren't sure whether to play Australia or America again, but then the offer from Silverchair came in - and they're so huge. We like the factt that they play to an all-ages audience. That last tour we did here, our under-18 fans couldn't see us."
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| Photo credit unknown |
๐ค BM: "Neither did we. The first few gigs were a little slow - we were feeling very f***ed-u, cos of fatigue and jet lag. Melbourne and Adelaide have been incredible. Silverchair attracted quite a young audience, so there's been a lot of pent-up teenage sexual energy coming out. We're doing our best, considering I get twitches in my head and Stefan can't play the songs at all the same because of his cast. Steve's OK, he's just mad. All drummers are mad." /.../
MM: What do you get up to in your spare time?
๐ค BM: "We found an Internet porn site with a live link-up to Amsterdam, where you actually type in what you want them to do. No one believed it, of course, but then you ask them to wave at you - and they do! It's hilarious!/.../
...“I go on Placebo sites and have a terrible time trying to convince fans it's actually me. No one ever believes it. I've spent about four hours, giving away intimate details about myself that I'd never tell a journalist, in an effort to prove that it's me."
MM: Looking forward to the end of the tour?
๐ค BM: "Oh yeah. I'm feeling a little tired. If it is the end of the world tonight, I'm not too worried. It means we don't have to play the gig. If it was the end of the world, I'd do as many drugs as possible, and as much shagging as possible. Everybody would be like that. If you were on a plane with somebody, and the place was going down - even if that person was a nun, you'd turn round and say, 'Would you like to go out with a bang?'"
Dear friends, I hope you enjoyed celebrating the anniversary of the second tour in the history of Placebo.
And for an even better atmosphere this evening, you can watch the whole concert from the Eurockeennes festival, which took place on July 9, 1999:
https://bit.ly/3ygGULa
Post by Marti
