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| LG Arena Birmingham 2009. Photo credit: Steve Gerrard |
I couldn't find any more information, but what I want to share with you today is a very nice review of this event and also a few videos that are definitely worth seeing.
Recently, our dear soulmate ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ published on YouTube videos from the Placebo rehearsal before the concert in Birmingham, and it must not be forgotten!
๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐ธ
https://bit.ly/3AdJCBR
Another attraction of this concert is an amazing video made by Placebo's favorite director and friend Charlie Targett-Adams.
๐ธThe video is called "๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐จ - ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐" and you can enjoy it here:
https://bit.ly/3nxyH2p
Also, an interesting fact about this event is that Placebo promoted a short film festival before and during the concert.
You can find out more about this festival directly in the review.
๐ธ⭐๐ธ
Dear soulmates, at the end of this post I share a fan video for the song ๐ธ"๐๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฌ"๐ธ with you, which is definitely one of the best that could be found on the internet.
Believe me, the added value of the performing orchestra stands out for this song.
Enjoy it, dear friends, and hopefully there will be someone among you who has experienced this musical gem first hand.
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| LG Arena Birmingham 2009. Photo credit: Steve Gerrard |
When I’ve interviewed bands in the past, one question that has never failed to stop and make musicians think is: ‘What’s the best gig line-up that you’ve ever seen, including both the headline act + supports?’ The reason that I mention this, is that because tonight, with a bill including Placebo as headliners + The Horrors and Silversun Pickups in support, this could easily turn out to be one of the best gig line-ups that I’ve ever seen in all my gig-going years! /.../
The show has been downsized from a 15,000 capacity to a 4,000 capacity, due to the small number of tickets sold. Although huge in Europe, it would seem that in the UK, Placebo still remain a cult concern – but to be honest with you and like many other devoted fans here in attendance, we all agree that it will be a privilege to be so close to the band and see them in more intimate surroundings anyway./.../
Interestingly, in-between the support acts on Placebo’s Winter Tour dates, a Short Film Festival is being screened before the gig and during the artist changeovers on the main stage screens. “The ShortsTV Live Music Film Festival, launched at the Paris show on the 24th October, features the work of 8 highly talented international film makers for which Placebo themselves shortlisted.” The 8 short movies are competing with one another and fans can vote @ www.placeboworld.co.uk for their favourite film, with one eventually being named ‘ShortsTV Live Music Film Festival Winner’. A DVD of the films is also available to buy and part of the profit from the sale of the DVD goes to the Somaly Mam charity, a non-profit organisation dedicated to fighting the $12billion per year sex-trafficking industry./.../
After two highly enjoyable and rewarding supports + a couple more Short Films, at 9.10pm, it’s time for the main event – the elegiac alt.rock of one of my all-time favourites, Placebo! Building tension and excitement, the artwork for the trio’s latest and sixth record, Battle For The Sun, is beamed directly onto a large white curtain, before slinky silhouettes slowly begin to appear and the drape drops to the floor revealing the band. The first thing that hits you, is the lavish stage production – no expense has been spared and Placebo have really gone to town this time around. With a spotless white floor, banks of bright lights, slick / sophisticated arthouse films being screened and both Brian + Stefan looking dapper (Stefan wearing a rather fetching silver suit and Brian sporting a crisp black shirt, eye makeup and lip-gloss), it all looks very professional and is a vision of magnificence that will no doubt be a live spectacle to remember!
Starting with a heavy-duty and gutsy For What It’s Worth, the throbbing brute force of the guitars and needling riffage soon gives way to the coup de grace and Placebo’s USP, Brian’s voice. As he sings: “And no one cares when you’re down in the gutter, got no friends, got no lover,” you realise that it has long been his distinctive nasal delivery and inflection that adds so much magic and mystery to the group’s music./.../
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| LG Arena Birmingham 2009. Photo credit: Steve Gerrard |
Perhaps this is why the group are keen to promote these tracks over a lot of the oldies, opting to play yet more recent music in the shape of liquid gold laments, Speak In Tongues and Follow The Cops Back Home – the latter being a signature and butterflies-in-the-stomach ballad, that Placebo have always done oh so very well! Just as I begin to wonder if any classic singles will be dispensed and if the band are planning to revisit all corners of their career, the aerodynamic and mind-blowing Every You Every Me stutters into life to deafening applause! Onstage, you can’t take your eyes off either Brian or Stefan for a millisecond, as they dart and zigzag all over the place, toting their guitars like dangerous weapons – backed-up with a tattoo-torsoed powerhouse on the drums in newly-recruited Steve Forrest, whose chemistry together, guarantees that they are all on the same musical page. A silk-spun Special Needs, sees Brian in full-voice, before a knife-edged and ocean-deep Breathe Underwater has him screaming: “I’m coming up for air, I wanna see another dawn.” Only after prising an introspective Happy You’re Gone out of thin air, does Brian utter any words to the crowd: “Thank You Ladies & Gentlemen, this is the first date of our UK Tour and for those of you who thought that we’d gotten too big for our boots when we had 6 musicians onstage, well tonight, we have 14 people!” He then jokes, “The difference is though, is that we’re chancers and they’ve actually learnt how to play their instruments… We’re very happy to be here!”
Following more cheers, a militant Julien is played before The Never-Ending Why, prior to which Brian says: “After despair comes redemption – this is a Buddhist song,” clasping his hands together in prayer. Blind, Devil In The Details, a storming Meds featuring the harrowing refrain: “Baby, did you forget to take your Meds?” and a scathing Song To Say Goodbye, take us to the end of the main set, which evidently, has been carefully tailored to favour the aforementioned albums, Battle For The Sun and Meds./.../
After a brief video interlude featuring a body-painted ballerina, for the encore, three of my most prized Placebo songs are played in quick succession; Bright Lights is a slice of pop perfection with a mallowy chorus that goes: “Because a heart that hurts is a heart that works.” Special K races along without a care in the world, whilst during a rabid and ravenous Bitter End, the final: “See you at the bitter end,” is wrung-out from Brian’s exhausted and exhilarated body and left to penetrate and recoil around the arena. Thinking that the show is over, a lot of people begin to leave ready to brave the cold winter night. But for those of us who do decide to stay, patience is a virtue, as we’re treated to a second encore featuring a brand new, freshly-squeezed, Rage Against The Machine-style song called Trigger Happy, which sees Brian wrathfully intoning: “The world’s an unforgiving place, we’ve all heard this before, but we want hospitals and equal rights, instead of fucking wars!” Then it’s a heat-seeking Infra-Red complete with the predatory lyric: “Someone call the ambulance, there’s gonna be an accident. I’m coming up on Infra-Red, there is no running that can hide you, ‘cause I can see in the dark.” Before the band go out on a high, with a chiselled Taste In Men and canons firing confetti into the applauding audience.
“Still growing musically and expanding their sound,” Placebo are going to be around for a long time yet!
Post by Marti
