⭐️💓𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐌: 𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓💓⭐️

Today, we’re going to be talking about another beautiful Placebo’s initiative: a fundraising event for 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐌, 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚, an organisation that provides help with mental health problems in an effort to prevent suicide🙏

Photo credit: Stuart Semple (print), Joe Kenway / edit by Olga

✨On March 9th, 2015, Placebo hosted an 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓-𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 that took place right after the Leeds O2 Academy show from their UK leg of the Loud Like Love tour. Approaching 20-years anniversary celebration, Placebo were extremely keen to use their concert as an opportunity to help draw attention to the charity’s efforts in the UK.
✨The event featured exclusive intimate 𝐃𝐉 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧, and also some performances of local artists.
All proceeds from the tickets went, obviously, straight to 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐌.

✨Additionally, contemporary British artist 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 designed a limited set of artwork posters in which he remixes iconic images from Placebo’s album art over the years. The original print, 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, was auctioned in aid of 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐌.

Below, you can read the whole story behind this special event told by its organizer, Joe Kenway.

Photo credit: Stan

⭐️𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎/𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑⭐️
“Back in October I met Tony Ereira, a trustee for the Charity CALM and one of the founding member of Leeds Record Label Hatch Records. The conversation remained largely on the subject of music and after a while talk moved towards Tony’s idea of combining his musical interests with his work with CALM.
He explained that the charity was all about reaching out to men who might be going through a tough time, with a particular focus on combating the causes and consequences of mental illness in men, where suicide rates are disproportionately high. He saw real potential in utilising the openness that people find in music as a form of expression as a way of getting across the ethos of the charity.
To me, this came across as a real worthwhile cause and a really exciting project to get involved with. On this basis I met Tony again, along with Jamie and Matt, CALM Ambassadors and members of local Yorkshire band OFFICERS.

We spent some time discussing what kind of events could work and who we could approach to get involved. It was Jamie and Matt who proposed 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 as a potential collaborator, seeing as they knew the band (just a casual friendship, of course) and thought it would be the kind of charity which they would definitely be keen to represent.
We seized the opportunity to use this as a real high-profile first event to launch Tony’s idea. Jamie mentioned that they were conveniently playing the O2 Academy on the 9th of March and we all agreed that an afterparty for the show would be ideal.

We spoke to a few venues about the possibility of holding the event and Leeds University Union jumped straight on board. They really appreciated the charity focused motive at the forefront of the event and we were very glad to have them on board.
Once the venue was lined up, we looked for another act or two for the night. Tony spoke to Leeds locals Hookworms (another casual acquaintance). […] We were thrilled when they agreed to do a set as it meant us having a representative from the city itself; it felt like the perfect match. Before we knew it, the night was upon us.

The crowd was beginning to flood in from the O2 gig when Hookworms frontman MJ took to the stage. He traversed us through the influences behind the record during his hour long set. […]
Following MJ was an appearance from 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 himself. For the crowd this was a rare chance for a second glimpse of the Placebo frontman, all in one night. Their excitement at being able to do so in such a personal and intimate setting was palpable as he walked on stage.

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 kept the crowd mesmerized with a set of electronica that traversed the light and ethereal as well as the darker heavier tones. There was an orchestrated restraint to the set that kept the tension high whilst never letting the build-up fully spill over, inducing a state of transfixion on the audience. It was a joy to hear the multitude of the singer’s influences and how this had impacted the sound of Placebo over the last 20 years, an anniversary being marked by their current worldwide tour, and a historical look back over all their material having recently made their entire back catalogue available to stream online.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, second Placebo member of the night, gave us another insight here. His electronica took on a much more beat focused sound. There were still the swatches of sharp harmonic movement that we heard from Brian, but this time with the kind of rhythmic background that you might well expect from one half of the band’s rhythm section.

It almost felt as though this was the release to which Brian Molko’s set had been building up to. Showing that the pair were still very much working in tandem and that in 20 years their musical output had only grown more synchronised (rather than drifting apart as so many musical contingents find). It rounded off the night in classic fashion with a large portion of the crowd baying for more even at the end of Stefan’s set.
The night was a real success. The ethos of the charity matched with the approach the musicians take and had the profound effect we had hoped for …”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝐴𝐿𝑀 𝑍𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 26𝑡ℎ, 2015)

Post by Olga