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| Photo credit: Alan Rennie |
In the middle of March 2016, โnews had just come overโ: Placebo confirmed their 20th anniversary tour!
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง made quite a promising statement about the forthcoming shows:
๐ขโโฆLetโs just say there will be songs in the set that Iโve sworn never to play again. I think itโs time that we purposefully acknowledged what a lot of Placebo fans really want to hear. Theyโve been very patient with us since we rarely play our most commercially successful material.
A 20-years anniversary tour seems like the right time to do so. Thatโs our intention. This tour is very much for the fans and a chance for us to revisit a lot of our early material.
So, if you want to see us play songs like โPure Morningโ and โNancy Boyโ which we havenโt played in almost ten years and may not play again, then youโd better come along to these shows! Weโll have some surprises in there tooโฆโ
(๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ , ๐๐๐๐โ 14, 2016)
๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: [โฆ] He [Brian] definitely has a troubled relationship with his past lyrics. Because like the line: "A friend with weed is better" on โPure Morningโ. He wouldn't write something like that now, but he did back then. For him it's being able to walk on stage and sing with conviction without smiling or without making up different lyrics, you know.
[โฆ]
What we tend to do is cover ourselves with quite a few versions of our songs that we've released. One of our first singles, 'Teenage Angst', has been done in piano format, it's been done in the rock format, and it has this stadium rock format. Then we went back to an electric bass led version. So in order for us to remain interested in our back catalogue we often change them and adopt them to how we feel. Sometimes a song when we record it, it's in an embryonic form it tells you โListen, I'm supposed to be played this way.'โ
๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง: "Iโm completely excited, excited about playing old songs, I like it. I think I want to see people's reactions as well."
(๐บ๐๐๐ค๐๐ ๐, ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ 23๐๐, 2016)
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| Photo credit: natalia_m_n IG |
โจ๐น๐ฌ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ป๐โฆโจ
๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐. ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ?
๐ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง: I'm sure it helped shape its sonic palette. It was like a kind of rebellion against this more commercial aspect of the band's life. On ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐จ, we really had this sincere desire to lay ourselves bare. Every album we've done has been a reaction to the previous one, but on this one I think it was more in response to this rather masturbatory anniversary tour. On the other hand, I also realize that it did our audience a lot of good. It has taught us to accept the euphoria that the fans give us on stage. And this is probably the first time in my life that I've realized that so much, because I've always made music in a very selfish way. It's a necessary means of expression for me. If this tour has taught us anything, it's that there is value in giving pleasure to others, rather than satisfying yourself.
(๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐๐๐ #74, ๐๐๐๐โ 2022)
๐ขโI had reservations coming into this record based on the experience of touring,โ says co-writer and multi-instrumentalist ๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฅ. โIt felt like we were slowly killing ourselves, and I just didnโt know how much life I felt there was left in the band. My confidence was at an all-time low.โ
โWe have a tendency to do a lot that weโre asked to do, regardless of how itโs going to affect our physical and mental wellbeing, so we continued touring,โ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ adds. โBy the end of it, I felt like a performing monkey that was being moved around the world; kind of detached from the soul of it.โ
(๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐พ, ๐น๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ฆ 1๐ ๐ก, 2022)
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| Photo credit: Evelyn Kutschera |
(๐๐๐๐, ๐ฝ๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ฆ 17๐กโ, 2022)
๐ฌSo, now we know that the whole retrospective tour ended up being mentally exhausting experience for the guysโฆ However, they tried their best, and most of the shows became an amazing unforgettable experience for the fansโค๏ธ
๐ฌThatโs why Iโd like to ask you to share ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, your most beautiful and special memories from Placeboโs 20th anniversary tour!โจ Letโs create some positive space around those shows to confirm it was still worth it!๐ฅฐ
๐ฌAnd maybe now, in hindsight, when you know how it felt for Brian and Stef, you can interpret your own thoughts and feelings about the concerts you attended in a bit different way, with more empathy and understandingโฆ
โญ๏ธTo help you dive into the atmosphere of the tour, letโs watch a very powerful and emotional performance of (my personal favourite) ๐ ๐๐๐๐ from ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐๐ in ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐.
Pist by Olga
