✨⚡𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎⚡✨

📍𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧, 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟑, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓.
On the corner that connects the districts of 𝑪𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 and 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕, there is a club that offers live music for lovers of the hardest genres: punk, hard core, heavy metal. This evening the 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 perform there: a fairly well-known rock formation in the city. A very unknown group was called to open the concert, a trio that was formed less than a year ago. They are called 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 and the name was chosen for that occasion. The performance is far from flawless: between whistling microphones and croaking amplifiers, the band plays a handful of loud hymns to sex and drugs. Yet, the audience is as if bewitched by that slender, androgynous and provocative figure of singer 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐. Mascara, long hair, red nail polish, 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 has a very different look compared to that proposed by the 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒑 stars of the moment. A look that works and begins to exert a growing fascination on the public. Until the moment in which 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 are chosen for the 𝑼𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 competition, arriving in the top three despite the unsettling attitude that 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 has on stage (simulates an orgasm, screeches more than singing, shouts political slogans). Nevertheless, the proposals of the talent scouts flock. Exactly one year after that first concert at the 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏, the band celebrates the release of the first official single: 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆, which will become the opening track of the debut album which will be called 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎.
▪️𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑏𝑦 𝐸𝑧𝑖𝑜 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑐𝒉𝑖, 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒.𝑖𝑡, 𝟷𝟹.𝟶𝟸.𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟺.

Photo credit unknown

On this special day for all of us who love 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐, I thought it was the perfect day to share with you this review I found of their 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘, which I think is quite a historical document! Let me know what you think about it. I loved the details about 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏's look and his provocative attitude on stage at the time, something so natural in him, which has always been part of 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's discourse and so far it's still captivating us.💘🔥 It would be really amazing if there was even a small recording of that first concert, but instead we can do two things:


⭐ The first option is to listen to the songs from the setlist of the first 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 concert that I recreated in one of my old posts, but it is important to clarify that this setlist is from the first concert that 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 played as a 𝒕𝒘𝒐-𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 in 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒. Anyway, those songs are a treasure and it's always worth listening to them. You can find the recreation of 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's very first setlist here:

🔊 https://bit.ly/3F3cGiI 🎶✨

 Photo credit: Placebo at the doors of Rock Garden 23.01.1995 

⭐ The second option, is to listen to one of the 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 out there, from a concert at 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒁𝒐𝒐 in 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 on September 5, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓. This may be the closest thing to what 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 & 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒛𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈 (who was already in the band) performed that night on January 23rd as it is a concert that took place only a few months later. This old recording from 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 it only features five songs, but I won't tell you which songs they are 😉 so you can discover them yourselves by clicking on the link below:

🔊 https://bit.ly/3w1OyZY 🎶✨


Finally, since we are talking about "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐" I would like to ask you, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘸? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥?

🎉 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬! 🥳💖🎉🎶

Post by Rita

💥𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗟𝗘𝗦💥

Today I have something special for you: I found 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼.

The 🔸𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪🔸 was done after a concert at the Unsigned in the City event in Manchester. This was the biggest biggest annual convention of the music industry in the UK and a opportunity for newcomer bands to perform and get a record deal. And Placebo took their chance.
You can learn more about it here:
👉 https://bit.ly/3tNEELO

Photo credit unknown

The article below is a rare gem as it is an insight to a very early point of Brian's and Stefan's career. It was published in NME in November 1995. Enjoy reading!

◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹◾️🔹

Brian Molko stands sweaty and bedraggled inside London's Kings Cross Splash Club. His band Placebo have been off stage for 30 minutes and the procession of A&R men still stretches halfway down the corridor. As Molko soaks up the praise, his bassist and drummer sneak into the bar for a drink. They've had enough.


The queue disappears and Molko leans against a wall, relieved that the inquisition is over. And then another A&R man barges through. "You were brilliant", he says. "We've got to meet up. You blew me away." Millions of pounds worth of A&R people have been saying the same for months.
Molko flashes a plastic smile, listens to the rambling spiel and then says he really must be going. The A&R man fumbles a farewell handshake but knocks the singer's pint glass out of his hand, splashing the singer with beer. He panics: "I'm really sorry, I'll go and get you another now, " he says. But Molko just smiles and waves him away. Then he turns to his press officer, kicks broken glass against the wall and throws his first rock star tantrum. In a loud voice he shouts: "SCHMUCK!"

Photo credit unknown

Placebo met in Luxembourg, Sweden and London. Confused? Don't be. Bassist Stefan Olsdal met drummer Robert Schultzberg at school in Sweden. Olsdal left for the American School of Luxembourg where he met Molko. The pair drifted apart but met by chance last year at a tube station in London. They decided to form a band, Schultzberg flew over from Sweden and on January 23 they played their first gig at Covent Garden's Rock Garden.


"I was studying drama at Goldsmiths," says Molko.
"I've got no other home really," offers Schulztberg.
"I think we're all a bit international," adds Olsdal.


The first thing you notice about Placebo is the tunes; all dark, brooding and anthemic. "The art that I liked most is the stuff that's moved me emotionally," says Molko. "I guess I wanted to make music that moved people and made them feel. You know, the music is tortured, it's very introspective and personal."


The second thing is the lyrics. "Since I was born I started to decay" or "Two holes in a paper bag/ Greatest lay I ever had" (Nancy Boy).
"We are the pie in the face people," says Molko. "Being from an acting background, the thing that always interested me was placing myself in the most vulnerable position possible and to see what came out of that. It's better that you have these quite either violent or hard emotions."


And the thing about Placebo is the searing gigs.
"The thing is it's your dream and you are aware of the fact that your dream could fuck up and that's scary," gushes Molko. "But you have to keep going otherwise you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. If you try your dream out and it doesn't work out and you become a casualty then at least you can say you tried. It's a risk. But in order to do it properly and put your whole heart into it you have to burn your bridges behind you."
Placebo watch them burn.
(NME, November 1995)

Post by Silke

🔸⭐𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎’𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐓⭐🔸

On this day 27 years ago, 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟑𝐫𝐝, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓, Placebo played their first headlining show at the Rock Garden Club in London.
There are just a few pictures of the band taken on that day, so the one you can see below is quite precious.

Photo credit unknown

⭐The 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐁 is one of the legendary music venues on London’s map that is gone but not forgotten.

♦ It was located at The Piazza in 𝑪𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏. Over 30,000 bands have performed live on stage since it opened in 1978. U2 and The Smiths played their first London gigs here. Dire Straits had a weekly residency at the club for a few months and bands such as Iron Maiden, The Police, XTC, Adam and The Ants, Suede have played on its stage. A number of unsigned regional bands also performed here, hoping to attract the interest of record companies.

♦The Rock Garden had a busy diary, with gigs on most nights; however, by the 1990s it had become a nightclub called The Gardening Club which after all, closed its doors on December 31st, 2008.

♦The building is today home to an Apple Store.

📍 By the beginning of 1995, Placebo had a handful of songs in their repertoire to complete the show. However, it was 9 months before Placebo released an original version of Bruise Pristine as a split single (their very first!) with the band Soup by record label Fierce Panda in October 1995.

📍When it comes to a 𝑺𝑬𝑻𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑻 of Placebo’s first concert, there may be kind of a misunderstanding. What is available in the internet, is the same setlist that Stefan once mentioned to be a setlist of their very first gig together with Brian as a two-piece band in 1994. But in fact, those two setlists could be the same or very similar.

Photo credit unknown

I think many of you wish you were at the Rock Garden back in 1995! To make you feel the atmosphere of the concert, I collected those very old Placebo songs according to the supposed setlist for the night. Let’s enjoy the show!

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐇𝐮𝐠 𝐁𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨)
https://bit.ly/347qURf

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭 (𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓)
https://bit.ly/32AVL8C

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 (𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨𝟑, 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖)
https://bit.ly/3eDsNr0

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝟐𝟒𝟔𝟖
https://bit.ly/3JyGTIo

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 (𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒)
https://bit.ly/3FQPljV

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟒
https://bit.ly/3EMBUjw

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐝 (𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒)
https://bit.ly/3HrAgWj

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 – 𝐒𝐞𝐱 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥 (𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞)

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨)
https://bit.ly/3qyEIf2

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 – 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 (𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨)
https://bit.ly/3HrS43L

𝑬𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆:
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐞 (𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥, 𝐖𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧, 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚, 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕)
https://bit.ly/3qI7QAz

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 (𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞)

You see, 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭 has stayed with the band through the years since their first show and was performed live, in various renditions, until 2017 - and absolutely possible, will be played again at the upcoming shows! Isn’t it an incredible story of the song’s longevity?!

How do you think, after listening to these songs, would you have enjoyed Placebo’s very first concert? Which songs are your favourite?

Post by Olga