Placebo fought against illness to celebrate their 20th anniversary on the first of two dates at Brixton Academy. They proved their experience as they took the audience on a journey through some of the best songs of their illustrious career.
Opening the show were Husky Loops, the London based alt-rock trio warmed up the expecting crowd with a loud, energetic set. Their obvious Britishness and loud feedback heavy sound was a good warm up for a crowd here purely for Placebo.
Picking a setlist 20 years into a career as glittering as Placebo’s must be difficult. This is why it was somewhat perplexing to have the band come on after a short montage that was soundtracked by one of their biggest hits Every You Every Me. That being said opening with Pure Morning and Loud Like Love is certainly one way to capture a fervent audience. After the first few songs frontman Brian Molko took some time to remind the crowd of his recent illness and voice issues. Unfortunately this was noticeable throughout the set with him being unable to showcase the vocal range he possesses.
While Molko’s voice wasn’t a hundred percent, himself and the rest of the band were. Over the course of 2 hours Placebo played some of their biggest singles to a dedicated audience at a sold out Brixton Academy. Obviously some songs were better received by the crowd; Special Needs and Special K for example. However the more recent singles and even some of the lesser known older ones still held engrossed the audience like all great Placebo songs.
Tonight’s was a showcase of a career from its beginnings in 1996 with Placebo to its most recent offerings in Loud Like Love. While the set list lacked deeper cuts that may leave some diehard fans wanting, it is hard to argue against the set list played through tonight on the celebration of their 20 years as a band. With each song came a new challenge for Molko as he fought against illness to put on the best show possible. With the pure strength and quality of the songs showcased tonight making this show a true celebration of one of the greatest bands that Britain has ever produced