Live Review: Placebo - O2 Academy, Leeds 30/11/22
British alt-rockers Placebo take to Leeds Academy in support of their recentl released album Never Let Me Go. Was it worth the wait for this writer?
As one might expect, being able to see a large number of shows is one of the pros of being a music journalist, and as a result, there aren’t many bands left to tick off on my own personal live list. Placebo, however, are a band that have eluded me not just in the almost-decade I’ve been doing this, but in the 13 years I was watching live music prior to that as well.
For that reason, tonight’s journey over the hills of the M62 to Leeds is worth every mile. Not only does it mean that we didn’t have to suffer through a Victoria Warehouse gig again back in Manchester, but we also, finally, get to tick Placebo off that list. It even makes Leeds’ notorious one-way system somewhat bearable, though I wasn’t the one driving…
This would all be true, of course, if the show itself wasn’t something of a disappointment.
Arriving at the venue, entry is thankfully painless, given we’ve just ten minutes before the band take to the stage. Instantly it’s obvious that it’s going to be uncomfortably busy, something that seems to be an increasing problem at various O2 venues. Having just about found space behind the sound desk and a particularly conspicuous pillar, frontman Brian Molko’s voice echoes out of the venue’s PA; an audible version of the statement that prefaced this entire tour. A noble idea that essentially boils down to one thing: No Mobile Phones. It's a difficult one to enforce, as we’ll see later, but as the band take to the stage a little after 9pm, it’s nice to be able to see them across the crowd without it being through various screens.
Kicking things off with ‘Forever Chemicals’, the synth-heavy opener of this year’s album Never Let Me Go, it’s a moody way to open the set, though Placebo aren’t a band known for their whimsy. A rapid segue into recent single ‘Beautiful James’ spurs the crowd into an early singalong, though it’s short-lived. Indeed, the backbone of tonight’s set is Never Let Me Go in almost its entirety, as well as a handful of deeper cuts from across the band’s career.
As such, plenty of fan-favourites are omitted, the likes of ‘Nancy Boy’, ‘Pure Morning’ and ‘English Summer Rain’ all absent from proceedings. It’s something that seems to grate on pockets of the crowd, and as frustrations grow at the back, so does the amount of conversation when another new song gets an airing.
It’s frustrating, given that the likes of ‘Happy Birthday In the Sky’ and ‘Surrounded By Spies’ are both delivered excellently, cementing themselves as classics in the making. Of course, this matters not to much of the crowd, many of whom seem more concerned with catching up with friends and drinking than they do watching the band.
Indeed, it’s impressive that the new material slots in so easily within their cannon, and while somewhat heavier on the synth than earlier releases, it still harbours the same dark, paranoid, and nihilistic tendencies that so many people fell in love with.
Of course, there are plenty of established tracks on offer tonight too. An early outing for ‘Bionic’ is marred by muddy sound, despite our position behind the sound desk, though thankfully a still-pertinent ‘Slave to the Wage’ is a set highlight and manages to even draw the attention of those in the crowd happy to pay to talk over bands. ‘A Song to Say Goodbye’ receives one of the evening’s strongest reactions though, topped only by following tracks ‘The Bitter End’ and ‘Infa-Red’ which in turn close out the main set.
It seems an odd choice from the band, to forgo as many of their singles as they do, but then the material they do play holds up, and it’s a testament to Placebo that despite making music for nearly 30 years, it’s still cohesive, relevant, and most importantly, is so obviously them.
It’s a nuance that’s lost on at least the rear of the crowd, and as the band leaves the stage before their inevitable encore, the complaints start up and it strikes us that it seems as if much of the crowd don’t go to gigs all that often, and because they’ve paid their money, they need to be catered for.
It’s a sense of entitlement that reaches a head during the band’s two-song encore; Recent track ‘Fix You’ and the obligatory outing of their version of ‘Running Up That Hill’, that seems a given following the original’s resurgence. It’s this point that phones start being pulled from pockets and videos of the band are being taken despite, or perhaps in spite, of the many requests that people don’t.
As such, it’s something of a weird end to a mixed evening. We finally got to see Placebo, and they were by no means bad, yet an overly full venue, occasional moments of muddy sound, and an entitled crowd all mar what would have otherwise been an enjoyable evening. As it stands, it feels as if the band were done a disservice.
Maybe next time I’ll stick to Manchester after all…
Words by Dave Beech
