The support act was an all girl band called Cruel Hearts Club, a sister led trio.  They were well drilled and had some interesting indie style songs, some better than others.  They appeared to have a number of fans in the audience and performed well – i.e. I didn’t disappear and go off to the bar 😊.

Before Placebo took the stage, a pre-recorded announcement from Brian was made to the crowd asking them to kindly refrain from taking photos and video and to immerse themselves in the experience – this request was observed from a compliant Cambridge crowd so no videos this time from yours truly 😊.   And so it was, an intimate and connected gig were we all were absorbed in the show.  Lots of singing along, bopping, waving of hands, clapping but no mosh pit ☹ – I guess we are all getting a bit older.  Cambridge is a massive university town hence the crowd was a cultural mix of students and older types, all hell bent on a great evening out.

Half the set list came from their latest LP ‘Never Let Me Go’ with the rest being a splattering of songs from most of their previous releases.  So a mix to excite the die hards and the nostalgia hounds. The set lasted from 21:00 – 22:45 with encores.  

The back of the stage has 5 vertical panels showing live, double exposure, images of the band videoed from the various cameras at either side of the stage.  I’m not sure of the wattage but the PA system pretty much blew away the venue – it was monstrously loud, the bass reverberating along the floor and through your body and a sonic 3 guitar driven axe attack on the senses.

They are a will drilled tight outfit.  Tonight started with ‘Forever Chemicals’ and ‘Beautiful James before going back in time to ‘Scene of the Crime’.  I’m glad I have the latest LP so knew every song played tonight, my mate didn’t but he was still enthralled be the music and spectacle of the show.  There was no real let up in intensity throughout the gig.  Mainly up-tempo songs especially once the older stuff came out towards the latter half of the show.

1. Forever Chemicals – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
2. Beautiful James – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
3. Scene of the Crime – (Loud Like Love, 2013)
4. Hugz – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
5. Happy Birthday in the Sky – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
6. Bionic – (Placebo, 1996)
7. Twin Demons – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
8. Surrounded by Spies – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
9. Chemtrails – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
10. Sad White Reggae – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
11. Try Better Next Time – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
12. Too Many Friends – (Loud Like Love, 2013)
13. Went Missing – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
14. Meds – (Meds, 2006)
15. For What It’s Worth – (Battle for the Sun, 2009)
16. Slave to the Wage – (Black Market Music, 2000)
17. Song to Say Goodbye – (Meds, 2006)
18. Come Undone – (Battle for the Sun, 2009)
19. The Bitter End – (Sleeping with Ghosts, 2003)
20. Infra-red – (Meds, 2006)

Encore:

• Shout – (Limited edition single, 2022)
• Fix Yourself – (Never Let Me Go, 2022)
• Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – (Sleeping with Ghosts – bonus disc, 2003)

A few songs into their set Brian takes a brief pause for his only communication with the audience  and apologises for the delay in getting to Cambridge (previous tour cancelled last year due to his vocal problems).  He’s relaxed and smiling and by the looks of it happy to be out performing once again to a sell out Cambridge audience.   The band is dressed in black – Brian has dyed hair, moustache and blackened eyes.  Stefan is wearing a great black waistcoat with diagonal zip, showing off his impressive physique.  They both control the stage front, the others pretty much at their stations. Stefan frequently did action poses, Adonis like, and on a few occasions the guitar was outstretched phallically in hand being stroked.  One observation – I’ve never seen so many guitar changes in my life – Brian literally had a different guitar for every song!

The band was Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal with Bill Lloyd (guitar), Nick Gavrilovic (synths, guitars),  Matt Lunn (drums), and Angela Chan (keyboards and violin).

The encore consisted of two great covers – Tears For Fears classic ‘Shout’ and finishing with the anthemic Kate Bush ditty ‘Running Up That Hill’.  It rose slowly into a multi layered rhythmic crescendo that was just overwhelming – mind you they could have done without the 2 minute Neil Young type amp feedback that finished off the song as it didn’t add anything at all – noise for noise sake!

Overall Placebo have pretty much remained loyal to their initial heavy guitar glam formula trademark sound, the latest album being a slight offshoot departure to this.

Overall, a solid show.   Personally I’d would have liked a few more classics that they omitted but I equally understand that they  don’t want to constantly repeat the songs over and over.  Perhaps in their latter days a greatest hits tour like everyone else these days getting one last big pay check.

Marko [20 June 2023]