REVIEW: Placebo @ Liverpool Guild of Students

When it was announced that Placebo were going to be doing a UK tour in 2015 I must have been first in line to order tickets online to their Liverpool gig, which was held at the Liverpool Guild of Students.

The queue to the venue was already bustling with energy and excitement by the time I took my place to wait. There were people of all ages, from children and teenagers who were dragging along their parents for the ride, to older people who clearly hadn’t had enough seeing them on their past tours.

By the time everyone was inside the venue, pushed up as close to the stage as they could go, the anticipation was almost tangible. Before the band had even entered the stage, and way before the crowd could even see them, they played one of their best-known hits, ‘Pure Morning’ which drove the crowd insane, leading to their arrival on stage to cheers of joy.

The two original band members, Brian Molko (vocals) and Stefan Olsdal (guitarist/bass) commanded the whole rooms attention, particularly Molko whose mere presence drove the crowd wild. They played a mixture of hits old and new from their latest album, ‘Loud Like Love’ that such conviction that everyone sang along as if their lives depended on it.

For a fairly intimate show at the Guild of Students, they played a long set, coming back to do a long encore of several songs that sparked the crowd’s excitement back up again after they thought it was all over. They had more energy than many younger bands that have recently played in Liverpool, which is no mean feat for a band that has been going for 20 years.

The music was a perfect mixture of old and new, slow haunting melodies, as well as upbeat ‘scream it until your throat hurts’ beats as well. This worked well for the range of people in the audience.

Although there was a balcony, which had a fair amount of people, most of the audience decided to get as close to the stage as they could, the speakers crowded with people as Stefan’s guitar changes filled the room with a happy hysteria and the anticipation of his guitar solo.

The setlist for the show was a sure fire winner all around, with the band and crowd all interacting together perfectly. Placebo never missed a trick, playing to the crowd to rile them up and make them dance, and then slow them right down again, before picking up again, the audience complying with being a musical plaything.

Brian himself treated his audience as if he knew them personally to thank them for turning up, something that was greatly appreciated by his adoring followers.

Overall, Placebo played a blinding show in Liverpool, which absorbed everybody there, the band members old and new fitting together in perfect harmony, working together to give the crowd a truly unforgettable experience.