We Are The Boys
Back to Articles
Placebo
The Metro, Sydney
Monday 26th April
There are a lot of potential hooks for Placebo to hang their image on. There is the much-discussed fact that singer/guitarist Brian Molko is bisexual and loves to play the androgyny trump card. There is the glam angle of early releases like “Nancy Boy”. They also have a dark, quasi-goth aesthetic which has inadvertently endeared them to the trag-teen set who would be pining over Robert Smith if they were born ten years earlier.
But no. What was most surprising about Placebo as they played the Metro was their refusal to rely on these histrionics. Instead, Placebo chose to base their show on something else altogether: damn good rock songs. And with Without You I’m Nothing full of standout tracks, why would they fall back on the gimmickry?
They took a little while to warm up with early tracks falling flat thanks to a terrible vocal mix. But then came the crucial moment. Half way through the set, Molko shed the Gibson SG with which he had been thrashing out grating, abrasive guitar punch and lit a cigarette. Then came the mechanical sample which signals the beginning of “My Sweet Prince.” Leaning on the microphone with the cigarette strategically clasped between his fingers Molko then chose to play his androgyny with a pained diva-ish vocal delivery that mesmerised all present. It was inescapably the spine-tingling high point of the performance, but it also seemed to stir something in the trio that then resulted in awesome versions of “Pure Morning” and “Without You I’m Nothing.”
As a straight three-piece rock band Placebo are better than average. When they allow themselves to push beyond this they are jaw-droppingly magnificent.
