Placebo
The Metro, Sydney, 16 August 1999
by James Russell

I must admit I was apprehensive when I heard Placebo had called off their Brisbane performance on August 15, seeing how I was due to go see them in Sydney the next night. After various other woes (Brian Molko damaging nerves in bizarre drinking accident, Stefan Olsdal breaking his left arm in South Africa from falling off stage) and general exhaustion from touring, Brian just had to cap it off by getting tonsillitis one night before I was due to see the band. After a friend of mine coming all the way from America to see them here too, this seemed pretty damn rude. But the show went on, and thank God (or Satan?) that it did.

Killing Heidi were the support act. Unfortunately I didn't see any of their set cos the two people I was with weren't interested in them and wanted to cut straight to the chase. Would've liked to see them myself but I was kind of outvoted. Anyway, when we did get to the Metro there was a PLACEBO SOLD OUT sign up on the door so I knew the crowd would be massive, and I was right… stacks of people loitering around the bar and even more inside the place. Everyone seemed pretty much primed for Placebo and I'm sure few of them would've been disappointed.

The band strode on just after 9.30 and launched into "Scared of Girls", following it in fairly rapid fashion with "Brick Shithouse" and "Allergic", ending with "Nancy Boy" and "Pure Morning", with a head-spinning version of "Evil Dildo" for an encore with Brian on bass and Stefan on guitar. In between (though I'm not going to pretend I know in what order) came "Bionic", "36 Degrees", "Bruise Pristine", "Every You Every Me", "You Don't Care About Us" and assorted others, with both albums being fairly equally represented. Although one surprising absence from the set list was "My Sweet Prince", which I'd have thought would've been a prominent feature.

The only particularly slow songs during the whole 75-odd minutes that the show lasted were "Without You I'm Nothing" (with Stefan "playing the part of Mr David Bowie" in Brian's words), "The Crawl" and "Lady of the Flowers"; otherwise it was a full-on and damn loud night of rocking out all round, with a good little moshpit going off next to the stage and some crowd-surfing too. "Evil Dildo" was about the only occasion when drummer Steve Hewitt struggled to be heard over the other two, as Brian and Stefan generated an amazing shitstorm of feedback and noise. Otherwise he acquitted himself splendidly all night-excellent hair, too-as did Stefan with his bandaged arm and all.

Brian's voice sounded in good shape, if at times fighting to be made out in the mix, though the previous night's tonsil troubles seemed to have taken their toll on his temper-when someone in the audience threw what looked like a shirt at him during "You Don't Care About Us" (at least I think it was during that one, it was about five or six songs into the show) and threw him off his stride for a few bars, he lashed out in terms that would be called "no uncertain" and no one was game to throw anything else at him for the rest of the night. "And as for you," he snapped at someone else, "I was like you when I started drinking, so fuck you," and raised the finger at them. Buggered if I know what he was talking about but it sounded cool anyway. At the end of "Evil Dildo" he overturned one of the Marshall amplifiers the band used and appeared to kick one of the monitors (unfortunately I wasn't close enough to the stage to see properly, but I assume that's what he did) before stomping off. A fine end to a fine show.

So apart from a certain over-zealous and probably under-sexed bouncer who shall remain nameless (cos I don't know his name, but he knows who he is anyway), it was a cracking night, and my friend from overseas was properly paralysed with joy. Having only been here at the end of April, Placebo made a pretty quick return trip at Silverchair's request. This, their only solo show, was probably the last we'll see of them for a while. Going on a review I've read of their previous show at the Metro, it sounds like the set list this time was pretty much like the last time, so maybe when they return they'll have new stuff to play for us, Brian will be less tired and emotional, and Placebo will be an even more attractive and awesome proposition than they were this time. And maybe then they'll play "My Sweet Prince" too.