24-11-2009 Placebo

Supports: Expatriate; Venue: SAP Arena, Mannheim (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

This time we went to another arena, to the SAP arena in Mannheim. Placebo was playing there today. Their support was Expatriate.

Expatriate is an indie rock band based in Australia. The band formed in Sydney, Australia, in 2005 and currently consists of vocalist Ben King, drummer Chris Kollias, keyboardist Damian Press and bassist David Molland. Expatriate has released one studio album and two EPs to date, with the album charting at #38 in the ARIA charts. The name is derived from what the band describe as “common themes running through each member’s life.”

They had a huge backdrop screen where it said the band name on it when not displaying any other images. The venue was quite crowded but not too full. During Expatriate not many people were actually dancing. They cheered and appreciated the music though. Their show lasted 40 minutes. Somehow their music reminded me of a rocking version of Depeche Mode. It was a nice show and I’m looking forward to see them again.

Placebo are an alternative rock band formed in London in 1994, currently consisting of Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest. To date, they have released six studio albums, six EPs and twenty-seven singles. The band has gained a considerable amount of international recognition, and have sold over one million albums in the UK and over ten million worldwide. Thus far, Placebo are best known for hit songs such as “Nancy Boy”, “Pure Morning”, “Every You Every Me”, “Infra-Red” and a cover of the Kate Bush song “Running Up That Hill”. Their style has varied greatly. The band’s first album featured a raw sound and a fairly minimalistic instrumental lineup, but proceeding ones have had a slower, more melancholy, tone and they started experimenting with synthesizers and other, less traditional, modes of sound production (particularly after Black Market Music).

As Placebo entered the stage the audience seemed to be waking up. Before the band stood on stage there was the Black Sun showed on a huge screen, as that screen came down the band began to play. Placebo actually had a live band besides the three members. They played songs of all albums, but during the first part of the show they played more songs off the latest album and in the last part more of the Meds album. In between they always played older hits. Placebo put up a great performance and the audience liked it. They sang and clapped along and even danced along sometimes. Throughout the end the entire venue was having a good time. Placebo played an encore of three songs.