Placebo: Wembley Arena, December 9th 2006.

 

Arriving at the arena at 7pm, security checked our tickets and we found our seats, and we had a rather decent view of the stage.

The first support band to kick off the show at 7.30 were the Howling Bells, a female fronted band. This band didn't do much for me, although they weren't that bad. We got through 7 songs before they finally got off the stage, to make way for the final support band...

This band were called the Archie Bronson Outfit, and I found this band to be really awful, all 7 or 8 songs were a total assault on the ears and I had to laugh when my friend who came with me to the event fell asleep at the third song. :lol:

 

After a long interval of setting up on the stage which seemed like forever, the lights went down at 9.30.

The crowed cheered as Stefan ran across the stage and they started to play. The legend that is Brian Molko then strolled onstage and the crowd pretty much gave him a standing ovation, he greeted the audience with his usual trademark line "we are the ladies and gentlemen of Placebo".

 

Placebo kicked off the set with 'Infra-Red', which was a single from the recent album Meds, then followed with two other singles from Meds, 'Meds' and 'Because I Want You', all three of these were highly impressive performances.

Highlight performances of the night for me were 'Soulmates' (a harder, more alternative version of 'Sleeping With Ghosts'), 'I Know' which gave a totally new spin on the song, Brian sung it so powerfully and it totally blew me away, 'Blind' because I find the chrous usually grates on me on the recorded version, but I could not pick one single fault with this performance, their cover of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' was also stunning. I found their performance of 'Every You Every Me' a bit underwhelming to be honest, but it got the crowd motivated and they loved it.

 

As the intro riffs of 'The Bitter End' kicked in, everyone who was seated in the arena stood up to get ready, this was the song that really drove the whole arena wild, everyone was jumping and dancing around to it (me included), and their performance of 'Special K' was packed to the brim with energy, and it also worked as well to get the audience moving along to it.

 

The concert was almost drawing to a close, the second to last song to be played was 'Taste In Men', from what I could gather poor Stefan's guitar broke during this performance, bless him. The boys drew the concert to a close with 'Twenty Years', which interestingly became a full on rocky number towards the end of the track, which was interesting given the original is a ballad. The 'ladies and gentlemen of Placebo' thanked the audience towards the end and briefly had some banter with the crowd, before walking offstage. We left the arena just after 11pm.

 

All in all, this concert was everything I hoped for and more, it was truly worth every penny. Brian's voice is truly astounding, but nothing compares to hearing it live, it really shone. My mind was blown by the concert, my friend who came with me said he was really impressed, that he enjoyed himself and it was better than he thought it would be, and every single person in the building had a good time. I was a little surprised they missed out 'Nancy Boy' and 'Pure Morning', and was hoping they would play 'Bruise Pristine', 'You Don't Care About Us', 'This Picture' and 'Post Blue', but the sheer brilliance of this concert meant it didn't matter to me.

 

After this concert, it's plain to see why Placebo are my favourite band, and it's safe to say they have cemented a life-long fan in me. I will 100% be seeing them again if and when I get the chance, and I'd urge ANYONE to do the same, you will not be disappointed.

 

PS, as a sidenote, Stefan looks so sexy in the flesh. :P

 

Here are all the songs they played, some of it might be in the wrong order but who cares:

 

Infra-Red

Meds

Drag

Because I Want You

I Know

Bionic

Without You I'm Nothing

Special Needs

Running Up That Hill

Every You Every Me

Follow The Cops Back Home

Bionic

Soulmates

Space Monkey

Blind

Song To Say Goodbye

One Of A Kind

The Bitter End

Special K

Taste In Men

Twenty Years

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, when we left the arena I bought a t-shirt for £5, and saw loads of fans waiting outside the exit with banners saying things like "Happy birthday Brian", "We love you Placebo/Brian" etc.

good set list and im delighted you enjoyed the show, its great when u go to a show and come out a happy camper

:D Aly, I'm really glad to hear you had such a great time!!!!!!!! Reading your review reminds me how I felt after (and during!) the concert I went to :dance:, that's so great!

Do you have any pictures or not? Otherwise, can you tell how the stage looked? Did they have so many videoscreens again?

 

Oh I've got some pictures of Placebo on Pinkpop 2006 that I made on my computer! I'll post soon :)!

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. :( But if I find any on the internet of this concert I'll post to give you an idea of what it looked like.

 

They had about 8 screens behind them of various images.

 

I'm still on a high, I knew it would be excellent but this was better than I expected. :wub:

:D I know what you mean! It'll last for a few days :P!

You just walk around with a big smile on your face, thinking all the time: "I've seen Placebo, I've seen Placebo, OMG, I've seen Placebo :D :D" (or something like that.....)

 

Too bad you don't have pictures, but as long as YOU remember what you've seen it's ok :)

btw, was it the first time you saw them live?

btw, was it the first time you saw them live?

 

Yes, it was. What an incredible experience, it just leaves me wanting more.

 

I wonder when they'll next do live gigs here.

Aly that is one great review. :) And I'm really happy that you had amazing time. :yahoo:

 

I think they really should do live songs Pure Morning, Nancy Boy, and imo Black Eyed. :) :wub:

 

How lucky are you. :cheer:

Aly that is one great review. :) And I'm really happy that you had amazing time. :yahoo:

 

I think they really should do live songs Pure Morning, Nancy Boy, and imo Black Eyed. :) :wub:

 

How lucky are you. :cheer:

 

I checked out the schedule of their last tour, and if this is the same, they might visit Serbia in 5 months. :D

I checked out the schedule of their last tour, and if this is the same, they might visit Serbia in 5 months. :D

 

:o What, what, what? :o

 

I don't understand really what are you trying to say but I saw this line they might visit Serbia in 5 months.

 

Where did you watch that? :unsure:

:o What, what, what? :o

 

I don't understand really what are you trying to say but I saw this line they might visit Serbia in 5 months.

 

Where did you watch that? :unsure:

 

I just looked at the way their last big tour was planned out, they visited Serbia 5 months after the UK last time so who knows what may happen this time?

yes i was there as well. What a great gig!!

i missed that bit when some guy ran onto the stage, apparently did something to Stefan...then the epuipment started to fail...so what did he actually did???

yes i was there as well. What a great gig!!

i missed that bit when some guy ran onto the stage, apparently did something to Stefan...then the epuipment started to fail...so what did he actually did???

 

I don't know, I remember Brian mentioning something about it though. :unsure:

I just looked at the way their last big tour was planned out, they visited Serbia 5 months after the UK last time so who knows what may happen this time?

 

I will hope for that. -_- :cry:

i remember seeing that guy running to Stefan then the woman sat next to me suddenly stood up blocking my view, the next thing i saw was him being pulled back by security guys and Stefan started spitting or vomitting ........... so strange. If the equitment wasnt ****ed-up they couldve done more songs......

i remember seeing that guy running to Stefan then the woman sat next to me suddenly stood up blocking my view, the next thing i saw was him being pulled back by security guys and Stefan started spitting or vomitting ........... so strange. If the equitment wasnt ****ed-up they couldve done more songs......

 

Oh god, they could have done more? :o

 

I just thought 11pm was when they were due to finish. I'll be so annoyed if that's true, damn that guy for running on stage. :angry:

well they spent ages on the repairing, like 20 mins in total, imagine if it didnt happen.....

 

anyway the gig was still awsome, and your review totally says it all!! Thanks!

 

ps. im quite jealous of those lucky people who are going to today's gig in Manchester, it's gonna be so special cos it's Brian's birthday...saw a clip on youtube that shows Brian singing 'happy birthday' to Stefan in a gig, same thing gonna happen tonight then??

Edited December 10, 200618 yr by 1q2

I expect the crowd would end up singing happy birthday to Brian. :o

 

I would have loved to be there on the day of Brian's birthday, you're right, that would have been even more special.

The Set List is Fabulous :o :wub:

 

Glad you enjoyed it Aly! :cheer:

 

Loving Meds, more by the day :D!