I’ll straight up admit it: UK trio Placebo were my favourite band for a really long time back in my moody teen goth years. They will forever hold a particularly special place in my heart – they were my first favourite band – and for those playing at home, yes, the last time I listened to them was last week, for about three hours straight. That said, I’m grateful I was too young for tattoos during my peak Placebo phase or I’d have the entirety of Every You Every Me down one arm and Without You I’m Nothing on the other.
Placebo have now announced a 20th anniversary world tour to celebrate two decades of angsty nasal rock – or more specifically, 20 years since their eponymous debut album. The first string of dates have been revealed for the UK and Europe, with more to follow.
According to the band’s official website, frontman Brian Molko and co promise a ‘best of’ type set, spanning their full catalogue.
A statement from Molko reads, “Let’s just say there will be songs in the set that I’ve sworn never to play again. I think it’s time that we purposefully acknowledged what a lot of Placebo fans really want to hear. They’ve been very patient with us since we rarely play our most commercially successful material. A 20 year anniversary tour seems like the right time to do so. That’s our intention. This tour is very much for the fans and a chance for us to revisit a lot of our early material. So, if you want to see us play songs like ‘Pure Morning’ and ‘Nancy Boy’ which we haven’t played in almost ten years and may not play again, then you’d better come along to these shows! We’ll have some surprises in there too.”
I last saw Placebo live way back in 2004 on the Sleeping With Ghosts tour, so I for one hope that they return to Australia to celebrate twenty years down under. The teen goth inside me owes them a lot. While founding members Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal remain in the band, their third drummer Steve Hewitt officially left the group last year. They were joined by touring drummer Matt Lunn for the remainder of their 2015 live dates, so for now we can only assume Lunn will be behind the kit on the upcoming tour.
The tour kick off in Denmark in mid-October and run through until December; it’s possible they’ll start their tour earlier elsewhere – who knows, they could be a late addition for the US summer festivals, or perhaps even Splendour in the Grass, eh? EH?
For our UK and European readers, you can check out all the tour dates below. Ticketmaster are offering fans a 48 hour pre-sale to scoop up tickets from 9 am on the 16th of March, ahead of general sales on the 18th. Tickets and more info can be found here.
Placebo 20th Anniversary Tour Dates
OCT 13 – DENMARK. AARHUS TRAIN
OCT 14 – DENMARK. COPENHAGEN VEGA MAIN HALL
OCT 16 – NORWAY. OSLO SENTRUM SCENE
OCT 18 – SWEDEN. STOCKHOLM CIRKUS
OCT 20 – FINLAND. HELSINKI HARTWALL ARENA
OCT 22 – LATVIA. RIGA ARENA
OCT 24 – RUSSIA. ST.PETERSBURG NEW ARENA [ SUPPORT FROM. THE MIRROR TRAP ]
OCT 26 – RUSSIA. MOSCOW OLIMPIYSKIY [ SUPPORT FROM. THE MIRROR TRAP ]
OCT 29 – POLAND. WARSAW TORWAR
OCT 31 – GERMANY. HAMBURG BARCLAYCARD ARENA
NOV 02 – GERMANY. COLOGNE LANXESS ARENA
NOV 04 – GERMANY. MUNICH OLYMPIAHALLE
NOV 05 – GERMANY. LEIPZIG ARENA
NOV 07 – GERMANY. BERLIN MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA
NOV 08 – CZECH REP. PRAGUE FORUM KARLIN
NOV 10 – CROATIA. ZAGREB CIBONA HALL
NOV 11 – HUNGARY. BUDAPEST SPORTARENA
NOV 13 – AUSTRIA. VIENNA STADTHALLE
NOV 15 – ITALY. MILAN MEDIOLANUM FORUM
NOV 16 – SWITZERLAND. ZURICH HALLENSTADION
NOV 18 – FRANCE. LILLE ZENITH
NOV 19 – BELGIUM. ANTWERP SPORTPALEIS
NOV 21 – HOLLAND. AMSTERDAM ZIGGO DOME
NOV 23 – GERMANY. FRANKFURT FESTHALLE
NOV 24 – GERMANY. STUTTGART SCHLEYERHALLE
NOV 26 – FRANCE. AMNEVILLE GALAXIE
NOV 28 – FRANCE. NANTES ZENITH METROPOLE
NOV 29 – FRANCE. PARIS ACCORHOTELS ARENA
DEC 02 – UK. GLASGOW SSE HYDRO
DEC 03 – UK. LEEDS FIRST DIRECT ARENA
DEC 05 – UK. MANCHESTER ARENA
DEC 06 – UK. NOTTINGHAM MOTORPOINT ARENA
DEC 08 – UK. BIRMINGHAM BARCLAYCARD ARENA
DEC 10 – IRELAND. DUBLIN 3ARENA
DEC 12 – UK. NEWPORT CENTRE
DEC 14 – UK. BRIGHTON CENTRE
DEC 15 – UK. LONDON SSE WEMBLEY ARENA
And for good measure:
Image: Kevin Westenberg