Kevin Bronson on October 27th, 2014

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By Tatiana Simonian

When U.K.-based Placebo first played Los Angeles, it was 1997 at the Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip – an era when the Whisky still booked great bands and artists were still making a living selling records. Fresh off the release of their critically acclaimed self-titled LP, the trio had become demigods across the Atlantic. Frontman Brian Molko was a magnet for attention between his androgynous get-ups and catty quips and often wound up in rags like NME. Meanwhile, legends like David Bowie were singing their praises (and covering their songs).

While Placebo could sell out a 1,000-capacity room in the U.K., the U.S. would be a rude awakening for them. Was it because a puritanical country didn’t know what to
do with an ambi-sexual band who sung about sex (gay sex included), drugs and rock ’n’ roll? Probably. The U.S. wasn’t ready for Placebo and probably thought they wouldn’t last too long. Little did they know that Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Forrest would be one of the few bands to make it out of that era alive.

Time passed and singles like “Pure Morning” and a Kate Bush cover “Running Up That Hill” were featured prominently in TV and film. The syncs raised the band’s American profile considerably. In L.A., they would go from the humble Whisky to selling out both the Wiltern and the Greek Theatres. However, their U.S. draw still paled in comparison to the stadium-sized venues the band played worldwide.

In March, Placebo headlined Latin America’s largest music festival Vive Latino to 70,000 rabid fans in Mexico City. It is wholly ironic that a mere two-hour flight away, they played the 2,300-capacity Club Nokia in downtown L.A. on Friday night. It was also ironic that the majority of the audience Friday were not diehard Placebo fans from the ’90s but rather a few old guard augmented by a slew of millennials who have recently discovered the band.

Walking into the venue someone quipped, “This looks like a Morrissey concert!” Indeed, it seems not only has Placebo managed to capture the attention of millennials, they also seem to have tapped into Morrissey’s Latino fanbase. Molko, a fluent Spanish speaker himself, gave this a nod when he began to make small talk with the crowd in Spanish during the show. They kicked the evening off with “B3” and “For What It’s Worth” with a feverish energy that would set the tone for the night.

One would think that for a band regularly used to playing arenas, Placebo would dial it in for a smaller club show however, they didn’t. In fact, they surprisingly paid homage to their first U.S. hit single by playing a “Pure Morning” remix in the house before they went on stage. For the neophytes, “Pure Morning” is a song that the band has notoriously avoided and played only one time since 2008. It was as if they were saying, “Alright U.S., we’re not afraid of who we were, who we are and we’re going to give this our all – again.”

While the setlist included eight cuts off their most recent album “Loud Like Love” and five cuts off the fantastic “Meds,” Placebo also incorporated songs from every album short of their self-titled debut. Fans were thrilled. The audience rabidly cheered and sang along as they played vintage tracks like, “Every You, Every Me” and “Special K.” The show started off well but gained so much more energy the longer they went on. It was the kind of gig you don’t leave early.

So in nearly 20 years since Placebo first played L.A., what has changed? Honestly, it was hard to tell Friday night. Aside from better production than they had at the Whiskey 17 years ago, the band sounded just as hungry and vital as they did in ’97. They also looked pretty damned good. It is worth noting, however, they did sound less angry. Early Placebo was hungry, moody and often looking for a fight. If you ever talked to Molko after a show in the early years, it was a crap shoot whether or not you’d get a kind reply.

The 2014 Placebo sees Molko and Olsdal having matured while maintaining their rock-star aura – they’re still a bit untouchable, although certainly a lot nicer. Like other famous acts from the ’90s who have survived the carnivorous landscape of the music industry (the Foos, Pearl Jam, Depeche), Placebo know how to play the game and aren’t really concerned with the drama anymore. This is a band comprised of lovers, more than angst-y fighters. And while they may not reach the same crowd that their ’90s contempories currently reach in the U.S., the stage is certainly set for another meteoric rise in this now-more-tolerant country for Placebo. After all, they’ve made it clear, they’re not going away any time soon.