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After too long of a waiting (all of 2005 without a single concert!), I really needed my dose (of Meds!), so I went all the way to Scotland to seek it!
In the country of sheep, on that "rainy" (i.e. "Scottish"!!) Thursday evening, the Carling Academy of Glasgow hosts Placebo for one of the first gigs of their 2006 Meds Tour.
Some of the fans have been here since morning, facing the cold and sometimes even the snow, to be the first in. The audience is pretty young and gathers gothics, punks and other Glasgow rockers of all kinds.
7 p.m : opening of the doors. We enter among the first the former theatre which today hosts mainly rock concerts. For the first part, Placebo left the stage to The White Rose Movement, a young English group, musically between Franz Ferdinand (from Glasgow!) and My Chemical Romance. They are very punchy and original, but the singer is a bit stressful, with his obsessionnal compulsive disorders: he just can't stand having his hair in his eyes, and after shaking his head like a madman to the point of tearing it off, he then puts it back neatly on the side.

After this, the Placebo fans try their best to get as close as possible to the stage, even if their have to stick their elbows in the ribs of us, little Frenchies, for that!... Next to us, a well-documented fan harps on everything she knows about Placebo. Apparently, she has planned to follow the entire tour: it seems like she already went to the previous night's gig in Blackpool ("I've never seen Stefan like that, he was at his top!!"). A few gothic teenagers surround her, glued togeeher, very impressed with her incredible tale. Suddenly concerned about her fellow fans, she advises me to check that my hips fit in the row before the barrier, because otherwise, I might get molested… Well hello ?!!! Do you know who you're talking to, Scotty girrrl?!! Obviously, she hasn't seen me wrestling in the Rock en Seine Festival's trenches, at the Pixies concert last year…!

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After an unbearable time waiting, getting all the fans overexcited, Brian Molko finally steps in.
Very quickly, this concert confirms the new direction taken by the band, that is a return to a somewhat "dirty" rock, and to the spontaneousness of their beginnings: rough sounds, stripped but striking compositions take over. They play mainly songs from the new album and some of their first hits, dominated by some kind of survival instinct, which seemed to have faded a bit with the celebrity of these last years.
The band introduces the concert just like the new album, playing their eponymous track Meds. Brian starts off by himself on the low and sensuous strings of his acoustic guitar, on which the dry and incisive rhythm reminds us of Iggy Pop's I Wanna be Your Dog. Alison Mosshart, the singer of The Kills, who took part in the album, is not here tonight, however, the song does not lose its sensuality. Over these first relatively soft notes, Stefan Olsdal starts spreading his light electric riffs, which gradually intensify, to reach a threatening climax, underlined by Steve Hewitt's nearly military drums.
Obviously, the fans already know all the lyrics by heart…

The band goes on with the presentation of the new album, with Infra-red, and Drag, which, despite its somewhat "light" lyrics, contains all the necessary ingredients of a hit piece : catchy yet deep guitar riffs and melodies, and a punchy rock sound, very specific to Placebo. Because I want you immerses us back into the spirit of the beginnings with its frenetic melodies.
On Space Monkey, one of the most innovative tracks, the futuristic effects used on the album are unfortunately rather poorly conveyed on stage.

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Follow the Cops back home is a very stripped ballad, only powdered with little guitar and keyboard notes; it is however where we most feel the added value of the new musicians that Placebo took in on the tour.
Among the songs of the new album, Post Blue, One of a Kind and Song to Say goodbye (strangely played in the middle of the set) undoubtedly take over the audience in the strongest The break in the middle of Post Blue devastates the scene, Brian falls down on his knees whispering "Down on my bended knees". While Stefan Olsdal moves his body suggestively on One of a Kind, the alchemy between the bass line, the saturation of the guitar and the keyboard gimmick is perfect.
But the audience is most taken away when the band starts playing their old tracks: Come Home, Teenage Angst, 36 Degrees… Nothing can replace the old sounds which distinguished Placebo from all the other bands, what made their trademark: rough and solid sound of the first album. Only today, Brian sings them today with much more maturity. People take on slamming and one fan starts a crowd surfing contest, which apparently aims at coming back before the stage as often as possible and to get kicked out by security as violently as possible…
Of course, Placebo also indulges us with their hit pieces Every You, Every Me (from Without You I'm Nothing), the killer Special K (from the excellent Black Market Music), which Brian plays on his new Gretsch, supposedly bought the day before, or The Bitter End (from Sleeping With Ghosts). However, I was puzzled by the choice of some of the tracks: Special Needs and their cover of Kate Bushe's Running up that Hill, which are neither really consistent with the current musical state of mind of the band, nor particularly efficient on stage.

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A couple of other disappointments. I found that there was no big surprise in this gig, compared to the 5th November 2004 Wembley Arena show: no electro impro, no guest star (I have a request: please invite Michael Stipe to the Bercy (Paris) concert!! Except maybe for a little joke about James Blunt, the rockstars' best buddy: while Brian struggled with his distortion pedal, he filled the blank suggesting to those annoyed by technical problems go to a James Blunt concert ("he's probably never seen a distortion pedal in his entire life!!")

Finally, I was nevertheless quite happy to see Placebo back on stage and this Glasgow gig seems to initiate a great 2006 tour. We'll see you in Bercy (with Michael Stipe !!) and for the next concert in Scotland, I have a small suggestion for Brian: why not make a Scottish version of English Summer Rain: "Scottish Easter Snow"….

Christine - May 3, 2006