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placebo1Mercedes-Benz-Arena, Berlin, Germany
7th November 2016
Placebo, The Joy Formidable & Deaf Havana

The Mercedes-Benz-Arena was about three quarters full at this cold winter evening. The audience was very mixed, young people together with fans since the beginning of the band. Twenty years of an amazing band - and the expectation to hear the greatest hits again had managed to attract lots of fans to the giant concert hall.


Deaf Havana

The English Rock band, founded in 2005 and consisting of five members (James Veck-Gilodi / leading vocals and guitar, Lee Wilson / bass, Tom Ogden / drums and vocals, Matthew Veck-Gilodi / guitar and vocals, Max Britton / keyboard, piano and vocals), opened the concert at seven o’clock. They played for about 30 minutes and earned a decent ovation. http://deafhavanaofficial.com / https://www.facebook.com/deafhavana 


The Joy Formidable

The independent Rock band was founded in 2007. They consist of Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Dafydd (vocals, bass) and Matt Thomas (drums). The lead singer has a lot of energy and a powerful voice and managed to catch the audience’s attention. They left the stage after playing for about half an hour. http://www.thejoyformidable.com / https://www.facebook.com/thejoyformidable


Placebo

After a short break, the long expected British Rock band appeared - although first only in form of a video, ‘Every You Every me’. The video was played on a giant screen and people were getting mad. Brian Molko appeared in the middle of a big ovation and started singing ‘Pure Morning’. During the next song, ‘Loud like Love’, a lot of heart balloons were waved at the first rows. Brian gave a warm welcome to his audience: “Guten Abend Berlin auf unserer Geburtstagsparty“ (Good Evening Berlin at our birthday party) he said in German. During the whole concert, old video clips and live videos from the band members in black and white were projected on the three screens behind and on the sides of the stage. The light effects were amazing and the sound well-managed.

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At the seventh song, ‘Too many friends’, Brian became a little bit angry due to the people filming the concert with their smartphones. He referred to them as people who choose to see and hear the concert in an inferior quality. He made clear that they couldn’t and didn’t want to forbid the filming, but he didn’t leave any doubts about his opinion about it too. I could understand him at all; there were some people who weren’t concentrating on the concert because they were too busy filming it and sending pictures from the concert to their friends or posting on Facebook.

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I guess that many people were waiting for Placebo’s oldest hits, and they weren’t disappointed: With the thirteenth song, ‘Protect me from what I Want’, they started playing several older songs. But Brian became really angry with some people dancing in a reckless way, saying that they weren’t on a LIMP BIZKIT concert and telling them to stop and behaving in a respectful way. “Do we treat others in an egoistic way or with love?“ he asked. A few songs later, he asked the audience if they wanted some “Spaß“ (fun) and explained: “Spaß means dancing“. At ‘Special K’, the audience went mad; the stage was adorned with circles of red light, exercising a hypnotic effect.

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The regular set ended with ‘The Bitter End’ and standing ovations, although PLACEBO played several encores. An outstanding concert worth to see! http://www.placeboworld.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/officialplacebo 

Setlist
01. Pure Morning
02. Loud Like Love
03. Jesus' Son
04. Soulmates
05. Special Needs
06. Lazarus
07. Too Many Friends
08. Twenty Years
09. I Know
10. Devil in the Details
11. Space Monkey
12. Exit Wounds
13. Protect Me from What I Want
14. Without You I'm Nothing
15. 36 Degrees
16. Lady of the Flowers
17. For What It's Worth
18. Slave to the Wage
19. Special K
20. Song to Say Goodbye
21. The Bitter End
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22. Teenage Angst
23. Nancy Boy
24. Infra-red
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25. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) (Kate Bush cover)

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 8
Sound: 10
Light: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10

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All Pictures from the show in Cologne by Marc Junge



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