Allentown Morning Call 11/2006
ANOTHER DOSE OF PLACEBO
Placebo has been one of Britain's biggest rock bands of the last decade, selling more than seven million blistering, angst-filled albums.
Of course, in America, where none of Placebo's discs has cracked the Billboard 200, the London-based trio, fronted by charismatic, androgynous, nasally voiced singer-guitarist Brian Molko, remains only a cult fave among Goth, glam and slacker kids.
Placebo's fifth CD, " Meds," may not change that equation, although even dismissive uber-critic Robert Christgau, who labels Placebo "cheesy," grudgingly praised the disc when it was released in April.
Placebo, now on its first U.S. tour in three years and scheduled to perform Monday night at Philadelphia's Electric Factory, will be showcasing " Meds" material and possibly a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill."
And though the music is as dramatic and passionate as ever, Molko, a pint-size dynamo who has traded in his futuristic mullet- styled jet-black hair for a shaved head, says the new songs are stripped down and less reliant on computers.
"We needed to go back to our roots and rediscover what the elemental parts of Placebo were and we discovered it was being a tight, three-piece rock band," he told The Sun newspaper in June.
"Now we have a very honest, classic sound in method and approach."
Placebo, with She Wants Revenge and a DJ set by Chris Holmes, 8 p.m. Monday, Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St., Philadelphia, 215- 627-1332, 215-336-2000, www.livenation.com.
Tickets: $28.
by Len Righi, Assistant Editor, Arts and Entertainment
© 2006
