Billed as an intimate gig for the fans, Placebo play Elephant and Castle’s Coronet theatre in a bid to quell the assumption that the band are arena sell-outs (à la Muse) as well as getting in some extra practice in for their massive American tour. Tonight’s gig is a further testament to the fact that Placebo have matured into a reliably solid live act, as well as keeping up the unrelenting middle finger to the UK music press.

It is amazing to see how far Placebo have progressed since 1996; tonight’s gig sees an absence of their two smash hits, ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Pure Morning’ without a major grumble. This is largely due to the inclusion of tracks from their latest album, Meds, which sees the return of the darker, rock orientated Placebo that maimed the Brit Pop malaise which plagued the UK in 1996.

Openers ‘Infra-Red’ and ‘Meds’ are greeted by much cheering/moshing/crushing of arms and legs, and are an accurate pointer of the pace of the gig as a whole. The rocket fuelled trajectory is maintained by the ever present ‘Every You, Every Me’, and crowd pleasers ‘The Bitter End’ and ‘Special K’. In lieu of the aforementioned golden hits the band belt out first album track ‘I Know’, which has only seen the live setting since last year’s European tour and is rightly praised by an adoring crowd.

The gig reaches insurmountable heights during encore tracks ‘Running up that Hill’ and the hypnotic ‘Taste in Men’. The emotional Kate Bush cover encapsulates the passive aggressive nature of the band, and is both heart-wrenching and mesmerising.

As a whole the gig runs seamlessly; a well oiled Placebo deliver the dark-romantic-rock goods to an eternally devoted audience. The band is noticeably thrilled – and no wonder – this was their fastest selling gig to date. As Brian Molko divides up a massive bouquet of flowers amongst the audience it is a sure fire bet that Placebo are firmly concreted in UK rock history.                
(5/5)