placebo @ alexandra palace - april 11th

So I had a straight choice: pay twice face value for a ticket off eBay, or not go. I chose the former, and fortunately the show did at least live up to the inflated cost.

I’d never been to Alexandra Palace before (which may have had something to do with my mistaken stupid belief that it was in south London… Duh!), and I wasn’t sure what it would be like as a rock venue.

After realising where the venue actually was, I resigned myself to driving. I guess I’m getting old, but when I got there, the queue was already rather long, and the persistent, cold rain made the adjoining bar look all too appealing. My first impression was that building itself is beautiful, and it certainly made a nice change from places like Earl’s Court and Wembley, which are functional at best. When I got inside, my enthusiasm for the architecture waned… the stage was set up in a large hall, but just seemed rather detached from everything else around it.

The first support band did have some fans there, but you couldn’t help suspecting they’d bussed in their family and friends for the night. I’ve already forgotten their name, which probably says all you need to know about them. The second support band was White Rose Movement who were OK in a pretentious art student kind of way, but they never really rocked my world. Their bassist had the looks and all the right moves, until he started rocking out in front of the drums… I'd at least like a little foreplay before I see a guy’s arsecrack.

Placebo was great, although they concentrated mostly on material from their recently released Meds album. It was kind of a double-edged sword, as I’d like to have heard more of their older stuff, but with five studio albums, they’re spoilt for choice. I did at least manage to shove my way into the second row of sweaty bodies. The gig was fantastic, and during the encore, Alison Mosshart of The Kills joined the band for Meds.

I probably spent too much of the gig wondering why the hell I'd have an inexplicable crush on Stef. He is kind of cute, incredibly cool, and a bassist, but he's also rather scrawny (well, compared to me and my oversized arse) and very gay. I'm going to chalk it up to a naked torso and a thunderbird ;-)