Finally, Placebo back at Lycabettus. “Every me and every you” in the right place, at the right time. Those who were there on that magical night in September 2003 know exactly what this means. “It’s in the water, baby,” there’s no other explanation, because the Placebo Effect grows with the energy of the rock, above the city’s horizon. In the scorching Athenian summer, the older ones will remember their wild nights, and the younger ones will see what it’s like to dance under the stars as if there’s no tomorrow, as if the whole world is an embrace.
We first saw them in Greece at the epic Rockwave of 1999 in Agios Kosmas, and 25 years later, the memory of that night still makes us smile. Since then, they have visited the country more than 10 times, and we don’t know if it’s the guitars, Brian’s voice, or the cathartic darkness of the lyrics, but we always wonder if what we just experienced was real.
Placebo are Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal, who didn’t hang out as classmates at the American International School of Luxembourg, but fortunately reconsidered in 1994 when they met by chance in London. Over the next 30 years, they released 8 studio albums, 9 compilation albums, 1 MTV Unplugged, and 1 live box set, sold more than 14 million records, played countless concerts around the world, and collaborated with some of their heroes, such as David Bowie, the Pixies, Robert Smith, Michael Stipe, and PJ Harvey.
They claim to be the kids “at the back of the class” (One of A Kind) or a band “for outsiders by outsiders.” For Greeks, Placebo is simply a huge passion, no matter what happens in the world or how times change.
Can you imagine a love that is so proud? It never has to question why or how.