Placebo + General Fiasco @ iTunes music festival, Roundhouse, Camden.

So iTunes have jumped on the music festival bandwagon in their pursuit of world domination with iTunes Live. The concept of free tickets at first seems amazing, but, ever the sceptic, it did leave me wondering what iTunes hoped to get from it.

After pretending to be some bloke called Jasper, who I bought the ticket off for a tenner, I entered the Roundhouse slightly drunk and just in time to position myself nicely for General Fiasco. I was immediately struck by how very corporate everything felt. I guess I should have been unsurprised, it being an iTunes wankfest and all, but the place seemed completely souless and had a very different vibe to the last gig (The Manic Street Preachers) I saw there a few weeks previous. There were professional cameras filming the whole thing, which was being projected on Glastonbury-style screens all around the venue. We were also excitedly reminded over the speakers at least twice that 'OMG UR GONNA BE ON TV GUYS!'.

I quickly realised the first flaw in the iTunes festival idea. With the ticket allocation supposedly random, it meant the audience were much less 'fans' and much more 'I'm only going because it's free'. Clearly this is a clever idea concocted by iTunes to get more people 'into' music and attending gigs, thus lubricating the company machine with a bit more lovejuice. Whilst the gig was free, I'm guessing iTunes hoped it would encourage the everyday person to become regular gig-goers in future. Whilst good for the music industry, it did mean that the audience were much less excitable. I expected to be squished silly from the get-go as people struggled to get close to Molko & co., but found myself positively roomy.

General Fiasco, whose name I'd vaguely heard before and, Placebo being the great crowd pleasers they are, assumed they would be at least somewhat interesting. However, they turned out to be a complete disappointment. They churned out monotonous indie that seems to have no discernable change after stopping one 'song' and apparently starting another. I thought it might just be my age, but none of the neon-and-sunglasses-toting 15-year olds I was surrounded by seemed to be into it either, with even a few heckles and sighs in the quieter bits. I was beginning to worry whether my teen idols were going to live up to my expectations I'd so nostalgically preserved.



Young crowd

After a refreshingly quick changeover between bands, Brian, Stefan and Steve took to the stage looking as attractive as ever. Unlike certain rock band old-timers *cough* Blur *cough* they had matured well, with a smarter vintage look making them more Thin White Duke than Ziggy Stardust. The dark bassy tones of Kitty Litter made the previously numb audience erupt into life.



From that moment on I was sucked in. Placebo played lots of music from new album Battle For The Sun, which I was quite grateful for. Any more hits and I might have squashed the poor 15-year old girls in front of me into disrepair. To my absolute delight they played Special K and Taste in Men, which persuaded me to go in search of the tickets in the first place. I think I showed my age at that point, as I was clearly more familiar with Black Market Music than the younger ones around me. I liked the fact that we were so packed into each other that I had to decide whether I wanted my arms up or down for the duration of the next song as the finished the last one, though some of the more crushable ones seemed less keen!

The show they put on was truly great, maintaining a massive energy through the set. They were musically very tight and clearly had a soundman who knew his stuff. When I wasn't gaping at Brian's awesome stagemanship, Steve's animalistic shakes of bleach blonde hair, Stefan's beautiful arms and the stunning stage visuals (including old footage of a Bollywood star and war scenes) were more than enough to keep me entertained.

The gig ended with everyone wanting more. Placebo gig virgin, I naturally assumed that Nancy Boy would see us on our way, but no. In fact, they didn't play anything from that first album. Given that they've been bashing it out for over 13 years now, I really don't really blame them! If only other bands *cough* Blur *cough* would learn to do the same.

I left the gig sweaty, exhausted and thankful for fresh air. An amazing piece of nostalgia maturely developed into a band that are still producing interesting music.