Placebo postpone remaining UK and Ireland tour dates due to Brian Molko’s illness
Placebo have postponed the remaining three dates of their current UK and Ireland tour, as frontman Brian Molko continues to recover from an unspecified illness affecting his voice.
The band had initially postponed a single show in Newcastle on Friday (December 2). At the time, Molko wrote in a statement that after he’d gradually lost his voice over the course of multiple shows last week – ignoring his doctor’s advice to “go home and shut up for a week” – he’d reached a point where he “[ran] the risk of damaging [his] voice, perhaps permanently” if he were to continue touring.
Placebo then postponed their Glasgow show – which was slated to go ahead yesterday (December 3) – noting in another statement that they were “beyond devastated to lose another show on this tour”, but hoped to resume the tour in Dublin on Monday (December 5).
The band have now conceded that Molko’s recovery is taking longer than they’d hoped, and “with a very heavy heart, great sadness and regret”, they’ve opted to postpone the last stretch of the tour. Affected are the aforementioned Dublin show, a Cambridge concert that was scheduled for Wednesday (December 7), and the tour-closing Birmingham date on Thursday (December 8).
All five of the postponed shows will be rescheduled imminently, Placebo wrote in a new statement, encouraging fans to “hang onto your tickets and await further information”.
The band explained that they’d “sincerely and perhaps optimistically hoped that, with some rest, Brian would make a speedier recovery”, but after he saw a doctor yesterday morning (December 3), the frontman learned that he was “not fit to continue the tour and needs complete rest”.
In his own section of the statement, Molko stressed to fans in these cities that Placebo would return to them as soon as they’d be able to. He wrote: “We are so disappointed that we can’t complete our UK run but please rest assured that we will do everything we can to get these shows rescheduled as soon as possible.
“We are so grateful for the wonderful support you have shown us on this tour and for your good wishes and understanding during this difficult period. We are so sorry that we can’t complete the remaining shows, we tried! We will be back soon. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.”
Before Molko lost his voice, Placebo completed nine dates of their UK and Ireland tour, riding hot on the heels of a 41-date European run. They’d spent most of the year touring their eighth album, ‘Never Let Me Go’, which arrived in March of this year on the back of singles ‘Beautiful James’, ‘Surrounded By Spies’, ‘Try Better Next Time’ and ‘Happy Birthday In The Sky’.
In a four-star review of the album, NME’s Andrew Trendell called it “Placebo’s best and most consistent album since 2006’s dark, intoxicated ‘Meds’ – and [one that] might prove their most rejuvenating since 2003’s arena-filling ‘Sleeping With Ghosts’”.
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Ellie Robinson
NME
