Placebo hit back at “entitled” fans following complaints with festival performance
Everybody has bad days in the office but, usually, those bad days are not set onstage for thousands of adoring fans to witness. During a recent performance at OpenAir festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland, alternative rock titans Placebo on July 7th, their set was plagued with technical difficulties that caused the band to cut their set short leading to a backlash from fans.
The short-lived performance certainly was not one of Placebo’s best, with the act cutting out after the playing their 2022 track ‘Went Missing’. As a result, many bemused audience members took to social media to criticise the band’s performance, or lack thereof. In response vocalist Brian Molko shared a statement on the band’s social media accounts, explaining some of the technical difficulties and hitting back at critics.
Writing on Instagram, Molko began, “We have been noticing a great deal of discussion, arguments, accusations & skirmishes between our fans in relation to our truncated concert at St Gallen festival,” adding, “We have also been on the receiving end of many (unimaginative & entitled) insults”.
The songwriter then went on to shed some light on the technical difficulties experienced. “Shortly into the set,” he wrote, “Stefan [Olsdal] began to have technical issues until finally his guitar system ceased to function completely. So he could no longer play any songs where he plays guitar. Every effort to remedy the problem by our world-class crew was taken but to no avail”. It was these difficulties which caused Placebo to cut their set short following ‘Went Missing’.
It seems as though Molko has no sympathy for those fans who were left disappointed by the band’s performance. “Placebo use no recordings onstage,” he wrote, “Everything is 100 per cent live. It appears obvious that this is still insufficient for certain entitled & demanding individuals. Technical issues and truncated sets are a part and parcel aspect of live performance. And it is something no band has control over.”
Concluding the statement, the Placebo frontman shared, “We are not forcing you to come to any of our shows – it’s your individual choice. Please feel free to exercise this choice in the future and please stop insulting our loyal fan base in the virtual world”.
Placebo are continuing on their European tour over the next few months, including notable performances at Łódź Summer Festival in Poland and Sonorama Ribera Day in Santander, Spain. Given that the group have been performing together for three decades, it is unlikely that one bad performance will tarnish their reputation in the long run.
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