Download Festival: Watch Placebo play ‘Nancy Boy’ live for the first time in six years
This weekend, Placebo performed their 1997 breakthrough single ‘Nancy Boy’ for the first time in six years at the 2023 Download Festival.
Although the band had released singles before the 1997 hit, ‘Nancy Boy’ peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart a month after it was released, discussing taboo themes for the time, including sex, drugs, gender confusion and bisexuality.
Speaking to the NME in March 2022, Placebo revealed why they have been reluctant to play their biggest hits recently. Looking back at their ‘Best Of’ tour, co-founders Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal said: “At the time, we were on Universal Records, and we had the feeling that we’d lose all support from them if we didn’t embark on this hideously materialistic and mercantile endeavour”.
Olsdal continued: “That tour lasted for quite a long time, and we started to get this slightly unhealthy relationship with our old material”.
He added: “I started to feel quite disillusioned by the band and what we were doing. I felt during the last tour that the band was over and that I couldn’t continue with this.”
Placebo released their last album, Never Let Me Go, in March 2022, and Far Out rated the record 7.5/10, labelling it “the most concise record they’ve ever created” in a review.
Watch Placebo play ‘Nancy Boy’ at Download Festival below.
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