Placebo & Colour of Fire - London Astoria, March 2003

Ok, I admit it, I was here for the support band. I came to see Colour of Fire, and they were fantastic - this lot are improving with every performance, and dividing opinion as they go - potential stars swiping the best bits of Muse, the Icarus Line, Idlewild and, dare I say it, the Lostprophets, or merely this year's King Adora? They could go either way, but right now they're on the right track.

Placebo on the other hand don't really have anything to lose. They've got the kind of fanbase a lot of bands would kill for, and every word Brian Molko utters is met with rapt adoration and wild cheers from the crowd. Just like in Brighton the night before, the Britney/Fred jokes are in there, as is the surprisingly well executed Pixies cover. Whatever you may think of them, they're consummate professionals.

They are also, when they choose to be, very good at what they do. Whether or not their much-imitated brand of sleazy glitter rock is to your taste, there's no denying they know exactly what they're doing. They're far better tonight than they have been on prior occasions; the songs that have made them famous are rolled out with ease, "Every You Every Me" going down particularly well. The new material meanwhile sounds strident and hopeful; if it's anything to go by, their forthcoming album may well make up for the travesty that was "Black Market Music".

They hit a disappointing lull somewhere in the middle of the gig though. Why do Placebo always do this? It's going so well, and then they start slowing down. They're never better than when their riffs are at their fastest and most incisive; so it's irritating that they choose to make blustering "epics" out of their slower songs, with Molko's ubiquitous vocals swerving melodramatically in all directions. A case in point is the potential tear-jerker "Without You I'm Nothing" - on record it's a restrained, brilliantly miserable and gorgeous song, but live it becomes overblown and loses its charm. But ultimately it doesn't matter too much to Placebo - they're playing to a converted crowd, so who's gonna complain?