Placebo get the crowd going

Defying all rumours to the contrary, My Chemical Romance do not meet their onstage death at the hands of Slayer fans outraged at their extravagant make-up bags. This is because MCR are waaaay less emo than everyone was expecting and get the crowd wholly on side with incredulous diatribes about the Daily Mail and call and repeat moments. By the time they go off we've had a totally awesome time. Way more enjoyable than Slayer.

Brian Molko and gang having been initiated into the Kerrang! Hall of Fame this week as classic songwriters, we're expecting something pretty special. "This is where we go to plan b and Stefan tells jokes," says Molko dryly during an emergency amp fixing as the band vamp a hypnotic riff to fill in time. "Just to fill you in, I feel like a total prick right now." Never mind love, as long as the camera keeps panning to girls flashing their breasts, the crowd'll keep on cheering.

Oh dear, after ten minutes of amp problems, the band go off to be replaced by more tits. One girl gets booed for only flashing her bra, then changes her mind and gets a big cheer. There's an excited murmur as a big chested lady gets her close up and ecstatic roars as she whips up her top.

Utterly bizarre as it is, it sounds better than the band. The problem is, most of the material on current album 'Meds' doesn't live up to what they were producing seven years ago. It's just as sparky and energetic but lacks the emotional drive that hallmarked their earlier albums. Even tonight it sounds like it was written on auto-pilot and when the band do dip back into the past, the difference is immense.