Energetic, powerful, intimate and hauntingly beautiful
The instrumental "Bullet Proof" is a very cleverly chosen opening track that gets you in the right mood straight away. Even from your livingroom you can feel the excitement from the audience and it feels like you are right in the middle of them. Especially if you have surround sound! Placebo's performance is energetic and powerful, but intimate at the same time, eventhough there are 16.000 people in the audience. As the gig was in Paris, Brian and Stefan both speak French in between the songs and they sing a translated version of "Protect Me". We had no idea they speak it speak the language so fluently, but a bit of googling learnt that they both grew up in Luxemburg. "Peepin Tom" and "Centerfolds" are hauntingly beautiful with Brian on the piano in the first and Stefan on the second track. The show is closed off with Pixies cover "Where Is My Mind". Frank Black joins the band and sings the song with Brian. They are all obviously having a great time on stage and transfer this to the audience, that goes crazy for one last time.

Flashy editing
The reason why this dvd gets a 9 instead a 10 out of 10 rating is the editing. Especially in the first few songs the shots change a hell of a lot, flashing from one image to the next before you have a chance of really figuring out what you are seeing. I don't know if we just got used to it, or if the shots indeed get longer than just a few seconds, but it gets better after a while and you are indeed very able to sit back and enjoy the show. If you are a Brian fangirl (or boy) and bought this dvd so you can swoon over him for an hour and a half, you will be disappointed; the other band members are filmed a lot as well. The shots frequently blend in to the images that are shown on the screens behind the stage, for example the pin-ups during "Centerfolds". The audience is not forotten either, the camera sometimes focusses on a group of people or a single fan, and there are a few shots where you can see the entire venue which make you realise how massive it actually is. The sound quality is great and once you get used to the flashy shots, the camera work is very good as well.

Extras
There is one extra feature on this dvd; a 25 minutes long documentary that takes you behind the scenes during a tour. You see the band during interviews, talking to fans, warming up before gigs and on stage. Not the most spectacular thing I've ever seen, but it is a nice feature. Beside the documentary there are two secret clips hidden in the menu. In one you see Brian getting a vitamin B12 shot in his bum, on the other one you see the band perform "Where Is My Mind" wearing wigs and dressed up. I'm not going to give away where you can find them. If you can't find them, search for the hints on google (Placebo live dvd easter eggs) or send me an email. Clue: if a French flag appears in the menu, press it.

Verdict: Great show, you will love it even if you don't really know Placebo.

Imre & Annika