Rich Melodies Propel Placebo to Emotion-Filled Performance

A torrid emotionalism lies just beneath the surface of Placebo’s glam-Goth cool. At the Whisky on Sunday, the British trio performed a show that was heavy on strobe lights and mascara, but equally rich in sudden melodic flourishes and heartbreak.

Brian Molko sang of desperate romance with a wounded sneer, pausing during a cigarette break to utter, without a hint of irony: “The greatest thing I’ve ever learned is to be loved and to love in return.”

Placebo soon drifted into “My Sweet Prince,” an icy torch song that had Molko singing like a passionate blend of Marianne Faithfull and Perry Farrell. He stood on stage in makeup and a gray flannel suit. This sort of gender-blending is hardly a new idea in rock, and Placebo’s would hardly matter at all if not for the music.

The band’s rockers carried an intense urgency not quite captured on the new “‘Without You I’m Nothing” album, and found bright melodies amid otherwise grim rhythms. The song “You Don’t Care About Us” was built on an upbeat riff right out of ‘80s Goth pop.

Not all of the band’s material was up to that intense standard, but the musical peaks were undeniable and furious, until the moment the band stepped off the stage to a storm of violent feedback.

Opening the evening was Furslide, a New York-based trio (augmented on Sunday by a keyboardist) that plowed similar emotional territory before closing with a memorably intense guitar rush.