Watch Placebo debut ‘Helen Keller’ and dust off rarities and deep cuts on 30th anniversary tour

Placebo have kicked off their 30th anniversary tour by dusting off some tracks for the first time in over 20 years, and also playing new single ‘Helen Keller’ live for the first time.

• READ MORE: Placebo interview: “David Bowie taught me how to be a better person”.

The new dates come as the band are celebrating the 30 years since they dropped their 1996 debut album. To mark the occasion, they have announced a huge UK and European arena tour, where they have vowed to predominantly play material from their first album and their sophomore record ‘Without You I’m Nothing’.

At the opening night at Krakatoa in Mérignac, France, Brian Molko and co. delivered a stacked 19-song set, which began with ‘Pure Morning’, and immediately went into the first rendition of ‘Come Home’ in 20 years.

Another rarity came straight after, with the first live performance of ‘You Don’t Care About Us’ since 2001, as well as ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ and ‘Allergic (To Thoughts Of Mother Earth)’ which were played for the first time since 2018 and 2014 respectively.

The rest of the set was made up of ‘Teenage Angst’, ‘Bionic’, ‘I Know’ and ‘Every You Every Me’, and the band wrapped up the performance with two covers: Depeche Mode’s ‘I Feel You’, and Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.

It wasn’t until a later show at the Super Bock Arena in Porto, Portugal, that Placebo broke out their new song ‘Helen Keller’ for the first time – playing it 13 songs into the setlist.

Check out more footage from the tour so far below, as well as the setlist from night one.

Así de bestial comenzaba el intenso y emocionante concierto que ofrecieron ayer en Madrid Placebo, celebrando sus 30 años de carrera interpretando sus temas primerizos.

Lo celebramos recordando nuestro especial dedicado a 1996.https://t.co/6WjNpOZcwL pic.twitter.com/2OJr0tALAM.

Placebo – My Sweet Prince – Movistar Arena – Madrid – 1-10-2026 byu/DweebCrusher98 inplacebo.

Placebo dropped the single ‘Helen Keller’ on September 28, and it sees them reach back to ‘H. K. Farewell’, a hidden instrumental from the era of their self-titled 1996 debut.

In the track, they retain the eerie keyboard melody from the original, and push it to new dimensions with a heavier, more anguished feeling.

The title refers to the American author, who was also a disability rights advocate and political activist, who became deafblind as a young child and went on to become an internationally renowned writer and campaigner.

As well as the tour, Placebo also celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut by releasing a reimagined version of the record. For the LP, Molko and Stefan Olsdal returned to the original master tapes and reworked all 10 songs from the 1996 record – describing it as a “director’s cut” that helped them inject the original songs with three decades more experience.

The ongoing tour will reach the UK and Ireland in late November and early December, where they will play Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, London and Cardiff.

See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.

Dates will head to Latin America in 2027, beginning in São Paulo on February 20 and running through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia before wrapping up with shows in Guadalajara and Monterrey in March.

Placebo dropped their last album of new material in 2022, with ‘Never Let Me Go’. That record was given a four-star review by NME, which described it as “a renaissance rock record with an experimental edge”, adding that it found Placebo “inspired and ready for a new era”.

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