Placebo release Placebo RE:CREATED, their powerful reworking of their groundbreaking 1996 debut album, out now via Elevator Lady Ltd through AWAL. Thirty years on from its original release, the record returns rebuilt from the master tapes, shaped by three decades of performance, and sounding exactly like the band they’ve become.
Listen to Placebo RE:CREATED here: https://placebo.ffm.to/recreated.OPR
Originally arriving at the height of the Britpop era, Placebo stood in stark contrast to the prevailing cultural mood. While much of British guitar music at the time leaned into laddish nostalgia and national identity, Placebo’s debut delivered something altogether more provocative and confrontational – its songs addressing sexuality, androgyny, addiction and alienation with an honesty rarely heard in mainstream rock at the time, establishing the band as one of the most distinctive voices of their generation.
Thirty years on, Placebo RE:CREATED sees the band return to this pivotal album with a fresh perspective. The new record features reworked and embellished versions of all ten tracks from the original album plus two bonus tracks, capturing the way these songs have evolved across decades of performance while retaining the raw spirit that defined them. Among the tracks are the era-defining singles Nancy Boy and 36 Degrees – songs that helped establish Placebo’s reputation for fearless lyricism and genre-defying sound – alongside the newly reworked Lady of the Flowers. These new recordings amplify the urgency and attitude that made the originals resonate so strongly, while reflecting the band’s growth and experience in the years since their debut.
Speaking about the album, Placebo explain:
“We think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.
This project was about finally finishing the record, dragging it into the 21st century sonically, while preserving the integrity and the spirit of the original. It’s not about improving it, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s about completing it.
When we made the first album, we didn’t yet have the experience or the studio knowledge to fully translate what was in our heads. Over the years, the songs took on a life of their own on stage; they grew, they developed, they kind of completed themselves.
It’s a celebration of where we began, and a meeting point between who we were then and who we are now. It’s a way of honouring that innocence, while letting the songs exist with the scale, confidence, and energy of the band we’ve become.”
Placebo recently composed the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s blistering satire, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, directed by Seán Linnen and starring double Olivier Award-winning actor Mark Gatiss as the notorious Arturo Ui, in a new version of the play by Stephen Sharkey. The production has already won the hearts of critics and audiences alike, with rave reviews rolling in for what is a sold-out run – and the first major theatre collaboration of the band’s career.
Later this year Placebo will embark on an extensive UK and European arena tour to celebrate this momentous anniversary. The band will be performing songs from their first two albums, Placeboand Without You I’m Nothing – some of which have not been performed live for over 20 years. The tour kicks off in Portugal before heading across Europe and ending in the UK, seeing them perform to hundreds of thousands of fans across 36 dates. All tickets available here: https://placebo.ffm.to/live
30th Anniversary Tour Dates
Sep. 28, 2026 – Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota, Porto, Portugal – SOLD OUT
Sep. 29, 2026 – Sagres Campo Pequeno, Lisboa, Portugal – SOLD OUT
Oct. 1, 2026 – Movistar Arena, Madrid, Spain
Oct. 3, 2026 – Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona, Spain – SOLD OUT
Oct. 5, 2026 – Zénith De Toulouse, Toulouse, France – SOLD OUT
Oct. 7, 2026 – Zenith Nantes Metropole, Saint-Herblain, France – SOLD OUT
Oct. 9, 2026 – Rockhal, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – SOLD OUT
Oct. 12, 2026 – QUARTERBACK Immobilien AG, Leipzig, Germany – SOLD OUT
Oct. 15, 2026 – Arena Vilnius, Vilnius, Lithuania
Oct. 16, 2026 – Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia
Oct. 18, 2026 – Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland
Oct. 20, 2026 – Annexet, Stockholm, Sweden
Oct. 22, 2026 – Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Oct. 24, 2026 – K.B. Hallen, Frederiksberg, Denmark – SOLD OUT
Oct. 26, 2026 – Barclays Arena, Hamburg, Germany
Oct. 27, 2026 – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands – SOLD OUT
Oct. 29, 2026 – Festhalle Messe Frankfurt, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany
Nov. 1, 2026 – AFAS Dome, Antwerpen, Belgium
Nov. 2, 2026 – Lanxess Arena, Köln, Germany
Nov. 4, 2026 – Hallenstadion, Zürich, Switzerland
Nov. 6, 2026 – Unipol Forum, Milan, Italy – SOLD OUT
Nov. 9, 2026 – Olympiahalle München, München, Germany
Nov. 10, 2026 – Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
Nov. 13, 2026 – Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, Budapest, Hungary
Nov. 15, 2026 – Sportovní Hala, Hlavní Město Praha, Czechia
Nov. 16, 2026 – Uber Arena, Berlin, Germany – SOLD OUT
Nov. 18, 2026 – Atlas Arena, Łódź, Poland
Nov. 21, 2026 – Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany
Nov. 23, 2026 – LDLC Arena, Lyon, France – SOLD OUT
Nov. 25, 2026 – Accor Arena, Paris, France – SOLD OUT
Nov. 28, 2026 – Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Dec. 2, 2026 – 3 Arena, Dublin, Ireland
Dec. 4, 2026 – Co-op Live Arena, Manchester, UK
Dec. 5, 2026 – OVO Arena Wembley, London, UK – SOLD OUT
Dec. 7, 2026 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff, UK
