Placebo have released a cover of the iconic Tears For Fears single, “Shout”. The classic cover, taken from the Tears For Fears album Songs From The Big Chair, peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985 and joins a rich lineage of Placebo cover versions of songs from the ‘80s. Artists such as Sinead O’Connor (“Jackie”), The Smiths (“Bigmouth Strikes Again”), The Pixies (“Where Is My Mind?”) and – most famously of all in today’s climate  – Kate Bush (“Running Up That Hill”) have all been covered by the band. You can check out the cover, and its accompanying video below.

In this latest Placebo interpretation, “Shout” becomes a brooding industrial march. Given that the single’s original songwriter Roland Orzabal has said that the song concerns itself with political protest, it also makes for a fitting follow-on from Placebo’s latest album release Never Let Me Go, which marked itself out with commentary on tech-saturation, rising intolerance and the climate crisis.

Placebo recently announced a postponement of their North American tour dates, with rescheduled performances for 2023 to be announced soon.

Never Let Me Go, the band’s first album in nearly a decade, arrived in March. Classic Rock said “like their sci-fi-noir rock contemporaries Garbage, Placebo are a band to which music is finally catching up” and Kerrang! described the collection as “prescient tales of loss, surveillance, and climate change,” dubbing it “a record for our times.”

Placebo formed in 1994, with the London-based pair of Brian Molko (vocals/guitar) and Stefan Olsdal (bass/guitar), releasing their eponymous debut just two years later. In the intervening years, Placebo have released eight studio albums, that have sold over 13 million copies, filled stadiums from Moscow to Sydney, won numerous awards including a 1999 Brit Award and pushed the boundaries of gender and sexuality.

The group is also on the cusp of beginning an extensive UK and EU tour supporting their most recent album. Beginning in November the tour will see the band hit 13 different venues around England and Scotland; including 2 nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. You can try and bag any remaining tickets for the shows here.

Placebo’s UK tour dates:

18/11/2022 – Guildhall – Portsmouth
19/11 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
21/11 – Eventim Olympia – Liverpool
22/11 – O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester
24/11 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff
26/11 – O2 Brixton Academy – London
27/11 – O2 Brixton Academy – London
29/11 – De Montford Hall – Leicester
30/11 – O2 Academy Leeds – Leeds
02/12 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle
03/12 – O2 Academy Glasgow – Glasgow
05/12 – 3 Arena – Dublin
07/12 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
08/12 – O2 Academy 1 – Birmingham

Photo credit: Mads Perch