PHONE FURY

’90s Rocker Launches Into Furious Onstage Meltdown at Fans

Placebo frontman Brian Molko unleashed on fans filming his Milan show.

Brian Molko is done playing to an audience of phone screens.

The Placebo singer delivered an expletive-heavy dressing-down to audience members at the band’s Milan concert last week, threatening to have persistent camera users kicked out.

The flare-up came during Placebo’s 30th anniversary tour, where the band has made a point of asking fans to experience the music without staring at their screens. Pre-show notices have urged concertgoers to keep their devices tucked away, reminding them: “You’ll remember the moment, not the recording.”

Apparently, not everyone got the memo.

Video footage posted online showed Molko thanking some fans for following the rules, before berating those who had not.

“We’d like to thank you all, well, almost all of you, for putting your phones away. Because in 1996, we didn’t have mobile phones,” he said.

Then came the reprimand.

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“I’m here playing this concert for you, and you can’t put your f–-king phone away?”

The 53-year-old grew increasingly exasperated when several fans continued filming, eventually threatening to eject them from the venue.

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“So if you and you and you can’t put your f--king phone away, when I’m up here with COVID-19—I’m talking to YOU motherf--ker—we are going to start removing people from the f-–king audience, do you understand?”

Molko then told the audience he had been performing while ill for much of the tour.

“I’ve been sick for two weeks, and I haven’t canceled a show,” he told the crowd.

Placebo announced Monday that Molko had been diagnosed with acute laryngitis, forcing the band to postpone its Munich and Vienna performances.

According to management, the singer had been battling severe flu symptoms but continued playing because he didn’t want to let fans down. His condition worsened after the Milan performance, and a doctor was called.

“We are very sorry to announce Placebo’s shows in Munich tonight, Monday 9th November, and Vienna, Tuesday 10th November, have been postponed,” the band said in a statement.

Molko and guitarist Stefan Olsdal subsequently apologized directly to ticket holders, promising to arrange replacement dates and advising fans to hang on to their tickets while refund information is finalized.

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Martha McHardyReporter

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