Placebo at the Auckland Town Hall

By REBECCA BARRY

Brian Molko reckons he's finished with the hit that launched his band but he'll always be a Nancy Boy at heart.

Flinging guitar and tailored jacket aside, the Placebo frontman still does a convincing oestrogen-charged Michael Stipe, a punk meets baby-doll wail no one else could pull off.

The band wasted no time getting the audience up to speed with new material - potent singles The Bitter End and Summer Rain proving Molko's squawking is meant for rock'n'roll.

Unfortunately, he proved it again with the sentimental stuff he was meant to leave at the door: a piercing "love-in-the-time-of-cholera ballad" and the sulky I'll Be Yours. Even when he strapped on a guitar, his vocals cut through the searing riffage and pummelling drums like a bee in your ear.

The alcohol-free crowd didn't quite fill the Auckland Town Hall and were far too polite until the band kicked in with familiar favourites from Without You I'm Nothing and Black Market Music.

As they played sped-up versions of Special K, Every You, Every Me and Taste In Men, an audience member's amorously explicit sign directed at drummer Steve Hewitt spoke volumes.

The band responded with plenty of camp posturing, most of it by lanky, arm-waving bassist Stefan Olsdal and by living up to their promise of a sonic assault.

Some nice musical flourishes broke up the wash of guitars. Molko breathed life into a harmonica; the keyboardist hammered out piano chords and wind-up box touches that hallmark their new album, Sleeping With Ghosts.

But they seemed to be in a hurry. There was virtually no banter between songs, except to introduce what didn't really turn out to be a Swedish folk song.

Even Molko looked surprised to get a second encore, as he beamed his way back on stage for an uncharacteristically long version of Pure Morning and a tribute to one of their favourite bands, the Pixies.

This time he climbed on to the speakers to seductively fondle the stage drapes, looking every bit the rock queen against the strobe-lit backdrop.

But the little guy with the big voice lasted just 90 minutes before deciding the Placebo effect had well and truly kicked in.