Placebo Band Scratch Art Poster Signed by Brian Molko & Stefan Olsdal
Part gig poster, part interactive artwork. Created by Andy Vella for Placebo's appearance at Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall in 2026, this limited-edition silkscreen contains a hidden layer that can be revealed by scratching away sections of the printed surface.
Placebo joined Garbage at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 March 2026, performing a rare stripped-back set during a week of Teenage Cancer Trust concerts curated by Robert Smith. The pairing brought together two bands whose careers have run alongside each other since the 1990s, but Vella's artwork for Placebo takes a very different direction from the conventional gig poster.
The starting point is deliberately dense. Black and white textures are layered with pale purple circles, fragmented imagery and huge geometric forms that cut across the composition. It's distressed and slightly chaotic, with elements appearing to sit on top of one another rather than resolving into a single clean image.
Then there's the part you can't see.
Selected areas are printed with scratch-away ink, concealing another layer of artwork underneath. You can leave the print exactly as it arrives, reveal selected sections or take the process further. The decision effectively becomes part of owning the piece, with the potential for each of the 100 prints to develop differently.
That idea came directly from Andy Vella, the designer behind the visual identity for the entire 2026 concert series. Best known for a relationship with The Cure stretching back to the 1980s, Vella was given considerable creative freedom for these individual band artworks. He listened to each artist and developed a different visual response, experimenting with everything from fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark inks to unusual printing techniques. For Placebo, that experimentation resulted in the scratch-to-reveal concept.
The physical production is equally substantial: an 11-colour silkscreen print on 300gsm Arctic Matt paper, produced by White Duck Editions in Bath. Each A2 print is numbered from an edition of 100, supplied with a certificate of authenticity and individually hand signed by Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal.
For a band whose visual identity has rarely played things safe, it's an appropriately unconventional way to commemorate Placebo's 2026 Royal Albert Hall performance.
Product details
- Limited edition of 100
- Individually hand signed by Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal of Placebo
- Original artwork by Andy Vella
- Created for Placebo's 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust appearance at the Royal Albert Hall
- Interactive scratch-away areas revealing hidden artwork
- 11-colour silkscreen print
- Printed on 300gsm Arctic Matt, 100% virgin fibre paper
- A2, measuring 420 × 594mm
- Includes certificate of authenticity
- Commissioned and published by Teenage Cancer Trust
- Printed by White Duck Editions in Bath, UK
- Part of the Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall poster series
- Unframed
Every purchase supports Teenage Cancer Trust, helping provide specialist care and support to young people with cancer.
Please note:
The scratch-away element is designed to be altered by the owner. Once scratched, the original printed surface cannot be restored.
As each print is individually hand signed, the position of the signatures may vary slightly from the product image.
International customers are responsible for any import fees or duties payable on delivery.