Sunday, 9 February 2014

LIVE REVIEW: Muse

Whoever said money can't buy you happiness obviously never attended a Muse concert. With all their fire blazing antics (sparking fears of a fire outbreak among the locals near Ricoh Arena during their rehearsal earlier on in the week), acrobats drifting along the skyline, their new installment Charles the Robot, half-crazed bankers, fuel guzzling business women and a techno onslaught of lasers and strobe lights, it is no wonder they've been named Best Live Act in the World Today for the fifth year in a row. 


The trio opened their first night at London's Emirates Stadium with their first release of the year which featured on their album trailer. The 2nd Law: Unsustainable pulsed through the stadium with it's mass mixture of arco violins, dubstep instrumentals, newsreel reports, robotic vocals and prog rock. Matt Bellamy's ad lib marked the climax of the song. The stage itself became a projection of "Charles the Robot's" face, singing on cue to the computerized voice. The buzz among the 60,000 strong crowd was almost tangible. 
"It's good to be home!", shouts Matt in between songs. The first song from their album, Supremacy, followed. Balls of fire emerged from the four industrial chimneys merged with the stage, flaring according to the beat of the opening riff. The heat could be felt from the ground.

Bellamy fiddled around with some melodies on his custom made Manson, before swiftly shifting to the melody of crowd favorite and all round grandiose number Supermassive Black Hole from their 2006 album Black Holes & Revelations. However, the song ensuing had everyone jiving and swaying to Wolstenholme's smooth funk bass. Panic Station was delivered with comedic visuals of global figureheads and international leaders (Obama, Pope Francis and Kim Jong-un to name a few) break dancing and giant trumpet wielding reptiles swaying in time to the music. Taking a look around, you'd know you weren't the only one thinking you were hallucinating. Maybe there was something in the chimney fumes? But, no. You were just at a Muse gig.  


Bliss left the crowd in a euphoric state. The 2001 hit was followed by songs from a montage of their discography including hits from their successful 2009 album The Resistance, mosh pit starter Knights of Cydonia and even a rarity that supposedly hasn't been played live since 2005, Dead Star. 

Muse's sixth song, Animals, made quite an impression when a film was projected from the stage. It featured a banker with a heavily altered sickly smile behaving like a...well, a banker. Things took a turn when the banker from the film appeared on stage B, running as if he was being pursued by something only a truly dark mind could fathom. And it seems his conscience caught up with him after all, as he collapsed in a messy heap at the front of the stage.  Then, behold, money falls from the sky, and a new currency is born, the Muso. All the while, a fully-suited business woman was guzzling from a fuel dispenser, before also dramatically toppling over. The stage platform then lowered both her and her refreshment pump to hell off stage. But, rest assured, she reappears later on in the concert. 

Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme then indulged in a two minute drum and bass jam (nicknamed Monty Jam after first being performed live in Montpellier, France), before Matt made his way to a white Yamaha grand piano and struck the first chords to Feeling Good, made all the better with a striking reverb effect. Enter Howard with the thunderous cymbals and smashing drums, then Wolstenholme with his resonant-sounding bass. 

Follow me ensued and the strobe lights were on full blast, shooting laser-looking beams over a sea of faces. The drop in the dubstep-influenced song had the crowd breaking out in wild mosh pits.

Bassist, backing vocalist and occasional harmonicist Wolstenholme took charge next with Liquid State, one out of two of his very first songs that he solely wrote and composed. It's always good to see the quiet one in a band pipe up, and with lyrics about his struggle with alcohol, the entire Muse fanbase have indeed been waiting for the bassist to take to spotlight. However, Chris' vocals were noticeably weaker than frontman Bellamy's and he seemed to struggle to hold notes. One cannot help but compare the two. With all this kept in mind, Wolstenholme makes a flawless bassist and an even better backing vocalist, both of which he'd be better off sticking to.  

Bellamy took the lead next, donning a pair of lyric-reading, custom made glasses and delving straight into Madness after dedicating the love song to his fiancée, Kate Hudson. Pink and purple stage and strobe lights tainted the stadium a passionate magenta. Back to the slightly more heavy stuff, Time is Running Out was followed by New Born. They then played a snippet of Ashamed (a 1999 B-side) as they're outro for New Born, teasing the audience.

 By then, the sun was long gone and the glorious stage illuminated the crowd. Bellamy moved down to stage B, where he lazily sprawled himself on the end of the runway-looking stage, mic in hand, eyes closed, oblivious to the die hard fans wetting themselves a meter away from him. Rock stars, eh?

"If you've all got your phones on you, wave them in the air", Howard told the still roaring audience. "This next one's called Blackout." Almost immediately, the stadium twinkled with thousands of phone screen lights. A touch sentimental, it was a make shift "candle lit" moment. And things took a surprising turn when an enormous light bulb appeared in the sky (quite literally came out of nowhere) and a female trapeze artist (I told you she's be back!) popped out of the bottom, twisting with ease, turning at 360° angles and gracefully pirouetting through the sky. When lowered, she managed a quick high five with Bellamy, before being lifted into the sky once more.

Still at home on stage B, gazing into the night sky, we saw another side to Matt Bellamy. The frontman has been hiding behindhis array of guitars, pianos and the occasional keytar for his entire musical career. So to see him guitarless, it was as if he had been laid bare for all to see. He had nowhere to hide and everywhere to explore. And explore he did after seamlessly singing romantic ballad Unintended. Bellamy got close and personal with the lucky fans at the barriers along the stadium, even giving a handful of belters the chance to sing along to R&B, slap bass number Undisclosed Desires.The trio then walked offstage briefly, the crowd's applause unwavering.

Their fire didn't dwindle as they returned, this time playing Official Olympic song, Survival and long time crowd favorite, Plug in Baby, while the crowd were again treated to original visuals. 

After yet a second encore, in which the band played The 2nd Law: Isolated System, Uprising and suiting for the now black sky, Starlight, the band bid a final farewell. "We wish we could do this all night, but we can't!", Matt told the doting fans. "You've been amazing, London!"

And so, the first night at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium drew to a close, with Richard Cheese's cover of Chop Suey! lightening up the disappointed faces. Disappointment at the fact that it had to end, sooner or later (later would've been ideal). 



Muse's Unsustainable Summer Stadium Tour will be shortly followed by a global tour which will see them on the road for a year
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