The wait was finally over; it was time to engulf myself into the show for which I had personally been waiting–Muse–for quite literally, three years. And good friggin’ goloshmatat, was it worth it…and golly gee, I feel only sorrow for those who may have missed this dream of a show, from quite possibly the best electro rock band of our time.
Now I must admit that the night did start out on a bit of a down note with a bit of the ‘ole bad singer, good music routine from The Evening—who some said was supposedly the best act from San Fran. I don’t buy it. The music was great, somewhat strange in timing, and I dig that…but as soon as the vocalist dove in with some off-key, nasal tones it just killed whatever momentum may have been there. This was the case with just about every track, and I felt from the crowd a strange sort of golf-clap pity, which never erupted into the roar it could’ve been if only the vocals were either bypassed entirely in the same vein as Explosions In The Sky, or replaced.
As I managed to drive myself through the sold out crowd to the front after The Evening, I had the feeling something special was about to happen. This, of course turned out to be quite the understatement of the night, as what occurred for the next hour and a half was pure unadulterated energy, which couldn’t be denied. Muse turned out to be one of those bands you never really appreciated that much until you saw them live. From the flawless, driving and enormous sounds coming from Matthew Bellamy’s guitar, to the impeccable mastery of bass work laid out from Chris Wolstenhome, all driven from a hammering, power-plugged smash of beats hitting home by Dominic Howard; Muse did more to please a crowd than anybody could have ever imagined from a three piece outfit.
The visuals, which consisted of a metal-infused, machine shop embodiment looked cool, but never gained my attention so much, as it was impossible to keep my eyes off of the three life-forms bouncing around it all like a pop bottle-rocket marathon. I was entranced, however, when Matthew stepped behind the keys, which were hooked up to a lighting system on the front end. As he played (flawlessly I must add), different patterns appeared from a row of four dot matrix style panels. It was cool, but like I said, the energy was infinite, pure and unmatched by most artists out there, and the folks who witnessed it will never forget how beautiful it all really was regardless of some stage props.
Many songs graced our ears, from some of my personal favorites such as “Citizen Erased,” and “Stockholm Syndrome,” which have to be seen to be believed from a technical standpoint, to the hugely popular “Time Is Running Out,” which brought the crowd to it’s utmost peak. And what a crowd it was, I must say again. Never have I seen a group of people feeding off a band in a way like that. It was almost as if Muse was their life support and when they had to stop, everybody gasped as if they couldn’t go on without them. It was phenomenal, beyond motivating, and something I could never forget.
My only hope is that they come back soon, as often as possible, and bring us that same energy again. They inspired me, and many others that night to step up our lives a notch, and to remember that an experience like that could never be matched by a CD. Bands like Muse must be seen live to be truly understood.
Bottom line : This was the show of the year.
