New Blog

I've had this blog for a while but I've moved recently onto pastures new for my BA Journalism course at Winchester University.

This link here ---> My Winchester Blogging
contains all the notes and random stuff I do for my course and it's probably more interesting than the rubbish on here.

Go read it to find out about Journalism law, philosophy, a day at the law courts and just life at University.

Until I need this blog again, this is goodbye.

I've been great.

Muse - Live At Wembley

Muse are currently one of the biggest bands in the UK and possibly the world. This isn’t an opinion, check the statistics, it’s a fact. Personally, I have loved Muse for a very long time but as a mark of the adulation shown to the 3 lads from Teignmouth, their 11th of September show sold out in a matter of minutes. So fast in fact that I could only get tickets to the show on the 10th that they added when the original show sold out. Seeing Muse at Wembley on the 10th only came with one downside. Lily Allen was the support on the 10th but my other favourite band Biffy Clyro were the support on Saturday. I’m still bitter but I’ll try not to let it show through.

We, (e.g. My usual gig person Matt, his dad trying to see what the fuss was about and who did, and his brother who’s Birthday it was. Happy Birthday was it?), arrived at the gig towards the end of White Rabbits set. Nothing personal, blame the train timetables. I heard enough though to suggest that were I there for the whole set, I’d have enjoyed it, but it was nothing particularly special.

I had already seen second support act The Big Pink support Muse at The O2 but that time the sound didn’t help their ‘wall of sound’ noise. No such problems in the cavernous surrounds of Wembley Stadium, a venue built better for concerts than Football it seems. There’s the suspicion that you’ve heard it before (Think The White Stripes with an over productive delay pedal) the likes of Brief History of Love and the evenings first sing-a-long Dominoes suggest that The Big Pink could one day be filling their own stadiums if they keep improving.

Onto Lily Allen next who quite rightly at a Rock and Roll gig, I wasn’t looking forward to. I’ve been proved wrong before though and the first thing that struck me after the initial scepticism was how good her band were. Whether they want to be there or not the actual musicianship shown by the band (in particular the drummer who even got my foot tapping) is actually impressive. I didn’t really get into the show however until the song ‘F**k You’. With lyrics like, “F**k you. F**k you very, very much. Cause your words don't translate, and it's getting quite late, so please don't stay in touch”, she couldn’t go too far wrong. And the appearance of Chav King Professor Green in a drum and bass ending to Uber hit ‘Smile’ actually gives the set another lift instead of being an annoying device to fit their collaboration, ‘Just Be Good To Green’ into the set. Finishing her set with ‘The Fear’ I have to say well done Lily Allen and Congratulations on being ‘with child’, in her own words.

Finally though, the moment that 60 to 70 thousand rabid Muse fans have been waiting for closes in. The music being pumped around the stadium is turned up a notch and the crowd sings along feverishly to ‘All My Life’ by The Foo Fighters, ‘Holiday’ by Green Day, and when U2’s ‘Vertigo’ begins to ring through the stadium the link becomes clear. All these bands have absolutely destroyed Wembley at one time or another. As we wonder which band might come next, (ACDC, Metallica, George Michael??), ‘Vertigo’ is unceremoniously cut short. The lights black out. The sound cuts. And the show begins.

Protesters come streaming onto the stage with flags and placards whilst an air raid siren rings out and if you’re not familiar with Muse you might think the night had taken a slightly sinister turn. Fortunately the placards and flags have the words ‘They Will Not Control Us’ emblazoned upon them and as someone who is familiar with Muse I can tell you that these are lyrics of the night’s opening song, ‘Uprising’. Moving swiftly on to ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ the light show is amazing. Having been to Muse shows in the past I already know they put on the biggest and brightest show of them all so let’s just leave the light show comments here. You will never see a light show quite as amazing as the one that night at Wembley. Muse know how to please their crowd musically as well as they pull out the crowd favourite ‘New Born’ within the first 3 songs. ‘That’ riff sounds as powerful as ever in the cavernous Wembley Stadium and as they rock out at the end of ‘New Born’ with the riff from Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Township Rebellion’ it’s proof that Muse can still Rock it when they need to.

Getting the next song out of the way early is a smooth move by Muse as ‘Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)’ has attracted only one sort of fan. Twilight fans. Nothing wrong with that as long as they have the good sense to check out the rest of Muse’s back catalogue but the nagging worry of many tour hardened fans is that the fair-weather Twilight fans aren’t ‘real’ fans. A classic ‘I like the band more than you’ argument. ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’ follows and if the Twilight fans don’t know the other songs, it’ll be songs like this that encourage them to look deeper into Muse’s past. The classical piano break is exhilarating as usual and it’s a thrill to see the band not just plucking songs from their last two, most commercially successful albums. ‘Guiding Light’ follows but the most interesting thing that happens next is that the ‘Interlude’ from the Absolution album that precedes ‘Hysteria’, actually precedes ‘Hysteria’. It would be a gimmick in the hands of another band but Muse manage to make the Interlude just as powerful as any song they play tonight. ‘Hysteria’ as usual is a huge song with a huge sing-a-long and the appreciation from the fans is apparent the moment that bass riff launches the song into life. It gets a bit funky next as Dom Howard and Chris Wolstenholme, the lesser known members in terms of fame but just as important get their own little slow jam ‘Nishe’, presumably whilst Matt Bellamy transfers himself to a piano to play the Queen influenced ‘United States of Eurasia’. He stays on the piano for the very French ‘I Belong To You (Mon Cœur S'ouvre à Ta Voix)’ which works surprisingly well live. The Piano based section is finished by classic cover ‘Feeling Good’. The bands cover of an old Nina Simone song never disappoints whether you hear it in a live surrounding or in its usual place of an advert for something dramatic looking.



‘MK Ultra’ is a great song from the ‘Resistance’ album and although it doesn’t make it in full, the drummer and bassist get another chance to shine as they run through a techno style jam with hints of the song it’s based on. The jam gives Bellamy an opportunity to strap on a custom made instrument that somehow plays synthesized bass and keyboards at the same time and begin the disco themed ‘Undisclosed Desires’. The song has become a staple of their set and it’s easy to see why as the band raise and descend on a spinning platform in the audience. Yes they really did do that but the spectacle never detracts from the music and it’s that which really shines in amongst the sparkly special effects, (more of which later). A small pause before the unmistakable jangly riff of The Animals ‘House of the Rising Sun’ rings out across the vast audience. It’s the moment that the audience is in its fullest voice as the band lead a supermassive sing-a-long before turning smoothly into ‘Time is Running Out’. The huge chorus sounds even bigger in the surroundings. Finishing the song with the riff from Hendrix’s ‘Power of Soul’, the band run straight into ‘Unnatural Selection’; the most riff heavy of their most recent album and the perfect end to the main section of the gig.

Some people who clearly don’t know Muse, (or clearly don’t want to miss the train), leave after this song but if they really didn’t know that Muse weren’t finished, they miss a treat. The rarely played live ‘Soldier’s Poem’ from the Black Holes and Revelations album is a real lighters in the air moment, even if (as Drummer Dom points out) “you’ll have to use your phones and cameras”. Next comes the first part of the symphony from the Resistance album and whilst the music is atmospheric and impressive enough, the appearance of a humongous UFO makes the performance even more mind-blowing. When an acrobat falls from the UFO and starts to perform whilst hanging from it, the audiences’ ‘flabber-’ is well and truly ‘-gasted’. The ridiculously heavy ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ follows and the chorus is well and truly screamed out by a rabid audience, the band leave the stage again after a few more huge riff-ola jams and at this point, even I’m starting to think they might not return. A slightly weird combination of B-side ‘Forced In’ from the Hullabaloo album and The Teddy Bears picnic whilst images flash across the screen and stage suggest the night isn’t over and whilst the effect is mildly disturbing it at least hints that Muse aren’t quite done with their audience yet.

The second encore begins with Matt Bellamy standing alone on their rotating and lifting stage. Decked out in a lighted up suit and neon blue glasses the guitarist leads the audience through ‘Take a Bow’ and then into the ever popular and ever dominating ‘Plug In Baby’. The riff from that song has inspired people to play guitar and sends a chill down your spine as it rings out around the whole stadium, above the noise of a baying crowd. As is to be expected, the ‘Man with a Harmonica’ intro signals the imminent arrival of what might not be Muse’s best song but most definitely is the best to close a show and they know it. All three times I have seen the band they finished with ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ and as ever, from the western themed intro to the blistering riff at the finish the song is played with power and precision until the show is no more and the band leave the stage. Job done, mission accomplished.

(Pictures not finished... this is a work in progress)

Update to my update

Well the Scott Pilgrim review has been canned until a later date because something else has come up.

Mainly, another Muse gig. And this one will have pictures!!! :O

I was going to write the Muse blog all today but got completely distracted by actually playing the Muse songs that inspired me so much.

Muse blog on the way then and don't lose complete hope that the Scott Pilgrim blog might turn up eventually.

:)

Well I'm Back

I haven't blogged in a hell of a long time and that's your loss but after what seems like forever, I'm now back and will try to blog more often, (promise).

I saw an amazing movie the other day... it was Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and I've decided that it was so good that it would inspire me to do my first movie review.

I'm working on it now but since I only decided this after I saw the movie, I made need to see it again to know what to review.

P.S. No one's reading this anyway...

Biffy Clyro > Everything else.

Biffy Clyro are easily one of my favourite bands and after seeing them play live, they will always have a special meaning to me. The energy they put into the show was so high and the audience response so electric that it made for one of the best gigs I have ever been to. Before all of that, we had the support bands Rolo Tomassi and The Twilight Sad and for my money Rolo Tomassi were the most original whether you liked their sound or not. This isn’t to say that The Twilight Sad were bad, they weren’t... I quite enjoyed them. What it is saying is that they were nothing particularly new, coming off sounding like The Big Pink with slightly out of tune guitars, (whilst a Scottish Brian Molko of Placebo sings, or at least that’s how it sounded). The singer, whilst good also had a very odd habit of singing occasionally without the mic, something that made even his own bassist give him funny looks. Rolo Tomassi on the other hand were at best completely mental and at worst completely mental, some muddy sound meant that the keyboards were difficult to hear at the start of their set but the most distinctive thing about the band is Eva Spence’s scream. The diminutive front woman has a voice that can switch from melody to blood curdling screaming in a nanosecond and it’s impressive whether you appreciate the effort or not. I won’t be the only one checking out their new album Cosmology, due for release on the 24th of May.

Then came the longest wait of my life, (or at least it seemed that way), as the crew prepared the stage for Biffy Clyro. Having arrived at the venue at 18:30 it was 21:45 before Biffy actually took the stage and even with the quality support bands, it was an agonizing wait. Eventually though, they arrived. With no introduction at all they launched straight into the explosive That Golden Rule sending the mosh pit down below into overdrive. The chorus was sung by band and crowd alike with such emotion that you could tell the night would be a good one. Almost without pause the band launched into Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies and from the stabbing intro to the absolutely screamed lines of “bathed in white light, with halo’s in your eyes” the energy never drops. A total surprise to me and my friends next but for totally different reasons (something that will re-occur later in the gig), I hadn’t expected any songs from Biffy’s first three albums as their 2007 breakthrough Puzzle gained them a lot more mainstream fans. Imagine my surprise then when Glitter and Trauma from their experimental Infinity Land album suddenly began. My friends with me were surprised by it because, (for at least one of them), they had never actually heard the song before.

Next was Stephen Northey’s favourite from the new album, Bubbles. As amazing as it is on record, nothing and I mean nothing can possibly compare to how huge it sounded live. Next came 9/15ths which, on the album, is bolstered by a choir but instead of a choir, Biffy had the crowd and I think we did a fine job pulling off an amazing version of a song I never imagined they’d play live. Shock Shock was next making an impact purely because it meant we all got to shout the F-word at the top of our voices in the context of a song, “Well you talk and you talk, like you’re trying to shock me. I don’t even know, what the f**k we’re still arguing about”. Who’s Got A Match? followed with it’s “I’m A Fire and I’ll burn, burn, burn tonight” refrain causing a near riot. Even more surprisingly than Glitter and Trauma, the song that follows is from their 2001 debut Blackened Sky, as a fan of absolutely all Biffy’s songs, hearing the opening to Justboy in a show promoting their new album was like Christmas come early. A high five from Matt Deleay was all that needed to be said.


God and Satan is the first respite and almost the first time the band talks to their enraptured audience. “Hello London, It’s been a long time. Are you well?” Mountains follows causing an inevitably huge sing-a-long which everyone knows the words to, Biffy fans old and new. Biffy throw their old fans a bone next by playing Bodies In Flight from second album The Vertigo Of Bliss and although I felt like I was the only one who knew the song in my section of crowd, it didn’t make it any less amazing to see one of my favourite Biffy songs performed live. The funky Born On A Horse doesn’t seem out of place although it seems to be influenced by Simon Neil side project Marmaduke Duke, this is no bad thing either. Two songs from Puzzle come next with Saturday Superhouse blowing away the growing Biffy army of fans whilst A Whole Child Ago's jangly riff sounds even better live than on record. A brief pause to say hello to their guitar backup, (called Mike apparently) before launching into one of their most un-radio friendly songs, There’s No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake with its angular riffage and screaming first verse. A song that reaches about five minutes and yet goes through so many twists and turns it’s almost difficult to remember how the song started.


A long pause precedes Many Of Horror but when it finally arrives courtesy of that slide guitar effect with that vocal, the whole crowd is moving and singing, totally together under one band. Whorses appears to finish the gig with its soaring chorus and unifying lyrics it brings the evening to a perfect end. Or does it? Biffy Clyro obviously know how to make the tension build and no-one, absolutely no-one leaves their seat, the capacity crowd of almost 8,000 (seated and standing, cheers Wikipedia) collectively pray that there will be an encore. They collectively breathe a sigh of relief when it becomes apparent that an encore is coming, and duly go mental again. Cloud Of Stink opens the encore, one of the most ‘Old Biffy’ songs on Only Revolutions. Machines follows with Simon Neil leading the crowd with just his voice and an acoustic guitar in a performance that was actually beautiful, no other word for it. After getting misty eyed over the emotion of Machines the feeling continued as classic Biffy track Convex Concave from their first album began, the nostalgia hit (for me at least) was huge. What would they play last though, some reckoned Semi-Mental from Puzzle, I heard a different shout for 57 also from their debut but I put my money on The Captain and struck lucky. It was even more amazing live and as its final “Let’s love death away” lyric seemed to sum up the atmosphere in the venue as a large group of devoted fans came together all for one amazing band.


MON THE BIFF

Updates - Basically I haven't done much.

Coming up soon is the Biffy Clyro gig which will hopefully be amazing and of course, easily reviewable. That'll be the next thing published up here but this is also an update on some other things I'm working on.

Firstly, a blog about Time. Yes, it seems a bit broad but give it a chance. It goes into a bit of detail about how time can get wasted and also, just because I can, it mentions relativity briefly. How cultured am I?

I'm also thinking about possibly doing a blog on a Television show in a similar style to Charlie Brooker's Screen Burn columns. This is purely an exercise in developing my own style but I'll put it up here anyway.

It has also occured to me that since no one reads my blogs I could put whatever I want up here. We'll see how the other ideas pan out before I explore that possibility.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Reason for the inactivity recently is the massive amount of College work I currently have. Much needed though as it's what I need to get me to Uni.

Update on work

Hello my two, maybe three, (on a good day), readers. I haven't got anything coming up at the moment blog-wise with a hell of a lot of things going on elsewhere. Want some examples? Well, I'm learning to drive, doing my A-Levels, attempting to get into University for a Journalism course. So basically I wont have a chance for a while.

The next thing I can think of will be the Biffy Clyro gig on the 6th of May, I'll be doing a review of that and then hopefully there will be some more things in the pipeline with albums and maybe moving into current affairs and sports report type... stuff.

Hope all (three) of you are well =]

Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

Horns… bloody horns. Although in most cases I wouldn’t go near them unless they were playing ska music but the opening of Biffy Clyro’s new album, Only Revolutions is full of it when track one, The Captain springs into life. Before that we get the slightly confusing sound of horses’ hooves, (more on this later), but once the album has properly begun it’s hard to see exactly what I had against the horns. The sound may be a little cluttered at times but it’s the Biffy that the fans have come to know and love which is reassuring after their mainstream breakthrough album Puzzle. Recent single That Golden Rule is next which builds on the bands growing promise for more and more stadium sized chorus’ and by the time the song has rung out the strings enhanced final riff it’s pretty obvious you’ve made a good purchase. Coming to third song Bubbles from a position of ignorance I was unsure what to make of it at first but in the great Biffy tradition of amazing but confusing songs it’s almost impossible to work out how the band got from the jangly offbeat guitar line at the start to a Josh Homme guest appearance solo.

Slowing it down a pace is the song God and Satan, a song in the works for a long time as I heard of it first sometime after the last album was released but it’s worth the wait and as the song builds from it’s acoustic ballad beginnings to a finish the band and in particular Simon Neil’s metaphor laden lyrics make you feel like you really belong on their musical journey. Born on a Horse, (Simon Neil is actually obsessed with horses, check the lyrics of the whole album), follows and it feels like it was pinched from the bands funky side project Marmaduke Duke, the opening bass line has a distinctly disco feel as does most of the song until it opens up and goes all huge sounding on us. Mountains was already a massive hit before the album was even in its early stages and in the context of the whole album it sounds even bigger. With a chorus built for festivals and stadiums across the world it’s the song that is slowly turning a trio of cult heroes into world famous superstars.

A song in the great Biffy custom of being abrasive yet still tender, (previous examples include All the Way Down: Prologue Chapter 1 from the album The Vertigo of Bliss) is Shock Shock, which is said to be about Simon Neil’s recent marriage and how he is learning to deal with conflicting points of view. Next is most recent single Many of Horror, it shows Biffy’s more mature side as the restrained strings, (restrained!!! Remember Puzzle’s jarring opening strings on Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies? I sure do and I still get nightmares) and by the time the final chorus has been wrung from the heart of the band and all that’s left is the cello and violin it could make even the most hardened rocker feel a little emotional. With a title taken from the book the album title is taken from, Booooom, Blast & Ruin comes off sounding a little bit like a more accomplished LostProphets, especially in the intro riff, and ends just as abruptly as it sprang into life a little over three minutes before.

Cloud of Stink… not an inspiring song name but with the bands history of obscure titles, (Now the Action is On Fire, There’s No Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake, I could go on) it’s worth giving it a good listen. If you’re not a fan of the singing in the verses at least you can appreciate such genius lyrics as “look up to the sky, is it still good to feel alive, well I, can dance, on top of a hurricane”. Very nice. A lot of the songs are based on the revolutions relationships put you in and penultimate song Know Your Quarry is no different but that doesn’t make it any less of a song. The production by GGGarth Richardson on this record blows me away every time as he has managed to retain Biffy’s sound whilst also polishing the edges a little. The strings once again come to the fore and the lyrics, although sometimes obscure come together to create a Biffy take on a love ballad. Whorses is the final song on this, Biffy Clyro’s most accessible album to date, (Puzzle wasn’t all accessible, Get F**ked Stud gives enough away in it’s name to show its accessibility) and it is very much a final song. Everything about it screams final song, just before the encore if you catch my drift, and the chorus is made for a mass sing-a-long, “We want to affect a change, with voice and electrical noises”. So as those electrical noises scratch out their last I can’t be the only one who wants more from the Ayrshire trio.

P.S.
Stay with this blog for a review of their forthcoming gig at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Them Crooked Vultures. Hammersmith Apollo. Awesome

After what can only be described as 70’s cop show driving to get us to the station and a hilarity filled train journey which will make sense only to those present, we arrived at Hammersmith tube station. We trekked up the stairs from the platform before me and a man who seems to be my gig buddy, (less gay than it sounds), Matt had to stop, having lost Matt’s dad, and his dad’s mate. Nothing wrong about that and we found them alright in the end but this gets a mention because we spotted Rick bloody Wakeman of Yes fame striding out of the tube station with us. Surreal moments for the win.

After talking to a ‘nice' American lady about the nights entertainment, (less pervy than it sounds), we got in the queue for none other than Them Crooked Vultures. Only the superb supergroup made up of Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, and the legend that is John Paul Jones, the bassist in the most influential band of all time, Led Zeppelin.

First though, Josh’s Queens buddy Troy van Leeuwen presents us his new side project, Sweethead. Their grungy noise has more in common with his day job in Queens than anything else and the group’s female singer seems a bit like a gimmick as opposed to an integral part of their sound. Almost as if they auditioned her by saying… “So. Do you sound a little bit like Brody Dalle?” They depart with as much applause as is customary for a band that no one in the venue is bothered about, this isn’t because they’re particularly bad but when you know that Messrs Grohl, Homme, and Jones are waiting in the wings it’s difficult to give any other music much look in.

Without any fanfare at all except the frantic screams of a couple thousand die hard fans, Them Crooked Vultures take the stage. Grohl first. Jones second. Homme last. Unless of course you count touring guitarist and ex Queens bassist Alain Johannes who contributes mainly by making Josh look good, although he doesn’t need much help, but also by playing some of the other guitar parts since the songs are made up of multiple recorded tracks. They open the gig with album opener and personal favourite No One Loves Me and Neither Do I and by the time the songs huge climactic riff has rung out a final time the jaws of everyone in the audience has dropped, and they stay there for the rest of the evening.

Without too much chat, Josh Homme sweeps his band, (and it really does seem to be his band), into Dead End Friends and Scumbag Blues which sounds a lot like 60’s psychadelia band, Cream. A brief pause before one of their best songs Elephants explodes into its blues-funk-stoner-rock life, (although this can sum up most of the bands output). Next up was a track, surprisingly left off the album but when JPJ picks up his mandolin, worried looks spread out across the audience. We needn’t have worried though as the song is easily listenable, not good enough to get on the album apparently but a nice break from the deliberate ear pummeling that preceded it and will follow. New Fang is the song that follows it giving Dave Grohl the opportunity to pound the crap out of the drums and also an opportunity for some quality slide guitar, yeah slide guitar dammit. Gunman follows and manages to inspire a huge sing-a-long.

To give the guys a break Alain Johannes breaks into some blues before the rest of the band return for a fairly relaxing meander through the musical ideas of Bandoliers before going straight in to inevitable single, Mind Eraser, No Chaser. The chorus alone with Dave Grohl enhancement is enough for the ticket price. Some brief Josh Homme chat is extremely funny as he informs the crowd that Mr. Grohl has told him to lay off the booze which gains a few pantomime boo’s all of its own, “Yeah, who’s your hero now London?” Homme jokes before guiding the band into a classy version of a pretty un-classy song when you check the lyrics, Caligulove, memorable really for JPJ’s funky dancing at the piano. Speaking of funky dancing… Josh Homme get’s his own turn as he puts down the guitar for once to let JPJ pick up a keytar, (a motha’ucking keytar) for the properly weird but still properly awesome Interlude with Ludes. As brilliant as that is it doesn’t prepare you for the slightly disconcerting Spinning in the Daffodils whose outro takes it’s lyrics from an obscure Mark Lanegan, (another QOTSA collaborator and Screaming Trees frontman), song adding another level of gravitas.

By this point… and with so much awesome being thrown in our general direction, the crowd seems to have forgotten how many songs they can possibly have left to play. Some hoping there’s lots more with their eyes on some QOTSA, Foo Fighters or maybe even Led Zeppelin covers but others have their eyes on the last train from Hammersmith tube station and no matter how much these musicians are loved and revered… some people have started to leave. They miss out though as the penultimate song is Reptiles which although it's not one of my favourites on the record was a perfect way to bring the show back up to its peak energy. As with probably all the shows on this tour, the band ends with Warsaw (or the first breath you take before you give up) and instead of the already long seven minute version of the song… it gets extended to about 16 minutes. But damn it was good. God damn the whole gig was amazing. And as they leave without an encore and only a short goodbye, not one person feels shortchanged and if the frenzy at the merch table was anything to go by, they’ll be back here soon.

Muse - The Resistance

Muse are at the point in their career where when they announce that a new album is going to be released, they can let the anticipation build. And then build some more. When the band disappeared into Matt Bellamy’s Italian lakeside practise rooms some time ago it was big news, it meant the follow up to the astronomically successful, (no pun intended), Black Holes and Revelations. Their previous album with supermassive hits, (pun definitely intended) such as Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, and the huge live favourite Knights of Cydonia helped make one of the best albums of 2005. So with that in mind, it was surely time for a new one eh guys.

The album opens with lead single Uprising and from the first squeak of noise into the funky sounding bass that drives the song it sounds like Muse have taken a distinctly disco turn. They haven’t forgotten the powerful songs that made their name on Origin of Symmetry though with second track Resistance coming off sounding like the barstard child of Bliss from OofS and Invincible of BH&R. Second single Undisclosed Desires is next and feels the most obviously commercial. It starts with picked violins, (showing the first of Matt Bellamy’s orchestral score on The Resistance), backed by a disco beat but it is the uplifting chorus where the strange combination of disco, classical, keytar and slap bass really completes the song.

Muse have always enjoyed a bit of craziness and after a fairly serene opening and the first of many piano based melodies, showing Muse’s trend to moving away from the guitars slightly. Fortunately though the song builds into Queen style histrionics and an almost Egyptian sounding piano and strings combination, once again exposing the grandiose side of Muse. As the song ends it returns to the beautifully played piano of Matt Bellamy who gets a chance to prove his classical chops by including a piece of Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, by Chopin of course… well everyone knows that right?

Next on our musical journey is Guiding Light, a song that’s pretty easy to read but rewarding nonetheless, even if it’s for the slightly Queen sounding guitar solo. The pompous, (but in a good, Muse sort of way) organs of Unnatural Selection’s intro ring out before the offspring of New Born’s heavy riff hit’s you hard in the face. By the time the song ends you feel like you need an encore, (handy since they finished their main set with it on their recent UK dates). What follows instead is the understated MK Ultra, a personal favourite for reasons I can’t entirely understand, (but I know its good alright), it’s synth based intro would be the envy of any trance band and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The album proper, by which I mean actual songs, not symphony’s linked together by one overriding theme which I’m getting to, is finished off by I Belong To You, which also has a French bit in the title Mon Cœur S'ouvre À Ta Voix meaning (apparently) , ‘My Heart opens With Your Voice’. It also cleverly samples a part from an aria of the same name, (the French bit anyway), which features in the opera ‘Samson and Delilah’. Bit of culture for you there.

The album really ends with the much talked about Symphony, Exogenesis. First part Overture opens with a movie like orchestral score, (all composed by main man Matt Bellamy), before Dom Howard’s drums signal the beginning of something really special. The apocalyptic soundtrack to a troubled time, Overture seems to signify our culture noting it’s problems and taking stock of itself, it’s lyrics ‘who are we, where are we, when are we, why are we’ really taking the confusion of the world and putting it into four simple phrases. Second part Cross Pollination is the world realising it needs someone to do something about the problems it has created before battle breaks out in a combination of strings, piano and guitar leads. The piano itself (whilst always present in Muse), feels like a throwback to it’s prevalence in their early work, circa Showbiz but as third part, Redemption shows, Matt Bellamy has really taken Muse to a new level of classical orchestration and hugeness with a hint of arrogance that will take Muse and help them build their resistance. In their own words ‘let’s start over again, why can’t we start it over again’.

A blog. But I thought you'd stopped.

No, no, I haven't stopped, you've just stopped reading. That's OK though because I have some tasty blog nuggets in store for the coming weeks.

First off I've completed the review of the latest Muse album so I'm moving on to Biffy Clyro's latest, Only Revolutions, the Muse review will be up by the end of this week at least.

Secondly, I'm seeing Them Crooked Vultures at the Hammersmith Apollo this week so a review of that seems like the obvious thing to do.

Thirdly and finally I'm going to think about moving into slightly more standard blog territory where I ramble on about my life to no one in particular. Although maybe there is someone I'm rambling to...

Thanks a lot if you did read this but if you didn't and skipped to the end, then what the hell are you doing down here, get reading the whole blog.

P.S. Buy Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine, partly because it's an awesome song but partly because it would be nice for the Christmas number one over here not to be the X Factor song.

Muse at The O2 - Mind Blowing

The band was Muse, the venue, ‘The O2’, the anticipation, sky high. Fortunately they lived up to it. Before that though the slowly gathering masses were treated to a performance by The Big Pink who hit like a wall of noise and made the crowd erupt every time they mentioned Muse, (good tactic), and succeeded in the first sing-along of the night with their recent hit Dominoes.

As the lights went up again and the stage was cleared for what was surely going to be a spectacular show, you could actually feel the anticipation. What songs would they play? What would the stage show be like? Will I get blinded by the light show and also, how awesome will Muse be?

The arena suddenly went pitch black before the three superstructures on stage began to light up. Suddenly, three figures appear inside these structures and the opening bass groove of uprising sends the crowd into rapture. This recent hit is followed, (as it is on their new album), by Resistance which just continues to build the anticipation as the audience tries to decide if it can get much better than this. Surprisingly, it can.

The columns descend as the opening piano of set mainstay New Born begins and by the time that epic riff has rung out one final time the crowd and the pit in particular is in a frenzy. Without a pause the band rip into Map of the Problematique a live favourite from the Black Holes and Revelations tour that has made it into their set for The Resistance tour as well. Continuing the BH&R theme they rip into Supermassive Black Hole causing even those in the seats at the back to get up and dance.

It’s then time for the band to show us a new track with MK Ultra, (one of my personal favourites from the new album), and by the end of the song if you didn’t already know it. You wont be able to stop singing it now. My friend turns to me as the song ends and goes, “I really hope they play Hysteria… I love that song”. Well his luck was in as the very next song the guys play is his favourite and although on any other night the sight of one of my friends dancing and singing like a fool would only provoke laughter, tonight I go ahead and join him.

The end of the song flows effortlessly into a drum and bass break as Dom Howard and Chris Wolstenholme show us what they can do. Where Matt Bellamy is in all this only becomes clear as they end and the spine tingling piano of United States of Eurasia rings out. By the time the Queen style histrionics have drawn to a close the crowd needs a boost and for old school fans like myself, there was a huge boost around the corner. Of all the songs I expected Muse to play that night, Cave off of debut album Showbiz, was probably not one of them. But if they hadn’t played the song in a long time it didn’t show and although I felt not many of the crowd knew the song, (which is pretty likely as Muse gained an extraordinary amount of fans after BH&R), they still reacted like they were welcoming a friend home from a holiday. A welcome return to the set for a classic song.

For a band with so many classic songs it was great to see that they didn’t shy away from the new material as Guiding Light came next followed by another drum and bass break whilst Matt got himself some kind of synthesiser guitar to play their new single, from their new album, Undisclosed Desires. The final ripple of screams and cheers die away only to be replaced by more screams and cheers as the band starts up again with top 15 hit Starlight and then top 15 hit Plug in Baby, yes, the song with quite possibly the best opening riff you’ll ever hear and closing off this run of sing a long songs with top 10 hit Time is Running Out. With this many hits it’s surprising they’re not bruised, (I’m sorry I won’t try jokes again).

The show seems to end with The Resistance’s most rocking track Unnatural Selection and in fact as the last notes reverberate around the room some fans shockingly begin to leave. All around me people are asking, “That can’t be it… what about Knights of Cydonia?”, “How come they didn’t play Stockholm Syndrome?”, and other very good questions. Fortunately as the chants for go up another level calling for the bands return, (one in particular quite memorably “You rock my socks”), the band return to the opening strains of Exogenesis pt 1, the beginning of their three part symphony and probably the best to transfer to a live arena.

The sound dies down again before the feedback rises from Matt Bellamy’s guitar and they launch into live favourite Stockholm Syndrome, one of the heaviest Muse songs and one of the most spellbinding as well. It’s nothing compared to the infamous harmonica led intro to Knights of Cydonia and then that opening riff is followed by that verse and then that build up to that final riff and that mind-blowing song wraps up an amazing evening all round from a band named Best Band in the World by Q magazine.

Good thing I’m going to see them again next September. Roll on Friday the 10th 2010.

Like a post it note... but on the interwebz

Yeah so the review of the muse gig is on its way and if all goes to plan (i.e. my homework gets finished), it could go up tonight. Thanks for the patience.

Also there are three album reviews in the pipeline: Muse - The Resistance, Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions, and Them Crooked Vultures eponymous debut.

As always comments are much appreciated on all my blogs even this random note thing I've got going on here.

The Obligatory X Factor Blog

Everyone's blogging about the X Factor so you know what i'm going to chip in.

Ok... so lets face it, and i'm getting this out of the way right at the beginning to sort things out. The X Factor is not, NOT, the best show ever in the history of the world. Sorry. but do you know what, the auditions are absolutely hilarious. Does this make me nasty because i'm laughing at idiots. No. Especially since Simon Cowell makes millions off the back of it. The show itself can also be pretty entertaining. Sorry but it's true.

Now onto the serious stuff. Facebook. when the X Factor is on, I cant look at my homepage becuae i know it's just going to be, "omg lucie is the bestest" or "who thinks john and edward should go out, plz comment :DDDDDD". Now I can normally cope with this but the show seems to go on for so long now, and I mean that in length of one show and the series, that it's impossible to waste time on facebook anymore. Only joking :D

Finally, because this is one damn short blog, we have to mention John and Edward. They are, whether you like them or not, an actual phenomenon. It probably wont last and once the show's ended what will happen to them. Anyone know what Chico's up to for example.

Well my next blog will be in about a week or so as i'm seeing Muse on the 13th of November and i'm going to do my best to review that.

Stay Beautiful.


Also I'd just like to plug my mates blogs first off is a guy who likes to be know as LD, dunno why because his name is Lewis Blaney and he lives in...

Yeah well anyways here's the link
http://lookforwardsnotbackwards.blogspot.com/
Basically he blogs more times than you go to the toilet but it's definitely worth a look.

The other blog for all of you to look at is by "Adzy Baby the Reevemeister General" apparently but you can call him Adam
http://urlollinmesillydearboy.blogspot.com/
Another blog thats worth a look and i'm not just saying that, i've been reading his blogs for ages and they're always a laugh.

The Biffy Clyro Kerrang Exclusive EP

It's a review!!! But it's my first one so be nice.

Last week an article caught my eye in Kerrang saying that one of my favourite bands, (the truly awesome Biffy Clyro), were releasing an acoustic EP in Kerrang. Especially for the lovely readers of Kerrang. I was, to put it mildly, ecstatic about this, but what I hadn't realised was that it was a download and not a physical copy. Shock horror. So there I was coming in from a driving lesson when I panicked after seeing the words, "Limited number of Downloads available". It was first come first serve gosh darn it.

To get the EP I would have to get on to my usually very dodgy computer, my terminally slow Internet and avoid my mind numbing virus protection which would no doubt want to delete the files as soon as they downloaded. All this I did, and instead of being in the final 2,500 that received one track, or even the 1,000 before who would receive two tracks, i was actually in the first 2,000. This meant four tracks. Four tracks of pure Biffy genius.

The first download was a version of 'The Captain' from their new album 'Only Revolutions', (released Monday 9th of November, no problem guys) and the album version is a bombastic, horns blaring crusher of a song. Acoustically however it becomes a song of soaring chorus' and a clever adaptation of the original onto the acoustic guitar which somehow gives it a new edge.

Second song on the download was 'Questions and Answers', the oldest track on the EP it was originally on their second album 'The Vertigo of Bliss'. The album, often hailed as one of their best, is a personal favourite of mine but with the commercial success of last album 'Puzzle' it was a welcome suprise to see a Biffy classic in a new light.

Thirdly there was 'Mountains', a chart success in its own right, the track sounds just as good if not better as a tender acoustic ballad, the guitar sounds heartfelt and warm whilst still retaining an edge that is present in all Biffy Clyro's songs.

'Saturday Superhouse' is the final download on the EP and although i loved the original version of this song on the album 'Puzzle', I feel that the song has taken on a new life acoustically. The rhythm section of Biffy Clyro has always been very important to the band and it's never shown off better than on this song, the heavy guitar and soaring melodies are sent to the back of the class and the bass and drums take pride of place.

More importantly on an acoustic EP is the vocals, and Simon Neil really goes all out reaching for melodies he could never hope to achieve when he's going balls to the wall rocking out. It really shows of quite an impressive range that is best shown before on ' The Atrocity' from album 'Infinity Land'

Overall the EP is mind blowing, giving me an insight and a new view of one of my all time favourite bands.