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.