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)
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