Weekly > Reviews
Muse - Manchester Evening News Arena
It seems to have become an accepted fact that, in the last 12 months specifically, Muse are regarded as “The Best Live Band” not only in the Uk but pretty much the entire planet. The evidence seems to lie in the fact that they have been sweeping the proverbial board at every single award ceremony whether it be voted by Jo Public or some suits in a room. Their vast reputation then culminated in a headline slot at Leeds/Reading….and they absolutely stormed it to be fair. They were superb.
So you could forgive them for being a bit blasé as the year draws to a close as some bands do when they begin to believe their own press. As for these guys, not a bit of it! Muse are now custom made for arenas, their sound is literally too big at times for the smaller venues. Now I prefer smaller venues on the whole but Muse fit the MEN like a glove and that’s fine by me.
Tonight they are taking no prisoners and they begin the set by grabbing the audience by the throat with their already anthemic “Knights of Cydonia” and don’t let go for another enthralling 8 minutes as they meld seamlessly into crowd pleasing “Hysteria”. The hits keep on coming and the set is a blend of a top notch back catalogue which understandably leans towards their most recent offering “Black Holes and revelations”.
Highlights include Matt Bellamy managing to get his guitar to produce a sound reminiscent of a dolphin being throttled and then being towed away in an ambulance with sirens blaring in full- this then morphs into the opening cords of “Plug in Baby” and the building physically shifts five feet to the left.
We get a barn storming version of my old favourite “Bliss” and a video wall enhanced “Super massive Black Hole”- my personal high point. The crazy Japanese style robot images being beamed into the arena just seemed to compliment the song but I guess you had to be there! If I was to be ultra critical (and it is being!) there is a slight lull in the set as the band gather around a computer generated fire (honestly) for an instrumental and the piano solo’s between some songs don’t quite do it for me. There is also a false start to “Citizen Erased” but even that is strangely comforting….they are not perfect after all. Rock n Roll!!
- Muse
- Manchester Evening News Arena (11th November 2006)
- Category: Live
- Label: Taste
- Support: The Noisettes
- Reviewed by: Bantam
- Published on: 03 Feb 2007
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesGross nit picking over and Muse continue to have their audience in raptures as they close with “New Born” effortless and excellent in equal amounts that even the moshers must appreciate it fully as they get kicked in the head for the fourteenth time. Muse attract a cornucopia (would the NME use that word…..erm probably) of fans, all ages, all musical influences. They have an eclectic appeal indeed but every one of said fans is on their feet demanding the mandatory encore. The engine must have been running as they don’t keep us longer than 2 or 3 minutes and three songs later, including my new favourite “Starlight” and an audience Queen style clap along and they are gone, not before Mr Bellamy has time to donate his guitar to the great unwashed of Manchester and bid us goodnight. And it certainly was.
Have your say...
Comment Guidlines
You must be logged in to post a comment. Go Login or Register first.
We waffle on enough without letting you lot do it too. Comments are limited to 300 characters.
Try and keep on topic if you can and no insulting the contributors. All hate mail can be addressed to Kev.