MUSE North American Tour 2013

acutejam wrote:

MUSE - Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA 1/28/13

Whoa... Muse! Sooo, are you guys like, what? Coldplay now? Or Black Sabbath? Just a really stunning show, I'm impressed! My 14-year-old dragged me to the show, I know a few of their radio songs and have heard they're the poster child for full-blown production spectacle arena rock (Rush could teach 'em a few more tricks...)

In Oakland's NBA arena, they had the floor GA and reserved seating around, seemed to be packed to the gills for a Monday night. Local station DJ came out and thanked everyone, noting they'd been playing Muse since the mid 90s.... ("But, but .. I knew them when...") And at times, that floor was mayhem, saw a few great surges early on, then the whole place looked like a trampoline for most of the night.

For 3 dudes (and a touring keyboard player) my gawd, the SOUND they put out. Before anything else, just ... whoa. Incredibly loud, three full PA stacks hanging from each side of the lighting rig, and just thunderous sound. Yet ... distinct, clear, you could hear it all -- all the little sampled sounds, and synth string hits, and the guitar and bass both felt at times like they were putting out "natural" and "augmented/synth" sounds. (Another thing Alex Lifeson does well -- one guitar that sounds like three.)

Definitely one of the loudest shows I've seen since a big music festival -- almost to Soundgarden levels. Almost.

And Bellamy, just always with his face in a mic, singing, harmonizing, screaming -- always adding another layer of sound with the vocals. Amazing talent. Guitar work was solid and inspired at times -- not a big fan of the arepeggiator and pitch-shift effects, too much Morello, not enough Hendrix. I prefer guitar that sounds like a radio being smashed, not a radio being tuned. But heck, totally impressive -- again, just amazing the levels and layers and depth of sound these guys put out. I had the most fun with a few short 1-3 minute "jams" of just guitar/bass/drum mayhem -- when they sound as brutal and booming as Sabbath or Soundgarden.

And then the spectacle, well, I'm a bit jaded -- having grown up with KISS, Iron Maiden, Priest and AC/DC and moved on to U2 and Rush (and the Blue Man Group), I've seen just about all that a big arena rock show can offer. Nothing too outside the norm, video screens everywhere, great camera work -- some really neat working splitting/spreading video across screens/stage . And what at first appeared to be a pretty minimal stage set kept evolving into more and more arrangements that was just dang cool; plus constant fog machines, lasers, steam blasts -- jsut about everything BUT the disco ball and actual flames! Totally fun.

Glad I went, awesome way to kick off the 2013 season!

81 wrote:

rick1zoo2 wrote:

Tickets this time were not too expensive.

and the process to purchase them was pretty painless

iammine16 wrote:

The Vancouver show floored me! I am still in awe. With Soundgaren on Sunday I wasn't as excited for Muse...how wrong was I?! I have been to A LOT of shows, and that one defenitly hit top 10 for me! "Stockholm Syndrome" had me going nuts and then the jam of "Freedom" by Rage Against The Machine at the end of the song was epic. I went from a casual fan to a die hard fan over night!

MissPennyLane wrote:

Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:

Vancouver last night.

Top shelf. I'm in on these guys BIG TIME! These guys have a style all their own and it really works. I think if you spliced Queen and Rush... you'd have Muse.

Music was out of this world and I haven't seen a light show like that since... ever. These guys are bloody awesome and the concert falls into the 'classic' category.

* Band of Skulls was an impressive opener as well.

AH! I kept meaning to ask you how the show was Unreal right? his voice, his voice, his voice!

eeriepadave wrote:

Muse and Cage The Elephant? Interesting!

Thirty Bills Unpaid wrote:

So...

Curious to know what you guys thought of the shows you went to?