HYSTERIA - Muse Triumph - On the second attempt - At their biggest UK shows to date

Kerrang! 

January 8th 2005, Issue #1038

SUNDAY

Rating: Fair

 In the window of Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard on LA, there is a picture of Muse advertising the fact that the band had sold out two nights at that city's Wiltern Theatre on December 5 and 6, letting those that don't already know into the secret that three noisy boys from the West Country have made plans to take over their country. Six thousand miles east in London, Muse are at it again: tonight and tomorrow the sold out signs are out front of the biggest room in London, as 34,000 fans gather to celebrate the fact that in 2004, surely, has been this band's year.

 The ascent from nothing to this has been remarkable, and tonight the three of them even make a first* of appearing in a venue that might as well be named Bad Sightlines R Us. With its over-fussy security and antiquated facilities, Earls Court is not really the place where dreams come to life. But with a stage-set that looks as if it were stolen from "Close Encounters"... (although the screens hoisted at the side of the stage are nowhere near big enough). Muse do their very best to adapt. Yet still the truth remains - the bigger the band get the further away you're likely to be when it comes to watching them. 

 In the hall of fame of classic Muse concerts - Wembley Arena last year, Glastonbury this summer - this wasn't one of them. But a reasonable Muse performance is, at times, still a hell of a show. 'Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist', the single that never was from 'Absolution', is superb - a scream of a guitar solo and a dream of a melody. 'Time Is Running Out' and 'Hysteria' are similarly resounding. 

 Elsewhere, the group look strangely like a work in progress. 'Ruled By Secrecy' here is hampered by DAT machine trickery, only firing into life for the song's finale. And for anyone near the back of the room, the whole show has something of an impersonal air. The band look, and move, just as they always do, but here more than anywhere some kind of connection is required. Matt Bellamy is reluctant to speak to the crowd, opting instead for the kind of quietness that accompanies a first date with a choirboy. It would have been nice, at least, for him to have said little more than "hello."

 As 'Stockholm Syndrome' closes the show and 17,000 people disgorge into the night, the lesson of the last two hours becomes clear. Tonight, Muse showed that even they are human after all.

(Ian Winwood)

MONDAY

Rating: Incredible 

 The stakes are high. After last night's muted display, those close to the band privately agree that changes need to be made to the set if Muse's year is to end in triumph rather than disappointment. They needn't have worried. Even before the band hit the stage, tonight feels totally different. The vast open spaces seem warmer and friendlier. A good-natured Mexican wave sweeps round the venue. There's a palpable buzz in the air.

 And what happens when the band appear is simply astounding. They seem more relaxed, less overwhelmed by the scale of it all. Matt in particular - tonight dressed in black rather than red appears far more at ease. The visuals are different, too 'Space Dementia' is accompanied by a 'Star Trek' style, onrushing, warp-speed backdrop that adds a new sense of urgency and momentum. 'Micro Cuts' is made more momentum. 'Micro Cuts' is made more atmospheric by the presence of three huge full moons projected onto the back wall, throwing the band into dramatic silhouette. The set as a whole feels better paced, with 'Apocalypse Please' coming at the start, and the sole new track (as yet untitled, and different to the newie aired on Sunday) held back until the encore/

 Songs that failed to engage on Sunday night take on a startling emotional resonance. 'Citizen Erased' in particular is phenomenal - a devastating fusion of epic misery and steely future-metal ferocity, it's redemptive piano coda simultaneously sounding like the end of the world and the start of a new one. And 'New Born'? Holy fuck. There can be no moment in modern live music more electrifying than the bit where Matt stands up from the piano grabs his guitar, and teases the audience with the agonising participation of the song's sledgehammer riff. It's like teetering on the edge of a precipice. 

 Indeed. There's something superhuman about Matt Bellamy - this freakish individual who can sing like Jeff Buckley, compose like Gustav Mahler, and play like Eddie Van Halen. Watching him command this immense stage, his every pose greeted by piercing screams of devotion, serves emphatic notice that Muse - in case anyone had forgotten - are by some distance the best home-grown band we have. Where they go from here is anyone's guess. But it's sure to be an exciting journey. 

 Towards the end, during 'Blackout', Matt asks the audience to thrust their illuminated mobile phones in the air to make a bobbing sea of twinkling Christmas lights. It ought to be a grim spectacle: 17,000 people in a concrete shed, mobiles aloft - modern Britain in all its ugly, WAP-enabled glory.

 But somehow, in Muse's hands, it just looks utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful.

 (Luke Lewis)

NOTES

SETLIST EARLS COURT, LONDON - 19.12.2004

Intro

Hysteria

Butterflies And Hurricanes

New Born

Song For Absolution

New Song 1

Muscle Museum

Citizen Erased

Ruled By Secrecy

Sunburn

Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist

TSP

Time Is Running Out

Plug In Baby

Bliss

Dead Star

Microcuts

Apocalyps Please

Stockholm Syndrome

SETLIST EARLS COURT, LONDON - 20.12.2004

Intro

Apocalypse Please

Hysteria

TSP

Song For Absolution

Micro Cuts

Citizeb Erased

Space Dementia

Ruled By Secrecy

Sunburn

New Born

Butterflies And Hurricanes

Muscle Museum

Bliss

Plug In Baby

New Song 2

Time Is Running Out

Blackout

Stockholm Syndrome 

First: Given as "fist" in original document, which is most likely a typo.

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