Muse in new guise launch aural assault

Birmingham Daily Post
Friday 25th May 2001 

Muse
Birmingham Academy 

 Anyone who owns a copy of Muse's debut album Showbiz will know it's a melancholic musical masterpiece full of indie anthems.  
 So their performance at the Academy may well have been a shock to the system for many new fans, as Matt Bellamy (looking like a demonic Ritchie Neville of Five) launched into a blistering aural assault. 
 Last time I saw the band play was on a small stage in a festival field where the crowd was too big for the tent. 
 Despite the harder sound of their new album, Origin of Symmetry, which has already spawned the hit single Plug In Baby, Muse have already outgrown venues like the Academy.
 Keeping pleasantries to an absolute minimum, they created a wall of sound with their opening tracks which included Cave and Uno. 
 One of the early highlights was an interesting cover of Nina Simone's Feeling Good. 
 I'm not sure what she would have made of it bit the crowd loved this moody version of the jazz classic. 
 A flurry of familiar tunes followed with a supersonic rendition of Sunburn, which doubtless raised the hairs on the back of more than 2,000 necks. Then a purple spotlight focused on Matt as he launched into a classic "lighter moment" with the majestic single Unintended. 
 The only complaint about Muse's new material, such as the new single, New Born, is that it sounds as if they're trying to be Radiohead circa 1996. That's not entirely a bad thing, but they are capable of so much more. 
 A set packed with 15 songs ended with a triumphant trio of tracks - Plug In Baby, Muscle Museum and Risk. 
 Like the giant balloons hanging from the ceiling, Muse's bubble has yet to burst. 
(Emma Brady)

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