Voice of an angel against a wall of noise - Muse, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Sandwell Chronicle
Thursday 22nd November 2001

THE voice of an angel against a wall of guitar noise and touching piano melodies, Muse are amongst the finest British bands around. 
 Frontman Matthew Bellamy crooned, wailed and growled his way through tracks from the Devon trio's two albums, thrilling a sell-out crowd with his arching guitar and piano solos on Sunday evening. 
 But the venue's poor acoustics made some of their grandiose art-rock tracks sound like they came from a poor quality cassette tape. 
 Much of Bellamy's more complex piano work was lost through the numerous open doors leading to the bar, and that being a bar purveying cans of lager at £2.70, you would be forgiven for thinking the Civic could afford to spend a little more cash on protecting the sound quality. 
 Despite, that Muse were in fine form, belting out tracks from debut album Showbiz, though the night was obviously for pushing the new heavier Origin of Symmetry. 
 Muse's superb guitar-led version of Sunburn was well worth the wait, as was Muscle Museum, with the second half of the set giving way to favourites Newborn, Plug-in Baby and Cave. 
 The encore included the exquisite Feeling Good and a new synth-guitar track for release next year, the night ending with Bellamy's guitar-throwing antics.
 Support from Hundred Reasons drummed up more interest than usual from the crowd for a warm-up slot. 
(CLAIRE BUSTIN)


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