(MUSE) Muse will rock you all the way to the opera

Portsmouth Evening News 
Friday, 12th October 2001

THE CRITICS EXTRA 

Muse
Portsmouth Guildhall 

The spirit of Queen is alive and well and inhabiting Muse's preposterous prog-rock pretensions. 
  Huge globes hang from the back of the stage, while singer Matthew Bellamy (dressed bizarrely like Edward Scissorhands) flits from silhouette dancing Tales Of The Unexpected-style behind a screen to standing on his own little podium up front and then taking his seat at the piano for more reflective moments. 
  Muse can also rock like hell, but they seem to spend most of their time adding baroque-like ornamentation to their guitar driven sound. 
  When it works - like on Plug-In Baby or New Born - it works spectacularly, but sometimes you're left merely wanting to shout "Stop milking it and play the song!"
  I give them six months before the full-blown, concept album and rock opera.
Someone call Yes and start sampling the artwork 

(Barry Rutter) 

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