Lacking the spectacle of the much-missed (other) Twin Towers, winter Wembley was in need of a spectacle, and it came in the form of a blistering rock show by Muse. The soulless venue itself and drab support from Elbow did not raise hopes of a great night, but then I spotted the balloon nets being lofted overhead, the industrial silver of the customised keyboards and amps rolling onto the stage, and the skeletal steel mic stands being erected and the game was palpably afoot.
Bellamy displays sickening amounts of competence on both instruments…
The band’s theatrical sound was matched note for note as Matt Bellamy’s keyboard displayed a light show corresponding to his typical broken chord arpeggios. Alternating between this and guitar most of the night, and occasionally mid-song, Bellamy displays sickening amounts of competence on both instruments, although his grandiose tinkling appeared more impressive thanks to a weighty dose of low end reverb. Muse really is the Matt Bellamy show, despite the attempts of bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard to look important; Wolstenholme has a really bad haircut and often resorted to a rather contrived stance atop the amps to remind us of his presence. Granted, Muse’s sound is predicated on a sub-woofer challenging rumble and the solvent beats of Howard, but substitute Bellamy’s vocals and custom theremin-laden guitars and it would be a markedly different performance.
Predictably, Muse concentrate on new album Absolution and Origin of Symmetry for their kicks, highlights including Hysteria, Apocalypse Please, Butterflies and Hurricanes and the set closer, an appropriately uproarious Plug In Baby. By this time we’ve already been treated to showers of ticker tape, two sets of crowd surfing balloons and 5 screens’ worth of band footage (including innovative keyboard and mic cameras), landscapes and oscillator visuals.
The encores are forthright but not perfunctory, with due lashings of feedback, culminating in a rollocking Stockholm Syndrome. As a member of the beardscratchers forum commented afterwards: “That’s how you end a gig!” Indeed, and what an unashamedly epic, rocking and rolling event it was. D.Rose
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