Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Amused

There aren’t too many musicians that I can list that compare to the mind blowing talents of Matthew Bellamy, singer/guitarist/pianist of British alternative rock band Muse. Up until a few months ago, Muse was nothing but a name to me. Thanks to a special someone urging me to check them out, they are now on my list of top bands and best live shows of all time.

As the lights to the Saddledome faded, 3 tall structures resembling that of office buildings stood onstage. Made of video screens, the pillars showed a line of human silhouettes climbing stairs, only to tumble down when they reached the top. Curtains dropped and in the middle of the structures, Matthew Bellamy and his band mates erupted into ‘Uprising’ and ‘Resistance’, two singles from their latest record, released last year.

The visual effects for this show were some of the best I have ever seen. Live video feed of the band jamming, along with various other video complimented the mood of the song and were streamed through the giant three dimensional screens throughout the show. It was highly comparable to the last Nine Inch Nails tour.

But what Trent Reznor was missing were the lasers. Midway through the show, green laser beams were emitted across the stadium, some straight into the crowd, others from the roof to be deflected off the stage and outward. They were nothing short of spectacular albeit slightly distracting. Regardless, I had seen nothing like it previous to this show.

Even the grand piano Matt played during ‘United States of Eurasia’ and ‘Ruled by Secrecy’ lit up with each key hit.

Some may say that over the top lighting and stage setups are for the less talented bands of the world. This is definitely not the case for Muse.

Matthew Bellamy may currently have one of the strongest, most powerful voices I’ve witnessed, but also brings his superior guitar, piano and even key-tar (we all know how much I love the key-tar) skills to the table, making the rest of the band look a bit meek in comparison.

With their at times operatic sound, it’s really hard to compare this band to any one of their predecessors. They are in a league of their own for a band in this generation in both sound and theatrics. I left this show blown away, much like the giant eyeball balloons dropped over the crowd before the show’s end, only to explode into a flurry of confetti.  Needless to say, Muse is definitely more than just a name now.



1 comment:

  1. I heard the show was ridiculous, I had a couple friends go in Cgy and Edmonton...

    Kind of wish I had forked out for it now, sounds like it was worth it (I am not usually a fan of live performances, although I have seen a few good ones over the years).

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