Looks can be deceiving, that is the one lesson that we should all should take away from Muse’s Melbourne concert last night. As people walked into Rod Laver Arena, many commented on the ‘bland looking set’… but come on, were Muse ever going to leave us without putting on a true show? Any ‘blandness’ quickly disappeared when Muse exploded onto the stage, and the ‘bland black mirrors’ turned into ever-moving video screens, and suddenly the whole stage turned into a light show that would put any rave to shame.
The show that Muse put on last night is not a show that is going to be forgotten for a long time to come. The band left nothing behind, and they delivered one of the best openings of the year – as they launched into “Dig Down” through an onslaught of red lightning that flooded the entire stadium. By the time they launched into “Psycho”, the crowd was well and truly on side, and you knew that we were in for one hell of a night.
As the night went on, it was clear that Muse was on fire. Songs seemed to become remixes live on stage – “Hysteria” suddenly had elements of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” added to while “Stockholm Syndrome” suddenly had some Rage Against The Machine added to it. As the night went on the songs like “Madness” showcased Matt Bellamy’s vocal skills while tracks like “Supermassive Black Hole” continued to have win the audience over… an audience who was there to have fun despite the heat and humidity outside.
Muse’s stage show came to the fore throughout the night with some amazing video effects that only did more to enhance tracks like Uprising. The effects really came to live, however, with the amazing short film like visuals that screened during the haunting version of The Globalist that then morphed into a long “Drones” extended instrumental.
The highlight of the night though was the finale – an epic version of “Knights Of Cydonia”, which started off with a haunting harmonica solo as Chris Wolstenholme used Ennio Morricone’s “Man With A Harmonica” to form the opening strains of the track. It was during this track that Muse hit full stride and made us all realise that they are a band that deserves to be held in the higher etalons of bands who put on amazing live shows.
Muse’s Rod Laver Arena show was an amazing show that just furthered showed as to why they are one of the most exciting bands in the world at the moment.
