[kj] (NKJ) Muse In LA Last Night

[TB]

Caught Muse last night at Staples Arena, the 2nd night of a 2 night stand the band did in LA.

Overall, a great, pure rock concert complete with every big arena show cliché you could think of, something which is increasingly
rare to see these days.  There was the imaginative stage production with three huge LED video screens mounted on large rectangular
towers that the band performed inside of.  There was more lasers than I can recall ever seeing since I saw The Electric Light
Orchestra back in '78.  There was spinning drum risers, platforms mounted on hydraulic lifts that would lift the band 20 feet up
over the stage.  Massive white balloons painted like eyeballs filled with red confetti that bounced around the audience during one
song.  Drum and bass solos, enough guitar widdly-diddly shredding to make a Joe Satriani fan piss his drawers..... From a purely
entertainment value, you got your money's worth and then some.  They even had a Spinal Tap moment when at the beginning of the show,
the scrim around the video tower the bass player was in didn't come down leaving him playing shrouded inside his spot while roadies
scrambled to pull the scrim down to reveal him.

But the thing that counts most, at least for me is the band itself and the songs.  I came into last night's show with only a casual
knowledge of Muse's music owning just two albums ("Black Holes and Revelations" and their most recent, "The Resistance") and their
live cd/dvd "HAARP."  The band has an almost schizophrenic musical style, on one hand, they seem to like long hard rock jamming with
some epic songs like "Knights Of Cydonia" which sound like 2112 era Rush mixed with Queen but then they have a very catchy pop side
with songs like "Supermassive Black Hole" which are perfect modern day radio singles.  A lot of their songs have a anti-government
paranoid conspiracy slant which I can take or leave (as with Killing Joke) but that shit doesn't really interfere with my enjoyment
of the music.

As musicians, the band is a *lot* more impressive then I was expecting.  Frontman and guitarist Matthew Bellamy is not only an
accomplished player but a true rock star, dressed most of the show in a bright silver suit throwing moves and guitar licks that
would put Eddie Van Halen to shame.  They put out a really full sound for a three piece although they do have a 4th guy playing
keyboards and obviously triggering samples.

Originally, I wasn't sure if I would go and held off buying a ticket to the show when it originally went on sale last April.  This
year, I've kind of lost my taste for live shows and there really hasn't been a lot that interests me this year. But as last week
rolled through, I bought a GA floor ticket just a couple days ago when Ticketmaster released a few prime tickets online.  

Staples Arena in downtown LA is probably one of the most unforgiving, cavernous places to see an arena concert these days.  Sound
just gets swallowed up because the arena is almost as tall as it is long or wide so the floor is really the only good option.
Fortunately, it was really easy to get way up front and I spent the show maybe 30 feet back dead center from the stage and had
fairly good sound although the vocals were a bit muddy at times.  The opening band "Passion Pit" was pretty uninteresting. They
looked (and dressed) exactly like a bunch of slacker kids just outta High School playing boring alt-hipster crap.

The first half hour of the show was probably some of the most enjoyable live rock n' roll I've experienced in years.  The audience
was typical LA - they respond well to big hits and are kind of sedate otherwise.  Interestingly, Muse would play short snippets of
several mainstream rock songs at the end of some songs, like they played "The Star Spangled Banner" and the bridge to AC/DC's "Back
In Black" respectively at the beginning and ending of "Hysteria."  The show began to drag near the end though when they played
several songs including Stockholm Syndrome that had *really* loooonnng metal jams that just seemed to go on forever. Most of the
audience seemed to enjoy it though - there were plenty of air guitaring knuckleheads headbanging around me which was pretty funny to
watch. I was a bit bummed they didn't play "Map of the Problematique" which was the song that originally got me into them and has
been played regularly in the set up 'til this week at most shows.

Overall though, A really enjoyable show and I'm glad I finally got to see this band at probably the height of their career.  The
setlist:

Uprising
Resistance
New Born
Supermassive Black Hole
Neutron Star Collision
Hysteria
Nishe
United States of Eurasia
Ruled By Secrecy
Bliss
Helsinki Jam
Undisclosed Desires
Starlight
Plug In Baby
Time Is Running Out
Unnatural Selection
-Encore
Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
Stockholm Syndrome
Man with a Harmonica intro
Knights of Cydonia

T.B.