Muse 1/7/16

Muse

In the spirit of trying to save money for the upcoming wedding, Ingrid and I decided that for Christmas gifts we would get each other tickets to go see Muse instead of paying too much for crap we did not need. Muse was on tour for the excellent album Drones that came out in June. I’m not really sure how this band stayed off my radar for so long but I don’t think I really heard them until the song “Madness.” I am also not sure why the show was postponed from December 16th to January 7th but this delay changed our entire experience because now our friends Larry and Christina were in town from Europe and could go with us. They had tickets in a separate section but we were able to meet up beforehand and have a few drinks. It was raining pretty heavily so we decided to pay the $20 to park in the lot but traffic at the main gate was being diverted to behind the Sports Arena where traffic was horrendous. We had skipped the opening band Phantogram and it was now getting uncomfortably close to showtime. Rather than wait for the traffic we decided to try to find street parking nearby. The closest spot was a pretty far walk so we ended up catching the shortest Uber ride in history to avoid the rain. Once we got close to the venue we realized that Muse was already playing the song “Dead Inside” which ended up being their second song. Shit. Not only was this one of Ingrid’s favorite songs but she also had to use the ladies room immediately after we were inside. I used this opportunity to relieve myself as well but as I stood in the bathroom they had begun to play one of my favorite songs – “Hysteria.” Double shit. After a fiasco trying to find our seats and then kicking people out of our seats we could finally behold the greatness of Muse.

I have never seen such a fantastic stage setup and I have seen a LOT of concerts. They used the stadium in such a way that there was literally not a bad seat in the house. Their massive stage sprawled out lengthwise on the floor instead of the traditional stage setup at one end of the arena that renders all seats directly to the side and in back of the stage useless. The best way to describe it is a circle in the center that turned 360 degrees with a catwalk on the north and south ends. The light show and retractable see-through projection screens were nothing less than incredible. Oh and the music? Flawless and phenomenal without any of the usual fluff and banter with the crowd. They played for two solid hours and had many visual tricks up their sleeve to enhance the experience including giant dark balloons that shot out into the crowd, pianos that came out from under the stage, giant lit up balls that hovered above the crowd and a giant rocket/drone that circled the stadium. Instant top five concert I have ever been to.

SETLIST: Psycho, Dead Inside, Hysteria, Plug In Baby, The 2nd Law: Isolated System, The Handler, Resistance, Supermassive Black Hole, Prelude, Starlight, Apocalypse Please, Munich Jam, Madness, Undisclosed Desires, [JFK], Reapers, Time Is Running Out, Uprising, The Globalist, Drones, Mercy, Knights of Cydonia

Muse Drones

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