An overstated, bombastic spectacle.
The criticism that is most commonly aimed in Muse’s direction is also the exact same qualities that make their live show one of the greatest in the world.
The sci-fi, proggy lifeblood of the power trio’s music was intended to tear arenas apart in a laser-fuelled display of histrionics long before their career actually brought them to that point.
But 20 years on, having set the modern benchmark in Arena Rock 101, their outlandish sense of scale might have hit the glass ceiling, just as their latest record The 2nd Law might be – for better or worse – their most preposterous yet.
It’s this album that brings the regular Australian visitors back once more, and while the band had to lose some of the more outrageous elements of their newest stadium-sized production (including axing the 40-foot ‘Charles’ robot), the sheer sense of awe and grandiosity remains.
Staged with an outlining rampart and a central (rather tamely used) catwalk, the main marvel of the stage is shown off during the introductory cinematics of ‘The 2nd Law: Isolated System’ (which utilises Vincent Price’s ‘Thriller’ monologue. Because it’s Muse).
A pyramid of shifting screens warp throughout the show (encaging the group, tessellating overhead, etc) while displaying all manner of theatrical visuals, the highlight being stock indexes with the video tale of an insane broker during ‘Animals’.
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More enthralling than those bells and whistles however is the core brilliance of the band itself and their stylised catalogue.
From the Zeppelin-meets-007 tantrum of ‘Supremacy’ and the still scarily fresh, prog-drenched Prince strut that is ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, Muse’s flair, diamond-cut accuracy, and professionalism endures.
Matthew Bellamy’s pitch-perfect peacock vocals are matched by his instrumental exhibitionism (though touring member Morgan Nicholls now shoulders much of the keys work), backed by one of the most consistently enviable rhythm sections in rock.
The synergy between drummer Dominic Howard and bassist Chris Wolstenholme (on ‘Resistance’ and ‘Hysteria’ in particular) might not be as showy as their frontman, but it deserves just as much praise.
The setlist, though drawing primarily from the last two records, flaunts the full parade of Muse’s biggest hits. ‘Knights of Cydonia’ (complete with the haunting Ennio Morricone tribute that opens it) is immortally epic, and the trifecta of ‘Time Is Running Out’, ‘Plug In Baby’, and ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ justifiably provokes the largest revelry of fist-pumping and singing of the night.
Along with the glam-rock cat-calls of ‘Uprising’, Muse’s way with passionate (bordering on agitated) ‘Us-vs-Them’ anthemics are their greatest strength – and they know it full well – which is what makes the performances of newer material feel all the more cold and calculated.
A point that’s most polarising is the shift from the sci-fi grunge of ‘Citizen Erased’ to the dubstep-inflected U2-isms of ‘Follow Me’. All three members lunge heartily into the colossal attack of the former, but the sweeping ‘drops’ of the latter feel programmed, not performed. The abetting laser light show would outdo the Skrillexes they’re aping, but they also equally lack the passion.
That Bellamy is ‘just’ singing in the latter is another shame. Yes, he ticks all the rock star boxes – he preens to the crowd, allows occasional manhandling, incites choruses, and dedicates ‘Starlight’ to Nelson Mandela – but for all his showmanship it seems he’s hiding what’s in plain view on Wolstenholme’s glum, expressionless mug: he’s probably a little bored.
Muse are too professional to ‘phone it in’, their blockbuster scale too convincing to fake, but it seems they’re having the most fun during the rougher jams in-between.
There’s riffs from AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ as well as Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Freedom’, and the familiar ‘Monty’s Jam’ is still a bull-headed china shop break in the setlist.
It’s to Muse’s full credit that they fulfil (and often exceed) the audience expectations they’re synonymous with, but it may no longer be challenging these masters of operatic songsmithery and grandiloquent staging.
This is why they occasionally find themselves producing variations on previous themes rather than evolutions (eg. ‘Explorers’. Pretty? Yes. But an older, better ballad like ‘Blackout’ or ‘Guiding Light’ would be preferred).
It may be that Muse are reaching the tipping point in both composition and presentation. It’s really hard to fault it as much more than a triviality when you’re being treated to bona fide showstoppers like the Olympic-worthy ‘Survival’ and ‘Madness’, its digi-hook prodded out on a double-necked guitar that seems to have an iPad grafted into it.
These bountiful, madcap moments prove Muse’s rock spectacle methodology leads in a way that lesser bands can’t help but follow, and still pushes their arena-scale brethren to dream bigger.
Setlist
The 2nd Law: Isolated System
Supremacy
Supermassive Black Hole
Panic Station
Resistance
Interlude
Hysteria (AC/DC’s Back In Black Outro)
Knights Of Cydonia (Ennio Morriocone’s Man With A Harmonica Intro)
Monty Jam
Explorers
Citizen Erased
Follow Me
Undisclosed Desires
Animals
Madness
Time Is Running Out
Plug In Baby
Stockholm Syndrome
Agitated (RATM’s Freedom Outro)
The 2nd Law: Unsustainable
Uprising
ENCORE:
Starlight (Dedicated To Nelson Mandela)
Survival
