Muse Live and “The Resistance” – Review
by Scooby Stew on Sep.09, 2009, under Music
I was lucky enough to catch Muse live at their homecoming gigs at the weekend. A sell out crowd of 10,000 people on both Friday and Saturday set the stage for Muse to unleash their new album “The Resistance”
On the whole it was a good night. Being local their was lots of familiar faces around, but as a whole the crowd was disappointing. They were not the usual type of crowd you would expect at for Muse, but perhaps the sort of crowd they have thrust upon themselves over the last few albums. There was little passion or eagerness around which lead to a pretty laid back feel for what is not a laid back band.
Muse were on good form. The event production was great. It’s the third time I have seen Muse live, and it was probably the least engage I have seen them perform. Muse are relentlessly flawless live, but in my opinion they have been getting worse ever since Absolution, both in live performances and in writing new music. It just goes to show how amazing they were to begin with that they are still one of Britain’s best bands. But they have lost their drive, their angst and it feels like they have lost the passion which is part of what made them become one of the true greats of British music.
Black Holes and Revelations for me was disappointing, as it started Muse on their way to becoming a pop group instead of the unique rocking indie band we had come to love. Unfortunately the good old days of Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry are all but gone as their new album “The Resistance” continues their push into the mainstream with poppy, and in some cases R&B sounds. The production is more like a Madonna album than a rock album, and for the most part it feels overproduced and soulless. It’s not a bad album, far from it. But this is a new Muse, which lacks their fiery soulful origins that made them so great. It may well be one of their best selling records, but it ain’t got nothing on Origin Of Symmetry or Showbiz.
On a whole, disappointing from Matt Bellamy, who is probably individually a contender for best British vocalist, guitarist and pianist of all time. (oh and songwriter)
