Y HALO THAR my 8th (or is it 9th, I get confused) Muse gig

[kaliha]

So Saturday, myself and the sibling upped sticks and travelled Oop North to go and see Muse and much fun was had by all!

Before we start I need to get this out of the way:



ONE DOES NOT JUST ROCK IN TO MORDOR!¹


We had to go and park on enemy territory when we go there though. (Insert boos and hisses here) Old Trafford is bloody massive though, it looks so much smaller on the telly.


We got there for about 4.10 (gates opened at 4) and the queues were all the way round the cricketground and met in the middle. However, it only took us about 20 minutes to get in which was pretty good. I didn't even get searched, so I could have taken my actual camera with me after all instead of letting you suffer through my not so good N97 cameraphone pictures. Sorry guys. Luckily the crowd was a sea of camera and phone screens once it got dark so they'll be lots more photos appearing today all over the place.

The stage was aces.

it was all strange perspectives and angles and a bit like an Inception style nightmare. I rather love it. Especially the Eye of Sauron on the top :D

This was Pulled Apart by Horses. They were okay.

The ground started to fill up by the time the second of the support bands came on.



I even got to stand on a bit of the turf of Old Trafford. Ooh, I felt like a real cricketer I did. (Don't worry cricket fans, it was all covered in thick sheeting to protect the wicket et al)

The Editors were really good. Bless 'em. I remember seeing them at the Academy before they got famous.



Sunset over Manchester.


And then the drumkit was uncovered and the piano came out and everyone got excited. The pit down the front started bouncing and then it began...


Uprising
Masses of people came out on stage waving flags about. Some of them unfurled a banner that stated " They will not control us". The crowd started to go mad. Lots of smoke and lights.



Matt came out looking very subdued in a glittery silver suit, Dom was wearing what looked just like a ladies wetsuit² and Chris wouldn't have been out of place in a Tim Burton fantasy in his stripy suit jacket.

The projected people were spelling out "they will not control us" and whatnot in perfect time with the lyrics.





Supermassive Black Hole
The crowd went mad when this started. Someone practically fell down the stairs by us they were jumping around by us.



Newborn
Oh the best song called Newborn (in my opinon, His Lordship reckons Elbow's Newborn is the best song called Newborn.)



There was a bloke on the floor in front of us doing 'a Bez' all the waythrough this long. He ended up with a massive space around him as the rest of the crowd trying to avoid his flailing.

Map of the Problematique
dune_drd: I dedicated my chair!dancing and bouncing to you.



Butterflies & Hurricanes
Oh my, I've not seen this one played live for literal years. Matt had a couple of sausage finger moments during the piano solo. Still it's impressive, there's no way I could play that quickly and I don't think I can spread my fingers far enough to reach all the notes.



Guiding Light


Hysteria

I really love the start of this, all heavy and angry.

Citizen Erased
Matt made a comment about how they should change the name of muse.mu to citizenerased.com.

The hardcore Musers down the front went absolutely insane. I think a few may have expired from joy.



Nishe
You know, this is the first time I've seen this done live.



United States of Eurasia-sia-sia


mmmmmQueenlikeharmonies. Lots of synchronised arm punching in the sia-sia-sia bits

Feeling Good
There was a big old cheer for this (and when the megaphone came out.) As those of you who know me know, I love this song very much. It is my second favourite cover of Muse's ever. And loads of people were singing along. It made me feel very warm and snuggly inside. However, the internet has informed me that this song isn't popular amongst fans of Muse. Do you like it? (Remember, how you answer will affect whether or not you stay in my will! ;))





MK Ultra (sort of)
Matt went off for a bit of a lie down (or a loo break, you decide) so it was up to Chris and Dom to keep the show going. And they did it in style.



Yes, they're a bit far away, but on a cheery-picker cum UFO is Dom and Chris jamming out an instrumental. The drum kit was ace and reacted to the hitting.

Undisclosed Desires
Matt came back for Undisclosed desires and joined in the fun on the UFO



Resistance


Starlight - Kareoke version

The whole audience was blasting this out. It sounded amazing. Matt actually stopped to let us have a go.

Time is Running Out

And this one too. The floor was bouncing up and down like crazy mad things.

Unnatural Selection


1st Encore
Exogenesis Symphony: Part 1 (Overture)

This sounded just amazing.

Stockholm Syndrome


Second Encore
You know how I was saying that Matt looked a bit subdued in his shiny suit. Well, he outdid himself this time. He came out in a suit THAT LIT UP!! And flashed and changed colour. It was amazin'!
Take A Bow







I wish I had a better camera. Woes

Plug In Baby

And then my camera couldn't cope with the awesome and my phone completely packed up. (It had to have a lie down for 24 hours before it started working again.) He can still hit the high notes. Sadly the bloke singing along behind me couldn't.

Knights Of Cydonia
When Chris started playing the harmonica I got actual chills. I didn't think that sort of thing happened in real life. The crowd got very bouncy again and there was even some crowd surfing. (I never thought I'd see that at a Muse gig.

And then it was over and we had to go home. :( I didn't get in until 1.22am that morning. And then a baby had me up at 6.15am.

In conclusion I really very much enjoyed myself, I did much chair dancing (taking care not to knock the stranger next to me) and it was great to actually be high enough to see the band, even if we were fairly far back.

¹ (Old LotR memes, still getting some life into them 10 years later)
² See Flight of the Conchord's Hurt Feelings. In a related note, I saw three people in Conchord's t-shirts. This pleased me greatly, they should get more love.

If you want to go and see loads of much better pictures than mine, then head over here http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=6790 (although beware of lots of setlist whinging) and there are now piles of videos up on youtube too.

Comments

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

I LOVE 'Feel Good', what do people think is wrong wiht it? It's on my To Play List once I get far enough with my piano lessons to move away from children's songs...

Thanks so much for the dancing, MotP is my absolutely favourite (aka Fuck This, I'll Listen to MUSE) song.

Your gig was much more awesome than ours in Munich last year - I so hope they'll come back soon

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It's a top karaoke track for me. If it's on the list at a karaoke night I attend, it will be sung, oh yes it will!

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

Holy cow!

Sauron held a gig and invited Muse!

(great pics by the way. Do rock on :D)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

The Orcs really enjoyed the loud music.

[lovepollution.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, not a single song from Showbiz? Seems they played mostly recent stuff, so I guess that had people complaining? Looks like you had a fab time though, that set is fantastic (and the Cricket Ground is a great venue when the weather is right - as it luckily was when I saw Take That there last year).

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's been anything from Showbiz for the last three gigs I've been to.

I saw your tweet about not being allowed to dance in the stands. The stewards were just not bothered this time, they let us dance, take photos and block up the stairs. At least in the stand we were in.

[lovepollution.livejournal.com]

I guess Showbiz is like 11 years old now and they've released a good few albums since, I just sort of expected a song or two from it since it was kind of their break through? Or was it even? Actually, coming to think of it, they probably hit the big time with Origin of Symmetry. I've answered my own question here.

The stewards were just not bothered this time, they let us dance, take photos and block up the stairs. At least in the stand we were in.

I think you were pretty lucky because I know some people who went to see Coldplay there and they were also told not to stand up or move around too much. That was last year though, they've probably strengthened the stands for concerts crowds now.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that concert goers are more raucous than cricket fans. ;)

[spooky-xphile.livejournal.com]

I love Feeling Good. I don't understand why people wouldn't like it.

Jealous you got to see them live =]

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I will always try to see them when they tour. Them and Biffy Clyro.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

The stage looks impressive and that's all i have to say.
Other than Old Trafford is Mount Doom for all those who don't
support Man Utd.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It certainly has one orc living there.

His Lordship told me I should kiss the ground in front of it when I told him where we were parked. I said that I'd rather cut my lips off.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

Wayne "Shrek" Rooney!!!!

I wouldn't kiss the ground in or outside of old Trafford, don't know where all those Man Utd Players have been, aside from Shrek.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

I'm a dedicated Nina Simone fan and the Muse cover of Feeling Good is the only other version I enjoy enough to choose to listen to. I don't think I qualify as a Muse fan but I bought Origin of Symmetry because of Feeling Good and I like it cos it's OTT and reminds me of Queen. When I play Origin of Symmetry then I play the whole album through and never only pick out a track or two.

I'm glad you had fun.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

If you think Origin of Symmetry was OTT then you should really hear some of their newer stuff. United States of Eurasia is ridiculously Queen-y. But it does have the seal of approval from Brian May.

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

Wow! You got really great pictures out of that cameraphone of yours!

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It has it's moments. Sometimes they all come out rubbish, other times they're actually half decent. Stupid N97.

[aknockout.livejournal.com]

LOTR meme + Muse = win!

That stage looks incredible. It all looks amazing and worth the sleep deprivation.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

The stage was super ace! As was the cherry picker additional stage.

[cotume27.livejournal.com]

Oh, so, so jealous. I would do a great many things to see them live!

(Also, their cover is Feeling Good is on my list of favorite covers. *makes faces at fandom*)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It is my second favourite of all cover versions ever. (the first is there version of Can't Take My Eyes Off You because favourite song ever + favourite band = instant win!)

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

I can't believe it! We totally forgot that you would be there too! Sadface!

I reckon you were behind us somewhere -- we had same angle view but closer.

So glad you had a good time -- we loved that gig, the energy was fantastic. They seemed much more into it musically than they were in the Netherlands in June...

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I thought you were off to the ones at Wem-ber-LEE! with it being relatively closer to you.

There were a lot of people in front of me so yes, you probably were. I leave all the getting up close to the young 'uns these days.

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

Nope, we stayed with my mom in Manchester as part of the visit to go to the gig :)

SOOO pleased they did Butterflies and Hurricanes! That was awesome. As is your awesomesauce icon.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hedgewytch_/]

You were there too??!!! wasn't it awesome!!
my first Muse gig and am soooooooooooooooooo in love I'm going again on friday ;)
thank for the awesome pics ;) xxx

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hedgewytch_/]

I um started about 20 rows back and ended up 4 rows from the front by slipping my way whenever they did the bouncy pit thing which was quite scary, but awesome. I couldn't really see much until they got that really cool extended stage lifty thing.
I didn't last very long as it got too intense and I worked my way out again and ended up around where you were I think

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I leave the pit to he young 'uns now. Ex-Cheddar would not be impressed if I sprained or broke something getting flung about. Plus being tiny I need to get up high so I can actually see the band I've just paid £50+ for.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hedgewytch_/]

Oh and I really love feeling good ;)

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

An obvious sign of taste that is.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

That must have been an amazing gig. Well worth the sleep deprivation, I'd say!

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

It was rather good, I have to admit.