And This is What You Call...

****May Contain Spoilers For Those Who Don't Like Their Eyes Semi-bruised****

...Pulling a Dominic Howard

Exhibit A, Grimmer from Monster:



For reference,



Not so awesome.

I love you anyway, Dom.

Currently: wasting valuable Monster watching time

"Declare This An Emergency, Come On and Spread A Sense of Urgency and Pull Us Through. And This Is The End Of The World"

Words escape me.

I cannot even begin to properly wrap my little mind around what happened last night.

I've seen them four times now.

I know every word, and I know almost every variation of each song including all the tiny falsetto additions made by that beautiful voice.

I know almost all the edgy guitar riffs, and the goddamned moments when the finger is in the air.

I know the grandiose poses and the exact moments when they're going to come, even down to the sliding across the stage floor.

I know whatever song will be played next based on the spoken often vague introductions given by my joker Dom.

And still, I stumbled out of Madison Square Garden last night, stealing the pressure and the pain on my legs for standing for hours, muttering in disbelief the words "oh my god".

That's the most I could muster from my dry throat and spinning head.

"Oh. My. God."

And still there's not much more I can add to that, honestly.

MUSE at Madison Square Garden were nothing short of fuckin' amazing!!!!!!

WTF Moments of the Night (in no particular order because they're all pretty damned hellish) - The Lowlamps:

1. To think I actually debated not attending this concert. WTF is wrong with me?

2. The bass during Cold War Kids' performance almost killed us. H1 and I felt severely nauseous, in the words of Bughie J. "aww, nothing like getting your equilibrium thrown off by mega bass...". That is the trauma I made us endure just so I could be front and left.

3. Cold War Kids did not play "Passing The Hat", nor did they play "Electioneering". I would have tossed chicken bones had the guitarist not been so goddamned hilarious. Also, a few days ago CWK gave a shout out to my boys.

Seriously though, I'm really peeved they didn't play "Passing the Hat". That is some serious WTF'ckness.

4. Fourth Time's The Charm? I think not. MUSE, once again, did not play "Muscle Museum". They seriously hate on me sometimes. Alas, I tossed no chicken bones. How could I when I was mesmerized by the money shot? You know I'd never toss bones at my man Matt, anyway.

5. I didn't get to meet my boys (Matt, Dom and Chris) but assholes who hung out at Krock did. I hate those assholes! =,( When will my day come?
And why did that kid who got a free signed poster of MUSE's fold it up into tiny, tiny pieces? WTF was his problem?! Yeah, I understand it's not AS cool unless you get it signed yourself but for bullshart's sake, no need to massacre it!!!!

6. Hearing Klaxons' "Magick" made me super cranky because it just reminded me of how those stupids turned down WS leaving me to miss out the good times that never were. I can't let that go.

7. Matt sounded a little off to me at times. Just a little but it wasn't horrid. He never is. Paul Banks, he is not. Ahhaha, sorry Paul. Also, Matt was probably trying to deal with the bad karma on stage from the night before when that goddamned Beyonce played and bad mojo'd the place.

8. The sour-faced girl who gave H1 a hard time, as well as the drunk that pushed her while she was dancing. No worries, they were asking to get cut and did.

9. The poorly dressed "super" friends. They were horrid and not even really worth talking about. For good measure, I will also toss in that stupid, rich Asian kid who we saw at Arctic Monkeys. Yep, sure enough, that spoilt bitch was there last night as well.

10. Okay, WTF. Matt was nice to the megaphone and didn't toss it. He did toss confetti though in that classy way he does sometimes. But no tossed megaphone leaves a sad me.

11. H1 pointed it out and she's right - Dominic didn't seem too happy last night and that made me sad. He didn't seem as chipper as he usually is. Maybe Matt pissed him off at Krock? I keed. They were having some good banter! =(

I guess he still smiled some though... what a cutie.

12. Matt. WTF. Why the hell would you wear almost the same damned outfit you wore at WS to this show? You disappoint me. I mean, you were still hot but geez. I've seen it before! Curses...

The Goo'd Times of the Evening - The Highlights:

1. A free MUSE shirt? Yeah. Totally. Special thanks to S. for that.

2. All the rejected Sum 41 stickers littering 33rd Street.

3. Being one of the hated kids in the pit. And THEN, being one of the really hated kids in the pit that made it to the front (and left!).

4. Cold War Kids.

While this band was not an ideal opener for MUSE, they were still really good in their own right. They're not going be opening acts for very long at the rate they're going.
I didn't catch all the songs they played (due to the fact they played a bunch of songs I did not know), so their set list will be incomplete but here's what I could remember in a very rough order -

The Cold War Kids at Madison Square Garden Set List (08/06/2007):

Robbers (great, great, great song!)
*new song (?)
We Used To Vacation
*new song (?)
Hang Me Up To Dry (curse you H1, you got it as number 5. Curse you)
Hospital Beds (and curse on me for getting this damned song as number 6. Still, it's good live)
Saint John
*new song (?)
Quiet, Please! (this song was not the greatest thing to end with but it was still a good song. I liked it)

As a side note, I'm happy to say I was the only nerd who knew anything by this band. That really doesn't make ME a nerd though. Those peeps at the Garden didn't know what they were missing.

5. "Knights of Cydonia" was played first. It's good they got it out of the way so I didn't have to hear that bs in my head as I was leaving one of the greatest concerts.

6. Dominic Howard owns. I've never seen him hit the drums that hard (up close) and the version of "Apocalypse Please" played at Madison Square Garden last night was so fuckin' fantastic that it makes me cry. It makes me cry because I recorded the entire thing only to discover after that the bass totally distorted my recording and I cannot find a version close to this one anywhere. I want that motherfuckin' song and I want it now. I want it now. (wow, two MUSE cookies in one blog post - I'm on a roll, this time. I feel my luck will change - ahaha, and one Radiohead. Nice.)

7. Being front and left was even better for me the second time around. I had H1 ( who actually has now proclaimed and I quote, "I love Muse") with me and we were right in front of Matt (even though she was worried that she couldn't handle his hideous face. She likes to keed and rile me up, is what). It was better this time than at Hammerstein because MUSE could put on the show the way they wanted to on a bigger stage. And Matt was beautiful...

8.

...isn't he, though? Ah, "the money shot" as H1 says. Hahaha. Note though that this confirms for me finally, that Matt has an ass not an assback like MC.
It is a known fact that I do not like looking at asses and I really hate it when various animals insist on showing theirs to me but Matt, he can do that anytime.

Man, I feel like I sullied myself and the blog.

Sorry, H1.

9. We got GREAT shots of MUSE being that we were so damned close. (You know, as good as my camera would allow it. ::sigh:: I might have to give him up sometimes but I'll never diss the good times little LO has given me.) I even did the nice thing this time and took a really good picture of Chris.

10. The crowd. I was quite pleased by the crowd reaction. It was so much better than at Wembley Stadium, we felt. They didn't even NEED to be told to light up their mobiles for "Soldier's Poem". Maybe that's what made Dom miffed...we messed up his usual duties of telling us to get them out! Dom, we're just making your job easier because we love you guys.

11. The new jamming sessions the band brought out. They were all cool and funky. I almost screamed at them to play "Man of Mystery" like an ass though.

12. MUSE

They're just on here because they need to be. I cannot stress just how absolutely stellar their performance was. The entire show was a goddamned highlight and one of the best concerts we've ever been to.

Y&M&M@MSG = GT!!!!

The MUSE at Madison Square Garden Set List (08/06/2007):

Knights of Cydonia
Map of the Problematique + Maggie's Farm Riff (RATM)
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
City of Delusion
Butterflies and Hurricanes + new riff (jamming session)
Hoodoo
piano interlude + Apocalypse Please
Feeling Good
Sunburn
riff (but not "Man of Mystery") + Time is Running Out + Ashamed outro
Starlight
Invincible
New Born
Plug In Baby

Encore:

Soldier's Poem
Unintended (stating they had never played this in the US before. Ooo, we're special. Too bad I already got it at WS)
riff + Stockholm Syndrome
Take a Bow

I think I have to add some WTF moments to this...

...13. I just remembered I really wanted H1 to hear "Assassins (Grand Omega Bosses Edit)" and they didn't play it. Damn it! That shit is awesome live.

14. Why is it we seemed to have gotten the same set list as Wembley Stadium on 06/17/2007? I don't want to be associated with that because it was the day that that stupid ass mcr debacle went down! Ha, ah well. I didn't miss anything really then. Nice. Feels like I was at WS twice then, yeah? That's right bitches! I got your set list including "Apocalypse Please", with a better crowd AND a good opening act! In your faces, assholes!

Oh boys, this might be it for a while. I doubt I'll make it to Vegoose. Come back soon with the fantastic new material I know you will create and I'll be there to support at the concerts in the front to the left.

To my beloved MUSE,







Thanks for making my 2006-2007 concert year from August to August fantastic.

And helping destroy the ill memories that was Matisyahu.

Much Love and cooddles in the kitchen,

Or 2

Quotes of the evening:

"Hey, you guys like Sum 41?" - girl from Sum 41 street team
"No, but I AM a fan of Avril Lavigne!" - Or 2 sarcastically, to our concert buddies for the evening.

As an Indian couple walk by,

H1- "Why Indian people like to think they are the bomb?"
Or 2, shaking head in disgust - "I don't know"
Pause
H1 - "Well, sometimes they are... an actual bomb."
Or 2, quietly - "Yeah, yeah"

"Matt's... really skinny. You can smoke them girly arms." - H1

Currently listening to: "Take a Bow", then "Host" and finally "Agitated" by MUSE.

How Are You Doing, Wembley? It Looks Like You're Having Fun, We Are!" - Dom

Y & M & M @ WS:

We came to London with a purpose and that was to be a part of history.

My boys, after a very long career of ups and down, four studio albums and acquiring the title of being one of the best live acts around, have made it.

They finally made it to a venue that could actually house and do justice to their sound and energy.

Wembley Stadium


photo source: www.NME.com

+



photo source: www.NME.com

MUSE

=

Fucking Beautiful.



photo source: www.muse.mu

From their stage entrance (and everything in between including huge, searching-the-night-and-the-crowd satellites; thousands of lights; brilliant stage set up; giant crowd-surfing balloons filled with confetti we've come to know and love; and acrobats) to their farewell, everything MUSE did was phenomenal. Sure it seemed a little cheesey sometimes and always over the top but MUSE are incapable of doing anything on a small scale.

All other concerts of theirs before this (that I've been to) have paled in comparison simply because like I said, nothing could contain their greatness and it'd finally take a newly built Wembley Stadium to even begin doing it proper. And even then, Wembley needed two nights to pack it all in. I'm fairly certain those boys could sell out many more nights @ 75,000 + people per show had they added them.

As Matt said, they were finally ready for this.

The eerie anticipation was dispelled by confetti raining down on WS as MUSE came up from the center of it, masked by a confusion of white for just a moment until those red, green and grey clothes became visible to us.

The cat walk was a little lengthy but at the end of it, the boys took their instruments and began belting out KofC.

They kept the excitement going strong with the real greatness for us starting up with the "R&B" track Dom liked to call it.

"R&B?", H1 questioned.

"It's Supermassive!", I screamed and sure enough, they did not disappoint. The dancing robots filled the screens and my favourite stripper song started blasting from Dom's kit, Chris' bass and Matt's guitar.

Yeah, I know. R&B. Forgive Dom. He's a joker.

The song that sold them for H1 (you know, she dislikes MUSE for the most part but I think she's now been converted some, to the point she's considering going to see them at MSG in August) was their performance of "Map of the Problematique".

It was indeed well worth standing there for the 5 hours before MUSE took the stage. That already killer track (possibly one of MUSE's greatest) took on a whole new life. TD5, it was at this point that I started cursing you under my breath every 2 seconds as opposed to the 50 minutes intervals I was doing before.

Matt, being a lover of the Rage Against the Machine, metted out some good ol' Tom Morello riffs. They were so well done and they were songs that aren't as well-known RATM pieces that H1 has now taken to calling my boy an elitist. It's true. I really hope that what Matt has said is true and that a Rage/Muse show will go down. It better be in NY though but something tells me it's going to be Cali. and I'm going to be really pissed off.

I could rant about all the other tracks during the first part but here are the highlights and lowlamps -

H1 got "City of Delusion" and I got "Butterflies and Hurricanes". Stop laughing H1. Stop laughing. I like B&H.

The megaphone got tossed again! Ahaha. That slays me everytime.

Sunburn! Do you hear me?! Sunburn! "From our very first album, our very first song." Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. The boys do love me...

...but not so much when they dedicated "Starlight" to the fans as they hoped that they could see them in the back. Okay, I'll admit it. I was clapping and singing right along. It's kind of hard not to.

Once again, they tried to get me to tear and have a meltdown. "Citizen Erased" was played but then those bitches went straight into Hoodoo. Two of my personal tear jerker songs in a row?! They were trying to kill me!

And oo, we got that new MUSE track that came out while I was in England. It's one of the funkiest things I've heard in a while... You know, in the 3 weeks I stopped listening to Arctic Monkeys. It was well played in concert though. Well. Played.

Encore 1 began as an acoustic set with the thousands of fans willingly holding up their lit mobiles in unity at Dom's request.

I finally got to hear "Blackout" and it was then the floating acrobats drifted among the thousands of people in the pit. Again, Matt was trying to make me cry but succeeded in not doing so because H1 and I were confused by the acrobats.

It was a good thing that happened too because "Unintended" had me really cheesed out.

The lowlamp - "Plug In Baby". The opening riff is always great but um, yeah. I still dislike that song for the most part. I know. I'm a MUSE fan that slightly dislikes "Plug In Baby". Stop judging me, you assholes.

They like to tease me, my boys. Well, not really. I knew they'd be back but oh my god I didn't expect what came next...

...Encore 2 began with one of my favourite damned songs ever. It's probably the song I really fell in love with Matthew for and while most ::cough:: H1 ::cough:: may find his falsetto sometimes grating, "Micro Cuts" just wins it for me. There's something about destroying the puppet strings to my soul that does it for me. I love my Banshee.

Before we knew it, the night was almost done. Well, that's not entirely true. I actually couldn't believe after that extra long performance of "Stockholm Syndrome" that they were actually doing to do another song but once "Take A Bow" came on, we knew for sure that was it.

I saw my man bow and 3 minutes later it was over. Just like that, we were filing out of the stadium with his words ringing harsh in my heart "see you tomorrow!". No Matt. I wasn't going to but you had to rub it in, yeah?

::sigh::

It's alright. I'll be all over you, Dom and Chris on August 6th for probably the last time at a concert until you grace us with your next new collection of songs.

The Brilliant 06/16/2007 MUSE, the first artists to sell out (the new) WEMBLEY "FUCKING" STADIUM Set List:

1. Knights of Cydonia
2. Hysteria
3. Supermassive Blackhole
4. Map of the Problematique ~ Maggie's Farm riff (RATM)
5. City of Delusion
6. Butterflies and Hurricanes
7. Citizen Erased
8. Hoodoo
9. Feeling Good
10. piano interlude + Sunburn
11. Invincible
12. Starlight
13. Time is Running Out
14. Man of Mystery
15. New Born + Microphone Fiend riff (RATM) + Ashamed outro

Encore 1:

16. Soldier's Poem (acoustic guitar)
17. Unintended
18. Blackout
19. Plug In Baby

Encore 2:

20. Micro Cuts
21. riff + Stockholm Syndrome + riff
22. Take A Bow

Finally, (and whoever actually had the patience to read through this which I'm sure is not a lot of you, indulge me one last swoon) I must say that one of the most memorable moments of the night for me was seeing the smiles on their faces. Those little smiles beamed of relief, pure excitement and the feelings of being on top of the world.

And seeing those smiles made me genuinely, and happily content and had me beaming back in adoration.

This is what I consider my most expensive concert considering transportation costs but oh was it worth it.

I've no regrets.

*This is the blog in photos, since I'm sure none of you got through any of this though I didn't expect you to. But you know, who am I kidding? I'm posting these pics for myself! Har Har!:

Confetti filled fun-time entrance!



photo source: www.NME.com

Walking the Catwalk. They're too cute and it's just hilarious to me:



photo source: www.NME.com

"Look! Look! He's strutting!" - H1
"Yeah. Because he can." - Or 2



photo source: www.NME.com

One of my own pics. My lot's not very good because even though I think we had fairly decent seats, it was still far back as all heck but notice... A little obscene there, yeah Matt baby?



The traditional HOchie blog post would include the following -

The WTF Moments of the Night

1. Alright. Again, no fookin' "Muscle Museum". But AT LEAST, I finally got some justice and would consider our set list better than Sunday's. Thank goodness. I mean, I would have liked to hear "Apocalypse Please" but it's okay that those bastards at Sunday's show got it.

2. I finally get to hear "Blackout" and right when the most beautifully sung portion of the song comes on, Matt's fookin' mic. gives out for the 6 seconds I need it most! WTF!!!!!

3. I've seen Matt wear better outfits. By the way Frass, he did a costume change. But anyway, back to the better outfits. It is thus far, their biggest gig and he comes out in this red suit? Granted I still found it very hot especially the silk lining and the red shoes but come now, the 'cape' at the arena was better lookin'. And then out came the white pants... ah, who am I kidding. I loved it but only on Matt! This is not an invitation for the rest of you to start going about in my line of vision all white pant-ed!

Currently listening to: "Space Dementia" by MUSE. A song I'm still waiting to hear in concert. Here's hoping for it at Y&M&M@MSG!!!!

He Looks Awfully Familiar, That Charlie...

I like that Charlie. He reminds me of someone else but I can't...quite...place...it...

That blonde hair and very British face...



The funky clothes...



The shades...



Oh. Right.

Hobbits

Dear Beetchie,

This is a Hobbit:



And this is NOT a Hobbit:



Please stop refering to him as such! Poor Dom... I still love you.

Also, I hope you realize that if Ho Bell doesn't work out, he's my backup and I will not be a Ho Ho as in Dominic Hobbit! Wait. Crap! It doesn't matter because his last name is Howard!

Foiled!

"Well I Refuse To Let You Go"

It's been 3 years since I've had what many call an unhealthy obsession with MUSE.

There was the time I was assed out of seeing them at Webster Hall. I was incredibly pissed. I cursed.

Then there was the time I seriously considered going to London for 3 days, the week of Christmas in 2004 to catch them at Earls Court. I never made it and cursed some more.

And then, I passed up getting tickets to Audioslave due to potential conflict with MUSE's concerts dates. They ended up sucking it up by doing a campus invasion tour and the only NY campus they performed at was Albany. And hell, I'd certainly go to London for 3 days but there's no way in hell I'd go to Albany for a day. No one in their right mind would do that crap.
I cursed MTV and stupid Americans for not supporting them enough to give them a chance to play bigger venues than crappy campuses. They're big everywhere else but here.

Result: Completely missed the Absolution Tour. And as expected, a lot of !@?*$?!@!-ing went down on my part.

18 months later, the first U.K. single was released from the new album Black Holes and Revelations and I was mortified.

"What the hell is this?! Noooo, that's not Matt's vocals! Well, they kind of are...Oh god, this is so embarrassing... But hey, it's...Kind of good, actually. Unlike them but I can deal with this. It's totally a stripper song but I do love me some strippers (don't forget this was BEFORE the Pussycat Lounge)."
Being a MUSE elitist, I fell in love with "Supermassive Blackhole" but please, don't go watch the video. They're Brits. You have to excuse their 'art'.

A week later came the U.S. single release. I was not fond then and I'm not overly fond now. The video also doesn't help. Please don't go watch the video. They're Brits. You have to excuse their 'art' and sometimes, their sense of humour. Though, fighting off robots in a western setting by the awesome power of B H & R's reflective properties is somewhat funny. It's reminiscent of Mentos, the fresh maker. Or Footos. Either one.

Anyway, B H & R came out. I listened. I loved. Not as much as say, Origin of Symmetry but after last night, I've an appreciation for every goddamned song off that goddamned album. Even that "Knights of Cydonia" but like I said, I'm still not overly fond now. I will only listen to it in a concert setting because only then is it amazing to me.

That's right. I was actually trying to make a point here.

The 3rd day of August has finally ushered some sense of awesome into this HOchie's life after a long 7 month spell of bad luck, more downs than ups and a series of mishaps.



Thank you, MUSE.

Those who came with me:

1. Beetchie, who I had to drag kicking and screaming. Haha, just kidding. Don't kill me. And no, I don't hate you long time. I heart you, "Hardcore", as you would say.
2. No. 8, who I know was secretly trying to ruin things for me somehow.
3. Franz, the skeptic but who actually wanted to come and no I don't owe him anything in return. You hear me, Franz?! NOTHING!!!!

We waited in line forever amidst a wonderful frickin' heat wave NY had to go through for 3 days with temperatures reaching near 100. Finally we were ushered into the Hammerstein ballroom and I had to deal with two boys trying to oust me from my spot on the floor, some crazy fan girls who I made 'friends' with for the night to my benefit and theirs and an anorexic girl with her anorexic boyfriend who managed to push me aside even though I had the elbows out. I now know that being annorexic works to your advantage at a concert as it's so easy to slip between a crack.
What didn't work out was the B.O. she was spewing. I don't know what is up with people smelling before a concert but as discussed in the MSI blog, it's just plain wrong. And oh! oh! I think I saw that MSI B.O. kid at MUSE but he wasn't ranking this time. Good for you, kid. Good for you.
What also didn't work out for me, didn't work out for her. She must have been very conscious of herself and perhaps my evil glances and words to Beetchie didn't help the situation because she and her bf left much to my delight and I grabbed my chance to get in there, much to the dismay, bitchin' and complain' of the two guys who I had to fight before.

Result: I lost Franz, Beetchie and No. 8 who had been standing behind me. It was okay though because I could still look over and see Franz during the show.
Beetchie informs me there was a semi-pit which she tried to tear up but no one was really moshing so she had to jump in one place but she had fun.
And I've no clue where No. 8 got to during the whole thing but she was okay as well.

After an interesting set by the opening act The Cloud Room, which was not well received by anyone in that crowd but honestly, I didn't find them that horrible (but let's keep that dirty little secret to ourselves, shall we?). Wait, you know what? I'm going to give a tiny blurb to this band because they sounded good minus the indistinguishable vocals on lead and I rather enjoyed the drum work even though it almost killed my heart. They were from Crooklyn and I think they tried to diss Queens which always gives one creds. So yeah, for those of you who care, which I suspect is no one, here's their little setlist minus the 2 songs because I just don't know what they were:

Sunlight Song (possibly the Reprise)
Waterfall
Blackout!
Hey Now Now
The Hunger
*new song
????

Alright, I'm done with them. Ok, not quite. The guitarist was cool. And they sadly had to clean up their own mess after their set. Ah, the life of an unknown opening act... Ok, now I'm done.

And after a long 40 minute set up by the roadies, with much oohs and aahs by all who saw the veil come off the gigantic drumkit Dom was supposed to rock on, my band finally took the stage.

The lights darkened and the techno started - Dom fiddling with equipment revealed the first track. Then in came Chris with that bass... Followed by Matt's vocals:

"Corrupt
You corrupt
Bring corruption to all that you touch
Hold
You behold
And beholden for all that you've done
And spell
Cast a spell
Cast a spell on the country you run
And risk
You will risk
You will risk all their lives and their souls

And burn
You will burn
You will burn in hell, yeah you'll burn in hell
You'll burn in hell
Yeah you'll burn in hell
For your sins

And our freedom's consuming itself
What we've become
It's contrary to what we want

Take a bow"

And when Matt took a bow, it was then it hit me - I'm finally here and this is going to be amazing...

Depending on who you love and if you're given that opportunity, you need to position yourself accordingly:

Left for Matt.
Center for Dominic.
Right for Chris.

I'm a lefty myself because as we all know, I'm all about my future husband. Luckily for me, and after much screaming at Franz to get in the goddamned line and to stop screwing with me by telling me he'll wait for me on the side since I was running a few minutes late, I made it in with Matt directly in front of me save the one body in my way. But she didn't count as she was short and I could easily look over her shoulder.

WARNING - unnecessary gushing ahead (and DISCLAIMER - I'm only kidding about Brits and their bad teeth, the assback and sense of humour because I have to cover my ass if say, Matt Bellamy for whatever reason were to read this one day or some Brit or European were to read this):

I could see his face, every sweet little smile, his very blue eyes, that scary crease he gets on his brow when he sings, his bad Brit teeth that I've come to terms with and that mole he's got on his cheek. And I was trying to figure out if he has an assback...I couldn't quite make it out but he may have had a little ass going there in those red jeans. The assback has yet to be confirmed.

The stage set up itself was for a big arena which I think would be stellar for their more epic songs like "Ruled by Secrecy" and "Apocalypse Please" and others which they performed that night but being right in front in that small venue was still hella awesome. They worked with what they had and did it nicely.

They played all the songs I thought they would save one which I will bitch about later but everything was incredibly performed and phenomenal. Matt played that piano with such class. I was wowed by the guitar changes that went on after every song and of course, just how skilled he is with that instrument. That guitar with distortion pad will be mine someday... And his voice...is so beautiful and holds up so well. I had to zone everything else out when he hit that falsetto. Dom rocked that kit like nobody's buisness and I couldn't really see Chris (mostly due to the fact that my eyes were glued to Matt) but I could hear his brilliance. The only bad thing was that I couldn't see Chris' skills on "Hysteria". Curses!

It was really cute how Matt and Dom were so proud of themselves in managing to work the crowd into a frenzy during "New Born". They were all smiles at how great the response from the crowd was for that.

There were a couple of nice surprises - they did one instrumental piece I never expected, and one that is new and will now desperately try to find. Also a surprise, "Soldier's Poem" which I welcomed with an "awwwww".

And even the songs I am not very in love with, namely "Invincible" and that blasted "Knights of Cydonia" sounded so much more fantastic live because they were done with such unrivaled energy with massive guitar solos coupled with grandiose stances involving Matt in the center of the stage with head held high and the 'we're number 1' finger in the air (not pictured here because damn that Bells, he's too frickin' quick for me - I got him when he took his hand down), that I would love to see them performed again.

The 1 hour and 20 minute long setlist:

Take A Bow
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Butterflies and Hurricanes
Starlight
Forced In
Bliss
Soldier's Poem
Invincible
Feeling Good
*instrumental piece unknown
Plug In Baby
New Born
Stockholm Syndrome

Encore:

Map of the Problematique
Time Is Running Out
Knights of Cydonia

The time flew by so fast due to song after song of fast paced greatness, save the cooling down "let's give my vocals and our crazy playing a rest for two seconds by playing "Forced In" and "Soldier's Poem" moment. Even their rest between the encore was fast and I thought to myself, "Wow, they even pee fast". I was hoping for a longer show but was generally happy with this setlist. Of course, I was screaming when they played "Map of the Problematique" because it has to be, other than "Hoodoo", my favourite song from this album and one of their best songs ever.

So 3 years later, I am now partially blinded by an impressive laser light show NOT put on by The Cheat, partially deafened by speakers so huge had one fallen on me I'd be dead along with 20 people in my immediate space and one supermassive headache brought on by 3 1/2 hours of sleep due to too much excitement and pain all wrapped up in one - I finally saw the greatest band in the world. Yes, HOchie 1. I know, that title should be reserved for U2 but indulge me this moment.

Highlights of the show (ie the already awesome songs made even more awesome during a live show):

New Born
Stockholm Syndrome
Feeling Good - because when Matt laid that megaphone down on the piano, we all knew what was song was coming up. The megaphone is legendary! And so is how he got rid of it. Behind the back and off to the side ::TOSS::!!!!!!

WTF moments of the evening:

6. "Who the hell are these bitches on stage trying to introduce MUSE? MTV College Radio who what now?...huh?! WTF!!! Get the fuck off stage!!!!!!"

5. Why did Chris do the rocker's growl on "Supermassive Black Hole"? Matt? WTF?!!!!

4. WTF was that little gremlin doing next to Dom's drumkit? It looked like he was doing back up keyboard work but I'm not quite sure...

3. WTF was up with Matt's hair? It's called fans, people.

2. Matt to Dom - "Stop. Stop. STOP! Oh.. ::sheepish confused look:::" at the beginning of a song when he was having technical difficulties with his guitar but it started working soon after Dom started the song. The WTF moment came from Dom when he was looking at Matt with the WTF face. Hahahaha.

1. And the biggest WTF moment of the night - No "Muscle Museum"??!! I waited 3 years to see them perform one of their most popular, if not most popular song that they always play, ALWAYS - every time I've seen footage of them and the best live song as far as I'm concerned and they didn't do it!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am fully aware of what the ticket has printed in caps there but fuck it! I took pictures of them anyway!! "NO CAMERAS" my ass!!! Muwahahahahahaha!!! And now all of you get to gaze upon him too...Double the muwahahahaha! Don't you all feel lucky?

No, not a prison uniform.

Poor Megaphone...

Dominic!!!!!!!!! I can't see your hilarious self behind that drumkit. I love you anyway.


I anxiously await the time when I see them again. But next time I expect a longer set with my "Muscle Museum" tossed in, "Citizens Erased" and "Space Dementia".

And that comes, if all goes well, November 21st at Wembley Arena in London - Who's in???!!!!

Currently listening to: "The Queen and I" by Gym Class Heroes. Don't ask. I saw the video and it's kind of catchy. Don't judge me!!!!!