Thursday, November 7, 2013

Muse: Live at Olympic Stadium REVIEW

Since I don't own any official Muse tee shirts (yet) I donned my "#1 Dom Fan" shirt and headed to Franklin, TN (which is outside of Nashville).

First of all, I expected to see more people there. The show started at 8:00 and I got there at 7:15 in hopes of getting a good seat. When I walked in, there were four other people in the theater. The mother cheered "Yay, another Muse fan!" and I responded "Yay, Musers!" She said they'd been there since like, 5:00 because they expected a crowd, too. Eventually the theater filled up with more people. I'd say maybe 40-50 total?

Anyway, I chatted with the lady and the three younger people (I almost called them "kids" but I'm trying not to do that to every young person I see) for a while. They were at the Nashville show back in September like I was. They also saw the guys in Nashville a couple of years ago. When the woman asked me if I was there, I had to admit "I didn't know Muse existed then!" It feels like I've been a fan forever, but it's really only been a couple years.

Carmike designated the smallest theater with the smallest screen for the showing...losers. And the sound was not loud enough. Also, I couldn't tell you if it was in 4K or not. It looked really clear, but I have nothing to compare it to (haven't seen a movie in ages). Oh yeah, and I found out that tickets were only $8 when they first went on sale. When I bought my ticket Tuesday afternoon, it was $12.50. Not cool.

Okay, onto the show. Is there anything Morgan Nicholls can't do? He sang a lot (like in Madness--he's doing the "m-m-m-mad" part) and also played guitar, cabasa, drums, tambourine, and glockenspiel. And probably other things I didn't even see. I totally have a crush on that man sheerly because of his skills.

I finally know during which songs Dom comes out and plays drums on the thrust. I've asked several fans on their pictures and no one ever gets back to me. It's for Guiding Light and Undisclosed Desires.

I'm so glad (but also jealous) that they played Animals! I've never heard it live and it's one of my favorite songs. I thought the visuals were really cool, and the guy throwing money around was cool, too. But it was weird when he fell on the floor and pretended to be dead, and then Chris walked up and played Man with a Harmonica.* It was just awkward. I also wonder when the guy got up and left (of course they didn't show that).

During Guiding Light, an acrobat was dancing around while hanging from a light bulb. The dancing was awesome. The light bulb was a bit cheesy in my opinion. Oooh, Guiding Light bulb. *ba-dum-ching*

I was glad they did Feeling Good, but the dramatization with the lady drinking gasoline at the end seemed out of place. Was it supposed to be ironic?

After the first barrier run in Undisclosed Desires, Matt went under the stage and sang to the Animals man and the Feeling Good woman, who were lying in coffins propped up. Um...weird?

I looked for the infamous Lisa (Muser who's been to over 100 shows!) but I never spotted her. I've heard she made an appearance in Starlight, so I'll be sure to look for it when I get the DVD.

I totally didn't know that Matt used a 7-string guitar for Supremacy and Survival. Sooooo cool. Oh, and in Survival he sang the octave at the very end (the high note from the album)! I had to contain a squeal of delight...

Even though I saw it live in Nashville, it was still so awesome to see the armies of Matt, Chris, and Dom during Uprising. I wonder how long it took Tom Kirk to put all that together? Oh, and speaking of the visuals, seeing President Obama and the Pope dancing to Panic Station was great. I was cackling the whole time, as was the lady next to me.

Back to Morgan for a bit--he played several parts that I thought Matt would play. For example, the guitar in Starlight. At the end of Uprising, Matt handed his guitar to a stage hand and I expected him to get another one in return. When he didn't, I started wracking my brain trying to think what other songs there were where he doesn't play guitar (since they'd already done Undisclosed Desires and Follow Me). So when Starlight began, I was a little confused. I was thinking, "Are they not going to have guitar on it at all?"

I thought it was so cute at the end when Dom took pictures of the crowd with his iPhone. And that's my remembrance! Hope you enjoyed it.


*Does anyone else get bored during Man with a Harmonica? What is the big deal? Chris plays two whole notes. Whoop-de-doo. Am I missing something??