Yorkshire tea’d up a gig of epic and spectacular proportions, with Muse transcending down into the west of the County…. Huddersfield selected as its next destination on the Muse World Tour.
It was a rather unusual choice of location for the headlining powerhouse of the Punk-apocalyptic rock band, who chose the relatively quaint surroundings of the West Yorkshire town and the John Smiths Stadium… not one of the more commonly visited stadiums for bands of this ilk.
It was however not a reason to be worried, well publicised issues that surrounded the Home Park gig in Plymouth were not to show their faces here, in what was a gig the likes of the West Yorkshire town may need time to settle if they were to host a similar style gig once again.
Muse brought along with them their Will of the People tour….. already well established having visited most corners of the globe and at no point did they hold back on their performance.
It was however the very well selected support acts, who independently set the scene and kept the flow of the day powering forwards to the main event. The warning set up the day, their flamboyant guitar led set, owning the stage and emphatically got the crowd in the mood, all under the gaze of some recently rare sunny northern weather.
It was then the turn of Royal Blood…. recently heavily criticised for their appearance and on stage disapproval of the Radio 1 live crowd….. but that didn’t bother them and the crowd packed into this stadium, who were lapping up the 2 piece rock marvel’s extravagant performance. It still bemuses most in the crowd how they create so much noise from just 2 people…. but those in attendance are used to big things with Muse only having the 3 members themselves.
They tore into their set, riffing and prowling the stage throughout. The outright pounding of the drums sending vibrations through not just the stadium, but most of Yorkshire.
They were well rehearsed, polished in every note and after just under an hour, they triumphantly took in the applause of the crowd, setting the mood just perfectly for Muse to enter stage shortly after.
The sun was slowly lowering and shadows shielded the pitch and crowd, those inside making sure that they topped up on the ample outlets for some more Yorkshire ales.
The stage was building into life. The scale of the production was becoming apparent. A huge masked figure appeared and was slowly coming to life, seemingly to be initially scouring those vulnerable and who lay in waiting. next pray in what could only be described as a musical, theatrical madness.
We knew what was to come and soon after proved to be a musical, theatrical madness.
Opening the set with title track…. Will of the people, the band donned in silver gimmicky masks, capes and emblazed attire, supported with all the electronic gadgets you would expect. The Devon trio seemed increasing likely to blow their levels of their usual sets to the extreme and on this occasion, fire and lights emitting from every angle imaginable.
It was a huge opener and there was no slowing down in pace…. interlude followed by Hysteria, Psycho and Bliss gave a monstrous introduction to the set. A mix of old and new equally delighting the baying crowd.
A run of new songs steadied the frenzy until perhaps one of their most commercially successful tracks, Time is Running Out ramped up from its huge bass intro into a Matt Bellamy mystical marvel, screaming vocals and raging guitar riffs screeching throughout.
The set itself was heavily focussed on the new album, however what doesn’t appear to be as popular as their wonderful earlier albums, there is an argument that the songs played from Will of the People tonight, are purely meant for gigs like this.
The show now unrelenting,….. the aforementioned gigantic figure encompassing the whole of the rear of the stage was increasing in size, changing in its dark and fearful demeanor, growing and appearing as a devil like creature, arms wide open and at this point, the night sky growing ever darker, the real spectacle began.
Newer songs made way for huge hits including Supermassive Black hole and crowd favourite Plug in Baby and Starlight closed out the main set with a huge crowd clap-a-long throughout.
The encore provided a small relief, to wonder what could possible happen in the finale of the gig, but in my view, the finest moment of the whole gig belonged to Kill or be Killed. The huge Satan figure now dominated the stage, accompanied by huge fire balls, lasers and lights was a visual mindfuck. The noise the band created was gargantuan and there is no wonder that these types of songs belong in stadiums as the sheer power from the stage would literally obliterate the roof to pieces.
It didn’t end there…. with the mammoth Knights of Cydonia, greeted with a virtuoso harmonica intro, followed by a colossal version of the prolonged and riff immersed track. Those who were still actually able to absorb what was happening in the crowd, embraced the finale and led a standing ovation as Muse finished their set and pretty much finished off most of us who were there.
The gig itself was one to remember. There will be claims that they didn’t play a good chunk of their older songs, even though they are touring a new album……. but there is no denying, Muse simply are a huge band designed for vast stages and do not disappoint with the visuals and sound they clearly put a lot of thought into.
Muse will continue to play all over the world. There are not many bands who can perform and dazzle like they do and this will always be the draw to any Muse gig and will keep new and old fans coming back for more mind perplexing gigs in the future.
Add comment
Comments