The last time I saw Muse was in August 2007, their first time playing Madison Square Garden, and ultimately the start of their jaunt as one of the biggest rock bands in the world. I was able to score general admission tickets for it, and spent a good chunk of that hot day waiting in line in order to get as close to the stage as possible. It was well worth it, as that performace still remains one of the best live shows that I have ever seen. It would end up being the last time I saw them play, a result of me being away at college whenever they played New York, as well as the fact that a lot of their newer material didn’t quite do it for me.
When I saw that they announced a show at Webster Hall as a warmup tour for their new album Drones, I just had to be there. Getting to see Muse in a 1,500 capacity room, and the probability that they’d play a lot of what the die-hard fans really want to hear, was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
The night started with an opening set from Brooklyn band Bear Hands. Opening for a band like Muse is a tough task. There was a feeling of indifference during the set from the crowd, with most of the crowd clearly just waiting for Muse to take the stage. I thought it was a really weird choice of an opener, but apparently they share the same management (and they’re local).
Muse came out triumphantly with new Drones single “Psycho,” which works a hell of a lot better live. The crowd instantly gave their all, jumping up and down to it and adding chants of their own to it. They followed it up with another Drones, “Dead Inside.” It was a bit of a come down after the hard-hitting nature of “Psycho,” but they smartly followed it up by “Supermassive Black Hole” and Absolution-era b-side “The Groove,” which was their first time playing it in American since 2004, which is also the last time that they played at Webster Hall. To put that into perspective, I was only 13 at the time.
The trio of Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard looked to be having a lot of fun on stage, taking in the personal nature of this rare intimate showing. Seeing a piano on stage is always a good sign at a Muse show, but even that didn’t prepare me for a now rare performance of “Apocalypse Please,” which got a feverish reception and singalong from the crowd. It was for good reason, as it was the first time that they played it since 2008. New York really got a treat there. Not only that, but they followed that up with the one-two combo of “Hysteria” and “Stockholm Syndrome.” It was fully out pandemonium.
If there was one song that I was hoping and praying for, it was “New Born” and the minute that it’s signature breakdown came is when I made my decent into the heart of the crowd and joined all the masses shoving and jumping into one another. These days it’s become a bit rarer for me to dive into the crazier parts of a crowd, but you’re losing something at a Muse show if you’re not letting loose and letting their bombastic nature take over. “Time Is Running Out” was arguably the craziest moment crowd-wise, as nearly everyone was jumping up and down in unison, causing the floor to shake almost like a trampoline (a mix of cool and scary). The minute I stepped into this section of the crowd, the show went from good to great for me. I was mad at myself for not doing it sooner.
They started the encore on an extreme high note, turning back the clocks once again for one of the many Origin Of Symmetry standouts, “Bliss.” This, along with “New Born” were two tracks I wanted but didn’t realistically expect them to play, but they seemed to realize that if any show, this was one were people would truly appreciate it. They rounded the show off with “Starlight,” which let us catch a breather before the always epic “Knights Of Cydonia” sent the crowd into mass hysteria, as glorious of a live song as you’ll ever see.
Muse will surely announce a full U.S. tour closer to the June 5 release date of Drones, with their eyes set on either The Garden or Barclays Center. It will be a great show I’m sure, but it won’t compare to seeing them here. Getting to jump up and down together with 1,500 diehard Muse fans who knew and breathed through every single lyric and note, was pretty damn special.
Muse Setlist:
1. Psycho
2. Dead Inside
3. Supermassive Black Hole
4. The Groove (first time played in the U.S. since 2004)
5. Madness
6. Apocalypse Please (First time since 2008)
7. Interlude
8. Hysteria
9. Stockholm Syndrome
10. Animals
11. New Born
12. Uprising
13. Time Is Running Out
14. Reapers
Encore:
15. Bliss
16. Starlight
17. Knights of Cydonia
Join the conversation