Muse - Cardiff International Arena 12/11/06

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   ''A band so ostentatious they make chandeliers obsolete'' so said someone.And so it came to pass.. 

I approached my first Muse gig with some intrepidation.Would I be the only person there over the age of 30? Would they throw me out for being middle aged and wearing an M&S shirt and trousers and a very dodgy jacket? This all occured to me as I walked past the longest line of people I've ever seen before a gig.Thankfully I noticed a few grey haired 'wrinklies' here and there with presumably their sons and daughters in tow.There were even a few 'oldies' like me queing on there own without the excuse of having children to chaparone.And they let us in!

So having got into the venue and purchased a well priced hot dog and bottle of lager..well priced that is if you want to clear third world debt with the profits... I settled for a spot not too near and not too far away (from the toilets).Foollishly I was expecting the support band to be on at 7.10 pricise and the main event 8.00 latest.Poor ole naive me.This is rock...not prog.No finishing at 10.00 so the wrinklies can get home and get their beauty sleep.No chance.Support band arrive on stage at a disturbingly late 8.15.Dispite their tardiness they are very good.'The Noisettes' are everything you want from a support band.Masses of enthusiasm ,bouncy rock music and a pretty girl wearing a natty pair of shorts.

So yet another wait while my back gets stiff from the standing...this is strictly no sitting unless you are one of the chosen few that have balcony seats (just how the f**k did they get those??).Eventually our heroes arrive to a massive welcome.The set is very 'seventies' particularly the overhanging thing that covers the drum set ( nice transparent kit Dom!).Matt strides onto the stage like he is the best thing since sliced bread..and who are we to argue??! Off they go with 'Knights Of Cydonia' which may seem like an odd choice as a opening number,but actually its an easy song to punch the air and sing along to.Most Muse songs are like that and the audience duly oblige with much jumping up and down and punching of air.I would have jumped up and down but I didn't want to put a crick in my ever stiffening back.Never mind this is f**king brillant so my back will have to suffer!

Now some people might accuse Muse of being 'one trick ponies'.So many songs seem to have the same winning formula that the crowd respond to.Thumping bass drum and fantastic anthemic lyrics.This is stadium rock in all its glory.Bellamy laps it up even indulging in Hendrix like histeronics and lots of laying on the stage.Commendably he does the ''rock star'' thing without even the mearest hint of irony.'My god I'm talented and don't all you know it' seems to be the message .If you've got it flaunt it...and does Matt flaunt it! Then he breaks off to play a bit of Rachmaninov ..just in case you didn't think the guitar thing was good enough.

I hope having read this far your not thinking I'm going to give you the set list.HAHA ..think again! Basically they play all of Black Holes barring Soldiers Poem, large chunks of Absolution and Origin and not very much Showbiz.By far the best received track is Plug In Baby..no great surprise.In fact I'm sure the crowd would have been happy if they had played this 10 times and discarded most of the rest of the set.The encore tracks are Stockholm Syndrome ..again no surprise and Take A Bow,which is a surprise.This is a brave move to me.4 minutes of full blown prog with extemely dark lyrics.Not remotely 'poppy' and in fact it failed to get the repsonse the band were hoping for.They should have ended on Stockholm Syndrome.Still I loved it and tried to sing every word..but it seemed like I was alone.It was disappointing that the audience don't really get this track.I have a feeling that any future prog aspirations Muse might have will need to be kept on hold if the band want to keep their audience.

So there it is ..my first Muse gig....and a darn good un

I have a postcript that some will find amusing.After walking back to the multi-storey car park I find there is queue stretching back up to the second level for people waiting to pay their parking fee.Apparently Cardiff can only afford 2 such machines.So there I was waiting and waiting and more waiting.By now its 11.30 before I get to the machine.And horrors of horrors the fee is £11.50 and I've only got a tenner in my pocket.Oh f**k! What do I do now? To the left of me is a beggar ,so it did occur to me to ask him for £1.50 for my parking fee.Then I thought I could ask people behind me, but then I didn't want to muscle in on the beggars territory.So off I trudged into the Cardiff night to find a cash machine.Of course its raining and by the time I get back I'm a drowned rat.However the queue has magically disappeared and apparently they are letting people out for free.Whoopee! I saved £11.50 'thanks' to my lack of forward planning even if I'm going to catch a death of a cold. And the moral of the story is ..he who....ermm ok never mind.

Edited by richardh - November 13 2006 at 17:01