At the Edge of the Universe..: 2nd Law of Muse

Well, since Muse's new album The 2nd Law came out this week, I figured it would be good to review it (as well as do a write up of the two times I got to see them live). Now for the album, before hearing the whole thing I was having very mixed feelings on the whole thing, not sure if I would like it or not. I had heard three songs from the album, "Survival", "Unsustainable", and "Madness", so given that you can't really judge the whole product based off of three parts out of context. But now here we go upon hearing the whole thing..

First off, you can not judge an album based off of three out of context songs. I was honestly not sure if I would like this album or not, because I got such mixed vibes from what I heard. But hearing everything in context with each other, yes this is Muse, and yes they are still sounding fantastic.

You can definitely hear the Queen and U2 influences, but I think it still works to be an enjoyable album. Sure it's no Absolution, but I'm not saying that's a bad thing here as many people are, merely an observation. Matt Bellamy's vocals are really strong on the album, going into his falsetto at times that more resembles how he was singing on Origin of Symmetry. This with, as I'm sure was noticed by many in The Resistance, deeper range really adds a nice quality to the songs. Also from The Resistance now having Muse experiment with orchestral instruments, this continues with the addition of brass (and more than what was heard in "Knights of Cydonia" off of Black Holes & Revelations). Even if you're having doubts after a first listen through give it another shot, since at least for myself the songs really grow on you.

This album gives Chris Wolstenholme the lead vocals on two tracks, "Save Me" and "Liquid State", where he really does a fantastic job with them. On previous albums he's just done the back up vocals to Matt Bellamy, but he really can sing lead well. "Liquid State" reminds me more of their older material, but with the change of different vocals.

The only ssong I'm still not 100% with is "Unsustainable" because I feel like they're trying to do too much at once. If you want to do the dubstep and orchestral elements together, sure, but have it rationed out a bit more. It works much better within the album than just by itself, but I think it would have been better if it wasn't so much of it going on. I do really like how the album ends with "Isolated System", which is a nice blend of the electronic and orchestral elements.

I think if you write off the whole album based on one or two songs you heard on the radio, you'll be missing out. It's a good album with some really solid songs, that really work best in context with each other. It's still Muse, and they can still write new and interesting music while incorporating elements of the vast popular music scene.There are some parts as I mentioned where I think they are trying to do too much at once, but that's only in a few places. The album is a good one, that I would not only have as a "one time listen". Go check it out.

Left: 3/5/10, Right: 10/23/10

Now that the review of their new album is done with, time to get to the two shows. Both of these shows were part of The Resistance Tour, and come April they will be around North America for their The 2nd Law Tour. I really hope I can go to that, but I can't say for certain due to ensemble requirements that semester. Though I would be shocked if they didn't add a ton more dates for the States, or later on more New York shows for that matter. So in the (sad) case I can't see them in April, I would expect to be able to see them in the area at some point on this tour.

Madison Square Garden, March 5, 2010

This show I really like to attribute to really getting me into seeing concerts. I still consider it to be one of the best shows I have seen, since I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

This show was actually an early birthday present from my parents, and I can't thank them enough for it. Tickets for this show and Blackfield are definitely up there for "best birthday presents". Anyway, the seats were way up in the last row of section 419, which at the time was pretty much as high up as you could go for the Garden.

The opening act was Silversun Pickups, and due to the stage set up and out seats I could not really see them. That being said, they sounded great. Their set was the following:
01. Growing Old Is Getting Old | 02. Well Thought Out Twinkles | 03. There's No Secrets This Year | 04. The Royal We | 05. Future Foe Scenarios | 06. Substitution | 07. Panic Switch | 08. Lazy Eye

Before Muse gets on stage they have projections of falling bodies over the massive towers, in the style of the Absolution cover, going as the "We Are the Universe" opening is playing. It still looked like the seats would have a blocked view, but once they got on stage, the curtains surrounding the towers dropped to have Matt, Dom, and Chris in the middle of each of the three towers. So what looked like it could have been the worst seats turned out to be some of the best with a fantastic view.

One of my favorite parts of that night was when they played "MK Ultra", which has to also be one of my favorite sons off of The Resistance (along with "Exogenesis: Symphony").

Their set was really extensive, not to mention long, including songs from all of their albums except Showbiz. I would have loved to hear some songs off of that album, but their set was amazing none the less. Being my first time seeing Muse, and first time at Madison Square Garden, I was just thrilled beyond belief to get to see one of my favorite bands. So sixteen year-old me sang along to every song, to the point of my voice getting really sore afterwords. That experience was really just incredible for me, and whenever I go to shows where it's appropriate to sing along with the crowd and band, I think of it.

Another really cool aspect of this show was the "Helsinki Jam" between Dom and Chris. Having not heard that before this concert, it was a real treat. Just those two playing, with Chris standing in front of Dom's set as it gradually turned to that at some point they got to face all parts of the audience.

For "Knights of Cydonia", it began with a harmonica introduction done by Chris, "Man with a Harmonica" which was a very suitable was to introduce their closing song. At the end, Chris even tossed the harmonica out to the audience, so who ever got that is very lucky in my opinion.

Nassau Coliseum, October 23, 2010

Now while this show wasn't the same as the MSG one, it was still fantastic. This was towards the end of their tour, so granted they are going to be a bit tired from touring, but they can still put on a great show. The stage set up was the same for this show as the previous one, but this time I was sitting more across from the stage in section 303. It was nice having a different view, even if it was further away.

The opening act was the Canadian indie band Metric, who put on a pretty good opening set. It was the following:
01. Black Sheep | 02. Satellite Mind | 03. Dead Disco | 04. Gimme Sympathy | 05. Gold Guns Girls | 06. Sick Muse | 07. Help I'm Alive

One notable aspect of this show, was in the middle of solo in "New Born" the venue's PA went out. So you could see them playing, but barely hear them at all since they weren't being miked. This resulted in them taking a 5-10 minute break to solve the problem, picking up at the beginning of the solo. But they kept on strong after that, their music and performance was just too good the PA couldn't take it.

Anyway, another really neat part of this show was having a "House of the Rising Sun" introduction before playing "Time is Running Out". So what they did was play the instruments, as the whole pit (and some of the seated section) sings along. It was just a great way to lead into that following song.

This set consisted of:
01. Uprising | 02. Map of the Problematique | 03. New Born (+ Microphone Fiend riff) | 04. Supermassive Black Hole | 05. Resistance | 06. Hysteria (“Star-Spangled Banner” + “Interlude” intro) | 07. Guiding Light | 08. Nishe | 09. United States Of Eurasia | 10. Feeling Good | 11. Helsinki Jam | 12. Undisclosed Desires | 13. Time Is Running Out (“House of the Rising Sun” intro) | 14. Starlight | 15. Plug In Baby
Encore: 16. Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture | 17. Stockholm Syndrome | 18. Knights of Cydonia (“Man with a Harmonica” intro)

Between the two, the MSG performance was the better of the two by far, but that doesn't mean that they weren't both amazing. I just want to stress, I'm not putting down the Coliseum performance at all. It's just that the one at the Garden was just completely perfect to me. Now I'm sure I'm leaving out various detail here and there about the two nights, but with concerts you really just have to be there to fully enjoy the experience. Even though I post videos that other people recorded and posted on YouTube, it's no where near the same as being in the audience with the crowd all singing around you. I really loved them both, and hope that I get to see them again come April. If not, then at a later date in the tour. Based on my two experiences, they will always put on an absolutely fantastic show.

"Muse: Glorious"

Now going back to my whole "Lets draw something special for the various concerts I see!", we have what I did back in 2010 for the Madison Square Garden show. This took a lot of time, since first I drew and inked it on paper, then colored it in photoshop. Even though it was done over two years ago, I'm still really happy with how this came out. Muse is still one of my favorite bands, so this is my tribute to them. If you're on deviantART and are interested, I have it up there as well.

At the Edge of the Universe..

Friday, October 5, 2012

2nd Law of Muse

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