6 posts tagged “wembley stadium”

Muse.
HAARP

After mucking about and pretending I know how these things work I ended up doing exactly as had been originally suggested and burning the tracks onto a CD (thanks Alison). I now have my souvenir downloads on my iBook. So as promised here is Map of the Problematique, recorded live on Saturday. I love the classic Muse tendency to go a bit mental at the end of songs, critics might call it an inability to finish a song but I disagree.

And just for Lexcorpninja as she's not been feeling too well here is Muse's entrance and first song as recorded by Mark Hilary who was on the pitch. I'm posting it because as the song kicks in, the crowd goes ballistic and the 'camera man' has to go with them which completely distorts to the recording. Makes me chuckle and brings back fond memories. Incidentally, Mark seems to have filmed pretty much all the gig, if you really want to see the rest.

Bought a souvenir bundle from Muse's website which included some official photo's taken before and during the gig.
There is also a live version of Map of the Problematique from Wembley but it isn't mac compatible so I can't post it just now. Hopefully I can download it on my PC at work and post it from there for all to see...

Firstly, the new Wembley Stadium is amazing. It's sheer size is breathtaking and you do get a strong urge to walk up the tunnel and out into the arena with your arms raised.

Had good seats - my camera phone has a tendency to make things look further away than they actually are - but we could actually see quite well.
Arrived in time for Dirty Pretty Things, who I'm sure in a smaller venue would probably have been good but were dwarfed by the setting and, well, seemed a bit dull really.
Watched a bit of The Streets and I was expecting them to be really crap was actually pleasantly surprised. Credit where credit is due, Mike Skinner really worked the crowd even singing a couple of lines of a Muse song at one point, and generally created a good atmosphere. That said their sound is a bit monotonous for me and I wouldn't have sat through a whole set.
Then there was Muse. The atmosphere had reached fever pitch by this stage, Mexican waves going around the stadium and a lot of group clapping urging them to start. They emerged from a platform at the centre of the pitch to a shower of confetti and then walked along a special catwalk to the stage escorted by people in yellow chemical-disaster suits.
Once they reached the stage they launched into Knights of Cydonia, two thirds of the pitch simultaneously jumped up and down and I noticed that when Dom's face appeared momentarily on the big screens at either side of the stage he had a huge grin on his face.
There was a huge video screen as the entire back drop to the stage set which was themed, appropriately, around a satellite monitoring station. There was also a little robot, from where I was standing it looked K9-esque, to bring out fresh guitars for Matt when he needed them!
I've nicked the set list from NME's website because, quite frankly, I was too busy enjoying the music to note down what was played:

Well I safely procured a couple of Muse tickets for June the 16 (thanks to Nadia for helping with repetitive refreshing of the web browser). Fortunately as a fan club member I was given early access to ticket sales on Friday and hopefully this will mean good seats. It was a good thing really because when the tickets went on general sale this morning they sold out within 45 minutes (75,000 tickets) and Muse have added an extra date. Go Muse.

Muse announced this week that they are going to play the new Wembley Stadium on June 16. Wembley is the probably the biggest venue in London, if not the UK holding around 75,000 people. It is certainly the most iconic.
The news brings mixed feelings.
I'm a massive Muse fan and love seeing them live, particularly as they put on a really good visual show as well as a fantastic performance.
But Wembley is such a huge venue, four times bigger than most places they've already played and I'd vowed never to go to those big gigs anymore.  Unless you get really good seats you can't see a damn thing and end up watching the whole thing on big screens. With travel to and from the venue usually a nightmare because of the sheer number of people, there is a feeling that the evening might have been better spent at home watching the live DVD. You'd inevitably see far more and there is no queue for the loo.
The sound quality is never as good when cranked up to satisfy the large capacity and I don't think there is as much of an atmosphere.
If the Wembley gig is a success and based on Muse's previous tour there is no reason why it shouldn't sell out, it signals a virtual end to them playing smaller venues and that will be a real shame.
But... it is Muse, my favourite band.
Tickets go on sale on Saturday. What to do? What to do?