It’s hard to know where to look. The house lights have only just gone down on a sold-out Rod Laver Arena, and already there’s a glittering pyramid of dystopian images descending on the stage. Green laser lights roam the arena. Strobe lights cut ribbons through the clapping crowd. And just when things can’t seem to get any more dramatic, the famous Vincent Price voiceover from Thriller thunders across the PA. It’s fucking massive. And Muse haven’t even hit the stage yet.
When they do arrive – emerging like rock gods from beneath the pyramid – they launch into the monstrous detuned riff of Supremacy. In the blink of an eye frontman Matthew Bellamy goes from thrashing on his knees with his guitar to strutting across a catwalk above a sea of hands. Machines fire orgasmic blasts of smoke into the air behind him. It’s stadium rock at its most exuberant. And it’s utterly captivating.
Like the seasoned pros they are, the band cruise through a succession of hits (Supermassive Black Hole, Resistance, Hysteria – the latter concluding with a detour through AC/DC’s Back In Black). And again, just when it seems inconceivable the theatrics could be ramped up any higher, bassist Christopher Wolstenholme produces a harmonica and suddenly Muse are playing the Ennio Morricone classic The Man With The Harmonica. But that’s not all. Just as the cover reaches its climax they burst into a frenzied version of their own spaghetti-western classic, Knights of Cydonia.
The wow-factor drops slightly during the middle of the set, as they play a number of songs from their latest album The 2nd Law. Before long though, the energy levels are back through the roof as the band rip through Time Is Running Out, Plug In Baby and the bludgeoning Stockholm Syndrome.
After being swallowed by the pyramid and bringing darkness to the venue for the first time in almost 90 minutes, the band return for an inevitable encore (which Bellamy dedicates to the late Nelson Mandela). They storm through Starlight and Survivor, before the house lights blink back on and the audience is left to bask in the aftermath of one of the greatest rock n’roll spectacles we’re ever likely to see.
BY WAYNE MARSHALL
Loved: Every second of Muse’s stupendous aural and visual assault.
Hated: Nothing.
Drank: Daiquiri.
