Muse, United Center, Chicago, Illinois

I had seen Muse once before when they opened for U2 at Fed Ex Field. At the time, I had heard of them but wasn’t too familiar with their music. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with their performance. Following that concert, I started listening to them a bit more. However, I never connected that significantly with their music until the release of Drones (2015), which soon became my favorite album of 2015. I’m always drawn to concept albums, and the entirety of Drones tells a tale related to the dehumanization of modern warfare. The protagonist is brainwashed by society into becoming a drone, losing his humanity and doing horrific things without feeling anything. He eventually defects, revolts, and overcomes the system. The album effectively ties together themes of ecology, empathy, and war.

The best seats in the house went quickly, and though we were not able to get one of the very limited tickets for the GA section on the floor, we were able to get some seats in the 100 section towards one of the corners. The main stage was set up in the center of the venue with the band facing all directions. The stage was designed to provide as much of a 360 degree experience for the audience as possible. Perhaps they picked that trick up from U2. In addition, there was a pair of smaller stages on either end (approximately where the nets would be placed during a Hawks game) and a platform connecting them to the main stage. It would have been nice to have been a bit more towards the middle and lower, but overall they were pretty good seats. The whole show was quite a production, and like the U2 show the experience was crafted with the view from the seats in mind. Furthermore, being the middle of January and quite cold outside, it was nice to have a seat on which to rest your coat instead of having to carry it into GA.

Muse is comprised of Matt Bellamy on lead vocals, guitars, and keyboards/piano; Christopher Wolstenholme on bass and backing vocals; and Dominic Howard on drums. All have been with the band since its inception in 1994. Both Bellamy and Wolstenholme had wireless instruments and would step up to various microphones around the stage. They would also switch out instruments fairly frequently. Wolstenholme’s basses had a string of colored lights running up neck, so even in moments when the stage was dark, you could still see where he was. Both musicians would run around the stage with a lot of energy. Towards the end of the show, Ballamy sat down at the piano for a couple songs. Howard’s drum kit was situated in the center of the stage on an occasionally rotating platform. Once throughout the performance he left his kit to play a smaller kit on the runway. For the past decade their performances have also included Morgan Nicholls on keyboards. He was relegated to a mini orchestra pit directly behind Howard’s drums.

We arrived a bit before Muse took the stage. The drill sergeant track began the evening, with a video of that sergeant barking his orders of conformity and inhumanity. They opened with a few tracks from Drones, but then mixed it up with old and new songs throughout the show. Considering the concept nature of the album, I would have preferred a Drones set and another hits set.

The show featured some pretty impressive visuals and production, including multiple video segments and a rotating stage, which at times looked like one of the games from the film Tron or a helicopter landing pad. Perhaps the coolest element were large holographic hands with beams of light projecting down onto Bellamy and Wolstenholme on either side of the stage, as if controlling them like puppets. During “Starlight,” a dozen or more large black hullaballoons that floated and bounced across the audience. Nearly as soon as they were released, the balloons started exploding with confetti, one after another, such that after several minutes, they were gone. There were other clear balloons that were first on the ground, then above in the rafters but they were never utilized. Later, the crew released a large inflated zeppelin drone during “The Globalist” towards the end of the show that took a lap around the venue, ominously shining spotlights on the audience below. The encore involved more explosions of light and confetti from the stage.

The set included 22 songs, including four each from Absolution (2003) and Black Holes & Revelations (2006), three from The Resistance (2009), a pair from The 2nd Law (2012) and seven from Drones plus a pair of spoken word taped elements from drill sergeant and JFK that were incorporated into the show. The band didn’t take a proper encore break, rather they left the stage but video kept playing during a very brief encore break, essential keeping the show going.

Overall, the show was a lot more focused on visual production and creating an experience rather than the sound of the band. While Bellamy’s operatic voice and ability to sing vibrato and falsetto was used to great effect, sometimes the show didn’t seem to take full advantage of it. At times his voice seemed a bit strained and muffled. I’m not convinced that the entire performance was actually performed live anyway. For starters, the instrumentation was just so layered and full, it was hard to believe that it was all coming from four musicians. There were also moments which I wasn’t sure that Ballamy’s vocals matched his on stage performance. For example, he would often run the full length of the stages, but his voice didn’t reveal any additional effort. Perhaps the most egregious moment was when Bellamy tossed his guitar across the stage as one would throw dirty laundry into a hamper. The guitar crashed to the ground, and it even appeared that a piece broke off from it. I assumed that he would leave it there and pick up a new one from a tech. However, he picked it up and kept playing it! You’d think it at least be out of tune. How could the sound from that guitar possibly be coming out of the speakers? Apparently, Bellamy has a penchant for such antics. According to at least one online source, he holds the world record for breaking the most guitars in one tour – 140 on the 'Origin of Symmetry' tour in 2001. Despite this minor complaint, Muse still provided an overall incredible experience; truly a memorable spectacle.

Setlist:
(Drill Sergeant)
Psycho
Dead Inside
Interlude
Hysteria [AC/DC's 'Back in Black' riff outro]
Map of the Problematique ['Who Knows Who' riff outro]
The 2nd Law: Isolated System [Shortened]
The Handler
Resistance
Supermassive Black Hole [Jimi Hendrix's 'Voodoo Child' intro]
Prelude
Starlight
Apocalypse Please
Munich Jam
Madness
Undisclosed Desires
[JFK]
Reapers
Time Is Running Out
Uprising [Extended outro]
The Globalist
Drones
Encore:
Mercy
Knights of Cydonia [Ennio Morricone's 'Man with a Harmonica' intro]