Journal
Muse: Ridiculously good
- Posted on: November 14, 2006
- In: Personal
- Comments closed
On Sunday night, Emma and I braved the cold South Wales weather to venture into Cardiff to see probably our favourite rock band at the moment, Muse.
They were good. Ridiculously good actually.
(I didn’t take that many shots - the problem with being vertically challenged in a nation of increasingly taller people)
I’ve seen a fair few rock bands over the years (sounding like a right old timer now), from large Arena tours to tiny pub bands. Muse however, needed to be in a large venue with a big crowd. In fact, I thought Cardiff CIA wasn’t a great venue for their music. Muse need somewhere special for their venues; maybe some tumbled down warehouse or ruined turn-of-the-century mill. I’m not going to harp on about the crap venue, the smell of burnt cheese form the sandwich vendor, the girl who was clapping and dancing out of time or the shockingly bad support act.
I was totally blown away by the musical ability of the band. Matthew Bellamy, the band’s guitarist, pianist and lead vocalist, is such a talented bugger. I play a bit of guitar myself (having done so for about fifteen years) and was blown away with some of the technical difficulty of what he was playing whilst singing. Like I say, ridiculous.
My ears have just about recovered which leaves plenty of time until the next rock band I’m ticking of the list in February: Nine Inch Nails.
Most recent entries
- Design isn’t about tools
- Where’s the D in D&AD?
- Coolspotters: Where people and products meet
- Alys Rose Boulton
- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
- From Poly to Pole
- Ten Crimes Against Web Typography (and how to avoid them)
- Start Your Own Business
- Coolspotters and Garcia Media
- Sir Edmund Hillary: 1919 - 2008
Categories
Search
Journal feeds
Books
Stuff I like
Powered by Expression Engine
I'm a graphic designer from near Cardiff in the UK. I've been a designer for over ten years now and primarily work on the web. I'm still partial to a bit of print every now and then though. I used to work for Agency.com in London as an Art Director before working as a Senior Designer for the BBC in sunny Cardiff. This was all before I took leave of my senses and formed my own design consultancy, Mark Boulton Design Ltd.
I've got a thing about grids and typography and occasionally ramble on about them to anyone who will listen.
Mark Boulton Design
If you're after simple, clean and effective web design; let me know.
Comments
Yeah, Muse rock. I’m going to them at the Wembly Arena in London next week...Should be very cool.
kent
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 3:15 pm
I’m so jealous. I missed my chance to see them in the states two years ago. Now I have to wait. *sigh*
Their new album rocks too. Absolution is one of my favorites.
AJP
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 3:26 pm
The only Muse track I can think of at the moment is “super massive black hole”, which does indeed rock - I think I need to treat my ears to some more muse. Where should I start?
Mark Ford
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 3:40 pm
Shame the support was naff - who was it? I saw them a couple years ago at the CIA and Elbow supported which was fully awesome.
Reuben Whitehouse
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 3:44 pm
The support was a band called Noisettes. They were very bad. Not only terrible songs but a really dodgy decision to have them support Muse; they’re so unalike.
Mark Boulton
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 4:13 pm
We’ve got tickets to see them tonight at Birmingham NEC - very excited. Shame to hear about the Noisettes, I hope they’ve improved over the last two days…
Dave Cardwell
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 4:30 pm
Never seen them, but I’ve been wanting to for(whatseemslike)ever.
Great band though, love their latest full length.
Keith
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 5:12 pm
It’s the first gig I’ve been to since, maybe, Iron Maiden in 1988 (again, showing my age) that I felt I was transported somewhere else. Muse’s music does that so well. Maybe it’s the whole prog rock influence with Muse.
The balloons were great though; added another dimension to the Kubrickesque graphics.
Sorry Dave, that’s a bit of a spoiler.
Mark Boulton
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 5:19 pm
I’ve worked for Muse the last 2 times they’ve come through my home town. They are great guys, and their crew was fun to work with. The first time I saw them, they blew me away. It was by far the best show I’d seen in a long time. The lights / sound / performance was top notch.
Kenny Saunders
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 6:58 pm
Yea, Muse put on a really good live show. I saw them when they came out to Australia about 2 years ago and I can’t wait to see them again in a few months at the Big Day Out.
Gareth
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 8:42 pm
Shame about The Noisettes, I saw them a few months ago at a tiny venue in Hull and they rocked the house. The lead singer is mad as a shoe.
They have a vid on You Tube which may paint them in a better light…
Stephen
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 11:03 pm
"My ears have just about recovered… “
I take it you’re not using ear plugs.
One of my friends convinced me to buy a pair of <a href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Hearos-High-Fidelity-Ear-Filters?sku=421214&src=3SOSWXXA>these</a> last year. They cancel out distortion and let the rest of the sound through. I find when I use them I can hear the music more clearly.
Daniel
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 11:43 pm
Opps, I left a quote mark out of the anchor element.
It would be nice to be able to preview before posting.
Not that I’m making excuses mind you :)
Daniel
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 11:49 pm
Don’t worry about it, I’d already left by the time I read that. You were right, they were “ridiculously good”. Easily one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.
I have a couple of the Noisettes’ EPs and they’re not too shabby, but the live performance really wasn’t great which is a shame.
I’d definitely go see them again after their next album release.
Dave Cardwell
Tue 14th Nov 2006
at 11:55 pm
Muse produced a trully great show.
I second your thoughts on the crap venue and especially the crap support act. I thought the hour(ish) between acts was very poor considering all that was required was removing the support acts drum kit.
Ben
Wed 15th Nov 2006
at 10:01 am
If I’d have known you were there Ben we could have hooked up and complained about Noisettes together. Terrible band.
Mark Boulton
Wed 15th Nov 2006
at 10:11 am
Such a great band. Nothing beats seeing them live. I saw them 2 years ago on a small tour for MTV. Matthew Bellamy completely blew me away. I’m glad to see they’re still picking up fans.
Gilberto Creque
Wed 15th Nov 2006
at 3:39 pm
I saw them Tuesday at Birmingham NEC and echo the thoughts that they truly were awesome
The Noisettes were rubbish and the lead singer sounded like Skin from Skunk Anansie, which under normal circumstances would have been great but they just sounded all over the place live. What was the bit about them being influenced by Freddie Mercury? Freddie Star on acid more like.
Matthew Bellamy just has such great energy and the stage set was probably the best I’ve ever seen, I thought it was a nice touch with all the space references having read that he is rather obsessed by space.
Jilly
Thu 16th Nov 2006
at 8:50 am
i saw them then they came to Portugal this October and it was totally amazing! MUSE restored my faith in modern music.
static
Wed 22nd Nov 2006
at 5:43 pm
Saw Muse in Sheffield on the 18th November and totally blown away again (3rd time). Can I just make one point though and see if people agree with me ---- the light show and cartoons maybe clever but the music takes you into a different world and I found myself just shutting my eyes and listening to 3 fantastic musicians. Please lads just get on the stage and rock.
Nick Gibson
Mon 27th Nov 2006
at 1:28 pm
Yeah Muse are really good live. Try and catch them at one of the english summer festivals. True madness…
Cliff Boobyer
Thu 30th Nov 2006
at 1:34 pm
Nice - I’m not particular fond of that venue (bristol carling academy totally blows it away), but I’m looking forward to seeing Incubus there in April!
Kee
Fri 1st Dec 2006
at 10:11 am