That's because most Americans just want the easy feel good music and something as emotional or anything that invokes other types of emotional besides anger or arrogance or fluffiness then most Americans aren't interested. This is probably why the set list are Shoreline was the way that it was. By the way, which seats did you get during the Shoreline concert??

Shit you know what's rare? Endlessly and Blackout....

Would that explain why at my show last Saturday, when Matt came up to speak, it sounded like he was speaking gibberish? No offense to the guy love his music but I guess this clarifies why he was like blurting this random gibberish and I never understood why he was speaking so fast and incoherently. The guy can sing but damn. Seemed like he was a bit shy and geeky. That's kinda the running 'gig' (no pun intended), though, right? Matt's always been sorta the geeky rock kid rather than some Axl Rose type of dude?

Actually you got The Resistance! My girlfriend and I recently got into it and she LOVES TR (song). I enjoy it a bit too so I think you got a bit lucky there! It says you got Globalist too and I wish I could've heard that. I love Globalist. That's probably right. It was like midnight and people wanted to get home. But why would people be so moody over that after the show? I was still pretty happy like a good hour or two after the show.

Apparently I must be considered a die-hard MUSE fan (I hate labeling myself a fan of such in anything or anybody) but I must say that I have habits of doing stuff diehard fans would do. Prior to you posting this I already had watched the entire Reading and Leeds setlists on YouTube and watched everything and even imagined myself being there. The crowd went nuts and it seemed like everyone knew what was up. The crowd singing to every melody and lyric to their songs is implication they "had lots of listening" to those songs! Over in my place there was barely anyone who knew Plug In Baby. Butterflies and Hurricanes was also barely noticed by anyone. Except me of course. I love Butterflies and Hurricanes but my best memories with that song is back in 2005 haha. I heard NOBODY besides me singing to Butterflies. It was awkward but I didn't care. It seemed like the crowd was just like "ooooh and aahhhh" during the piano moments. It's like they never would've imagined this guy could play the piano well. Even though Matt has played the piano superbly in his previous live shows like Hullabaloo. Fun random fact: At the very end the concert, there was intense traffic because everyone was leaving at the same time. So there were hundreds of cars and pedestrians walking by to get to their cars after the concert. I decided to "gauge" all the hundreds of people walking by my car and see how they would react if I rolled my windows down and played some older MUSE songs live. I played Showbiz, Microcuts (Haullabaloo version), Muscle Museum (Hullabaloo version), Screenager (Hullabaloo w/ Rachiminov intro version), Fillip, Plug In Baby, and other oldies. No one seemed to turn their head and look over to me car, no one even reacted. Either they were in a rush to get home or they simply just aren't that much into MUSE I guess. Only one girl reacted to me playing Showbiz and that was it lol. Am I crazy?

Yeah, been stalking their set lists since Drones Tour in 2015. After looking at their recent shows in Reading 2017 and Leeds 2017 though, I was low key praying for at least them dropping some old school gems like Showbiz and Citizen Erased though. I'm not surprised though, I think the crowd last night ruined the chance for any other Showbiz/OoS era stuff to be played last night. Why? Because Matt told everyone to sing along with him during Plug In Baby and NOBODY was singing along and it seemed like no one even knew what Plug In Baby was. My girlfriend and I were the only ones singing it and people were turning around looking at us like "wtf?" because we were the only ones singing it lol. Ironic, I found it funny that when "Mercy" and "Knights of Cydonia" or "Uprising" came on, everyone went insane because they knew those ones. This just simply meant the majority of the stadium didn't listen to older stuff. Oh, I forgot to mention Starlight. The crowd went insane during Starlight but no one knew Plug In Baby. It seemed like most fans last night were only aware of MUSE's BH&R-current day stuff but nothing else. As a matter of fact I talked to some of the fans and most of them just seemed to acknowledge MUSE as a band with a big reputation and decent skills, but not many of them were like deeply invested into all their music. Would this be considered 'casuals' ? The people there last night weren't bad but just observing the crowd reaction I instantly understood why MUSE plays all the easily likable songs or whatever. When they played Stockholm Syndrome not many people were singing along as well. The part where he goes "This is.... the last time I'll.... forget you!" it was like quiet lol. It could be because where I'm from in northern California we have lots of hipsters and wannabe tryhards. It maybe because lots of people who were there were for 30 Seconds to Mars. Who knows... Lmao

They've been playing the same general gigs that they have for like the past 2 years. Ever since Drones was released they played a lot of similar stuff. It was almost like they played "big hits" from all of their albums. The only thing they played from OoS was "Plug In Baby." and not even a signature track from that album like Citizen Erased. They played only their biggest and easily likable songs. Meaning the easy ones. Knights of Cydonia, Time is Running Out, Hysteria, Dead Inside, Madness, Supermassive Blackhole, Stockholm Syndrome, etc.... What's missing: Showbiz, Megalomania, Muscle Museum, Screenager (Rachiminov version), Microcuts, Hyper Music, Fillip, and Cave. So disappointed that the British for some reason get to hear some of the goods songs but not the Americans. We get the generic songs lol. Also, I have a question, what's with their new guitars? It doesn't have that raw amp sound that they used to do back in the analog days. The new guitar Matt was using tonight sounded like this guitar hero thing and while Matt played the damn thing fantastically, the damn guitar sounded so flat and plain. Whatever it is the new guitar sounds really synthetic and doesn't sound as good as their older guitars.

My friend is going to a MUSE concert but was asking me what enhancements he should take. I know MUSE used to take psy-shrooms and other weird stuff but I don't know anything about mind altering experiences when it comes to MUSE or rock music in general. Would anyone like to contribute any suggestions?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLAWEVvMavs me singing Showbiz. I was at an anime convention lol so that's why the funky costumes

I've been a MUSE fan for a long time, I sing their songs all the time in private and with friends, I have some recordings. I think I'm okay, probably better than some people on YouTube, but not the best out there. I just wanted to share with some MUSErs on here but I'm a slight bit unsure if I'd get attacked by a lot of negativity or this "who cares you cover Muse songs?" type of deal. If anyone is interested, I will post a youtube vid of me covering: Showbiz Megalomania Citizen Erased Fillip Aftermath Songs I also can sing but haven't recorded yet: Screenager Stockholm Syndrome Blackout Time is Running Out Sing for Absolution Endlessly Ruled by Secrecy

In another thread I mentioned what Matt said in an interview. Apparently, I suspect all the backlash they got for "being personal" is what drove them away from their early Showbiz/OoS/Absolution days... which is sad. Their "being personal" was actually very awesome.

I don't know if this contributes to any of the pondering regarding their changes, but maybe because of all the hate they got during their Showbiz album, was why they changed so much since the Showbiz/OoS days. This might be why he stopped doing "dark stuff." I definitely miss the Rachinminov (or h/o you spell it) piano influence. That menacing, melodic, and mesmerizing piano sounds so excellent mixed in with Screenager @ Hullabaloo (2002) is just f*ing amazing. What I also like about Matt's piano playing was that he knew how to play piano pieces but he made "sound effects" out of it and that made it sound awesome because it was more than just melodic melodies. Last thing I really miss about his piano was his fierce creativity with using the church organ effects on his performances for "Endlessly (Live 2003)" and Megalomania. They really used such an interesting set of instruments back then that really opened doors to new types of rock music we'd had never heard before. Is that what you call progressive rock?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/18/muse-matt-bellamy-rocks-backpages-uncut-interview-stephen-dalton-january-2000 It gets mighty lonely down in the shabby, far-flung resort towns of Devon. Especially in winter, when the sea becomes a slate-grey storm cauldron and the sky an unforgiving slab of Wagnerian gloom. There’s not much for an ambitious young rock trio to do besides pack up and lose themselves in London, or stay behind and pour every last drop of their frustrated, choked-up souls into heart-wrenching, doom-punk epics. Matthew Bellamy, the 21-year-old guitar-playing frontman with Muse, grew up far removed from fashion-driven metropolitan tastes in the sleepy backwater of Teignmouth. He taught himself slide guitar and piano while listening to Robert Johnson and Ray Charles, before graduating to American post-punk noiseniks like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. All of which can be heard in the skewed traditionalism of Muse, who fuse strong, achingly melancholic melodies to tumultuous guitar turbulence. These are not Ibizan trance anthems. Facebook Twitter Pinterest “It’s not like I’m not into that music,” Bellamy argues. “I used to go and see bands like the Orb and Orbital every time they came down, and I’ve seen Aphex Twin a couple of times. I was really into all that stuff, but it didn’t speak to me. It did something to me when I was off my face in a club or something, but it didn’t really work at home.” After Bellamy poached bassist Dominic Howard and drummer Chris Wolstenholme from rival school groups, Muse made their live debut at the age of 16 in a local Battle of the Bands contest. They wore makeup, trashed their gear, incited a stage invasion and won hands down, much to their own surprise. “From then on it was pretty much downhill,” Bellamy sighs. “I think even now that was the peak in the band’s career. That show was magical and it kept us going for years and years, just remembering what that felt like. It’s taken us years to get even close to what that felt like.” Muse: Watch the video for their new song Psycho Read more After striking a deal with a local west country management/studio team, Muse began courting record labels just as the British music industry began downsizing and shedding its rosters in the gloomy post-Britpop lull. Consequently, the trio signed with Australian company Mushroom in the UK and Madonna’s Maverick imprint in the US. This gives them an enviable foothold in the US, where direct American signings tend to receive priority treatment. With their debut album, Showbiz, newly released on both sides of the Atlantic, Muse are committed to touring for the next six months. The record is amazingly assured for novices, full of epic Nirvana-style peaks and nerve-shredding Radiohead-esque lyrics. But it hardly makes easy listening. “That’s the sort of stuff that used to make me feel good,” Bellamy insists. “People like Nick Cave – that ridiculous, over-the-top doom, taking it to extremes. I find it uplifting because it’s like someone else is feeling what you’re feeling and putting it into their music. Someone expressing extreme joy is just as valuable, it’s just the fact that they’re expressing their soul through music. But I think the first thing that drives people to express themselves is darkness and depression. Our music can definitely be played in the wrong situations. It’s definitely made for people to watch it live, but I’m not sure if it’s a party-type thing.” Bellamy is wary of seeking easy explanations for the “schizophrenic” sentiments in his songs, but points to his parents splitting when he was 13 and recent family deaths within the band as evidence of genuine trauma. “I wouldn’t say we’re suburban punks,” he shrugs. “We’re not a bunch of boys who’ve got everything, whinging about nothing. There is definitely substance behind it, but I don’t want to have to go into too much to prove it.” The new Muse single, Muscle Museum, is yet another howling gloomfest – but with a fruity Mediterranean twist. It sounds, in Bellamy’s words, “like a Greek wedding”, partly because it was conceived during a month-long stay on an Aegean island. “I just think that music is really passionate,” nods Bellamy. “It has so much feel and flair to it. I’ve spent important times of my life in Spain and Greece, and various deep things happened there – falling in love, stuff like that. So maybe that rubbed off somewhere.” The song itself is a lusty, exotic perfumed breeze of highly un-British passion. “It’s about how different elements of our being – the soul, the body, whatever – won’t let another element do what it wants to do,” Bellamy explains. “It’s about the conflict of not quite knowing what it is you want. Not just relationship-wise, it could relate to the band as well, about how there are still people who will knock you down even though you are down already.” It’s a savagely beautiful sadness that these small-town poets have created. Time to get down with Muse.

Pretty fucking good and cool female cover, very faithful to the original source yet adding just enough individual personal twists on it. Just the way I think covers should be done. Looking through her channel she has covered some other Muse songs like OoS-era material and some Absolution material as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVVlKpID67Q

Someone on YouTube said that Muse has been experimented too much with those "broadway musical" style vocals that doesn't mix well with Muse's style and I agree. Why do they keep doing these lame musical vocals? Are they inspired by lame high school musicals right now or something?

I think album wise, OoS and Absolution are the absolute best. But I see so many strong singles from BH&R, TR, and Drones. Showbiz has good singles too like Showbiz, Muscle Museum, and Fillip. Drones has Globalist, Aftermath, Drones, The Handler. The Resistance has Overture, Uprising, Undisclosed Desires... BH&R has many catchy tunes as well.

I agree, especially if there was a live and studio version of these with the more "rawness" of the style from the OoS days would potentially do such miracles for these tracks. I really feel like a young Matt would do it well. Especially since a lot of the music in Drones sounds very "synthetic" even the rock instruments... it would be interesting to hear these songs being played by the real instruments that they used to use. Gosh, I can totally imagine '02 Muse jamming something like Mercy. Since many Muse fans love "Bliss" from the Origins of Symmetry days, I'm sure it would sound a little bit like Bliss possibly. I used to love Bliss like 10+ years ago. I have a feeling he would hit all the notes too. Like Dead Inside, he wouldn't drift away too much during the epic singing part of Dead Inside (Only you can stop the paaaaain, don't LEEEEAVEEE ME OUT IN THE COLLLLLD) and I believe he'd actually sing it high and strong all the way through. Of course, he's older now, so watching his live performance you can hear him catching his breathe and sort of "short cutting" it. There would probably be a lot more vibratos and he would hold his notes way longer. Aftermath is probably one of my favorite fluff songs on their discography, I love it more than Bliss. From a singer standpoint, that song is pretty hard to sing and quite vocally demanding at the end. I'd imagine a OoS Muse being able to do it live with ease. What's hero vocals?

that's the thing, the Hullabaloo has the epic climax falsetto screaming part. but everything from the beginning and middle of that live performance, well, while it's still good and delivers, it pales in comparison background music-wise and vocal technique-wise when compared to the later live versions from Royal Albert Hall or Reading 2011. It's almost like, each live to me, the best is in fragments of all 3 versions lol Hullabaloo is definitely really good though but his singing technique is way more polished in the later versions. the only problem is in the later ones he doesnt do the epic falsetto screams at the end so yes it is missing it but the later live versions either from 2008 or 2011 have an epic piano/church organ melody that sounds like a crazy circus at the end. so it's like instead of the screaming part that he does, he plays a unique melody on the instrument instead. in the Hullabaloo version, he does not play that epic melody but does the epic scream. so idk, I feel like it's hard to choose between them all. I guess it depends on my mood lol

yeah!! sure why not? I mean, we are talking about a dream matchup here, so we can stretch the realm of fantasies and what ifs a bit. it is undeniable that Matt's voice and singing style is dramatically different from 2000-2002 and compared to 2012-2015. Idk maybe it's just me but it would be interesting to imagine a Hullabaloo style influence on something like some of the songs from Drones. Not completely a drift away but just to imagine a young Matt singing something like Aftermath or The Globalist. would be interesting IMO. Young Matt is definitely much different from today's

elaborate on that??

I'm curious, but what would an Showbiz/OoS-era Muse sound like if they were to take a time machine to the future and try to sing their own discography in recent times. What would their musicianship be like? Would Matt be hitting these notes easily? Would the instrumentals sound more raw? How would Matt make use of his signature "fast vibratos and falsettos" style from the Showbiz/OoS era in some of his more modern music? Imagine a Showbiz/OoS Muse attempting to sing: Aftermath (Drones, 2015) The Globalist (Drones, 2015) Dead Inside (Drones, 2015) Madness (2nd Law, 2012) Exogenesis Symphony Part 1 - Overture (The Resistance, 2009) Discuss any recent tracks actually if it was young Muse singing it. However, please share what you think they would sound like if they sang some of the songs I listed above too. I know Aftermath and Dead Inside would be vocally very demanding and I wonder if a young Showbiz/OoS Matt would be able to hit all the hard notes in Aftermath and Dead Inside (without short cutting the vocally demanding parts) Aftermath was never even sang live, even though I love this song. I know Matt would probably struggle singing this song today, I sing this song myself and it's pretty difficult. I'm a decent Muse cover singer. So I wonder what a OoS Muse would sound like if they were fortunate enough to show us something fantasy-ish like.

I remember back in the days people were telling me Showbiz was their "worst album ever" and I believed that girl and so I never listened to Showbiz besides Cave and Muscle Museum. What a mistake that was. The song Showbiz itself is fantastic, Muscle Museum is amazing, and so is Fillip. Showbiz is by far my favorite song on that album. I've been a Muse fan since 2004 so I was originally an Absolution era guy. I moderately enjoyed BH&R era, to be honest I thought BH&R era is seriously overrated. It has catchy tunes but it isn't that good in my opinion. Showbiz, Origins of Symmetry, and Absolution are the best eras IMO. Right now I'm hooked on Showbiz and OoS era.

Hello, I've been a fan of Muse since 2004. I first listened to "Time is Running Out" back in 2005. I since then knew of Megalomania and some OoS songs. Throughout the years now I've seen their live performances. In my personal opinion, the top 3 performances would have to be absolutely, the Hullabaloo (2002), Royal Albert Hall (2008) and Reading Festival (2011). In the Hullabaloo (2002) live version, it sounds closest to the studio recording. Initially, I enjoyed the Hullabaloo version the most. It's Matt when he's damn young, he has that young Matt vocals style, amazing vibratos and strong vocal performance during the falsetto climax part at the end. This is especially good since this was during the times when he "screams epic falsettos" at the end of Megalomania. So this performance alone is fantastic on its own. However, the Royal Albert Hall (2008) version has superior vocals. Things were changed and refined a bit. Matt has this slight "Vampire/Dracula" like deep voice when singing Megalomania, and he added the "crazy circus church organ melody" at the end during the falsetto part. The only problem in my opinion is he doesn't scream like he used to. The main thing I like about this performance though, would be the authentic sounds of the church organ as the background music for this live act. The church organ literally sounds sharper, more authentic, real, and very awesome. Let's skip 3 years later in 2011 at the Reading Festival, Matt is definitely aged more and doesn't sing anything like his old self back in 2002 with Hullabaloo (2002). This live performance is personally the best in my opinion. Matt's singing is even more "dracula-esque" with that unique deep voice that he sings with now, and he has an overall cleaner style of singing. The imitation church organ effect is there, it still sounds amazing, but the Royal Albert Hall performance still has superior quality in the melody. This is probably by far the best as he sounds much more polished. My only problem with this one, is the ending part where he uses his cool circus melody with the falsetto scream, it sounds really good, but he doesn't actually scream anymore. It's just a regular falsetto hymn. This is the only thing that falls short but overall I feel like this version is the best at all the other aspects. What do you guys think?

It is without any interest for my well being that I would take the pleasure of making people out to be morons. If that is how I sounded, I do humbly apologize. About the Drones lyrics part, I was not referring directly or indirectly to any members here. I don't even know any of you. These are sort of my opinions that I'm sharing when I read comments from people elsewhere but not here.

I just personally believe his writing isn't that bad. It's clear as day as it is for story telling. Maybe the way the music was composed is the problem. I actually like most of the lyrics but I think the composition of the music is bad on some tracks. What I mean is some of the tracks on this album sound like generic pop rock but with good intended lyrics. It's not really lyrically bad, but badly composed with background music. Also, if you read the lyrics and the subliminal messages that entail it, it leaves more for personal interpretation that can be understood on a wide scale. The lyrics are simple, virtuous, cautionary, and caring. I am not insane. I think it is genius that they are writing music about the world's greatest threat to humanity. I do agree Matt doesn't write lyrics as brilliantly clear and poetic as Thom Yorke though.