web feature British trio delivers the unexpected

[Bells]

Schottenstein Center review by Gary Budzak (Dipatch.com)

 

I won’t say I left the Muse concert last night in Schottenstein Arena a fan of the British rock band, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

That’s because I had heard only one of their songs until then, the cheesy Uprising (the one with the lyrics “They will not control us / we will be victorious”). In addition, I had read snarky things about them — Muse’s sonic references were an unholy alliance of Radiohead, Rush and Queen; their albums were getting increasingly ambitious, featuring tracks with titles like Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 1: Overture; and they turned down $50,000 from Celine Dion, who wanted their name for the title of her Vegas gig.

 

So I was expecting 25-minute drum solos and other tedious twaddle from a bunch of twits. Instead, Muse’s 90-minute show was tight, light on conversation, visually dazzling, and most importantly, it rocked.

 

Interestingly, the trio — Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, and keytar – a keyboard/guitar hybrid); Dominic Howard (drums); and Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals, harmonica) – began their set with Uprising. A curtain showing men in suits climbing an office staircase dropped, and the trio played the song underneath a huge video screen, on raised platforms that also showed videos or was lighted. As the concert progressed, the band would be raised or lowered every couple of songs.

 

At one point, Howard and Wolstenholme played back to back as the drum kit was raised and rotated.

 

There was also a fourth musician on stage, an unidentified keyboardist who was sometimes hidden.

 

Each song had a different visual element, while several cameras caught the trio in action. There were videos of the human body, and what looked like neurons, subatomic particle collision trails, computer coding, flight paths on an atlas, people’s faces and other strange scenes.

 

There was one prop you might see at a Flaming Lips concert: huge white balloons with big eyeballs on them that were filled with confetti and dropped on the crowd, who burst them. Muse also used more lasers than I’ve seen at Pink Floyd concerts.

 

Last night, Muse sounded more like U2 than Queen or anyone else you could reference. Bellamy’s big voice could belt out the anthems and often went into falsetto like Bono, and the lyrical matter often talked about revolution. It’s no surprise that the Edge performed with Muse earlier this year.

 

Not everything Muse did was great, but songs like Supermassive Black Hole, Resistance, Undisclosed Desires, Time is Running Out, Starlight, Plug in Baby and Knights of Cydonia either rocked out or had decent lyrics. There were also cool riffs from other songs thrown in at the beginning or end of a song, including AC/DC’s Back in Black and Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker.

 

Finally, during Muse’s encore, the trio donned Ohio State football jerseys to send the partisan crowd home happy.

 

Source

[Hat]

Worst review I've read in a long time.

[Niall]

Really awful. It's one of those reference something they did yeas ago and then compare them to as many popular bands as possible reviews.

[Hat]

It's like half the review is comparing them to other bands, and the other half is mentioning how the stage looked.

 

Oh, and they played some okay hits as well.

[hipbones]

Awful review.

[Lynx]

That was truly, truly terrible!

[seraphrevan]

That wasn't even a review.

[Gareeh]

"a keyboard/guitar hybrid" & "I was expecting 25-minute drum solos" sums the whole article up for me. How can you be living in the 21st century, and be a music critic who doesn't know about Muse, or keytars ???

[dontask]

dont get what the problem is, he admitted at the start hes reviewing from the perspective of someone who knows one song. he described a Muse concert quite well, and said he enjoyed it, which I think might be problem for some people.

 

Probably should have done his homework though.

[Niall]

It's like he's never reviewed a concert before! Who spends a paragraph describing the images of the visuals? It's specific about irrelevant stuff and vague about the interesting stuff. It calls Morgan an "unidentified keyboardist" when that sort of info can be googled in 30 seconds!

[Hat]

He's not reviewing the concert, he's describing what it looked like. It looks like an assignment from a kid in junior high.

[dead-duck]

There was also a fourth musician on stage, an unidentified keyboardist who was sometimes hidden.

[Tofu]

I'm amused that he had to explain what a keytar is.

[dontask]

I wouldnt call what a Muse concert looks like irrelevant at all. Its a big part of what they do. Its not the best review though...but from the eyes of a noob its pretty good.

[TheTaoOfRoz81]

That was dreadful. His outline probably went a little something like this:

 

1. Tell my readers that while I'm by no means a fan of the band, I was surprised by their performance last night. I won't state how surprised. I couldn't have been all too surprised, since I didn't come away wanting to hear any more, but surprised nonetheless. Surprised more along the lines of, wow, this meal I made actually tastes good. No, I can't say that. I'd then be admitting the band is good. Hmm... Okay, the meal I made is edible. There, that works.

 

2. Talk about how I didn't like those "twits" very much because of the Celine Dion thing. Her music still takes my breath away even when just typing her name.

 

3. Explain that I've only heard one song of theirs and probably only know about their one album, "The Resistance". That is their only album, right? They've been around since '94? What? It's amazing they've only been able to put together one album in 12 years. ::checks calculator:: Oh, I guess that'd be 16 years.

 

4. I won't admit I was wrong about the band, but will just state that they rocked. I won't use any details, give too much imagery. I'll just state they rocked. Good enough.

 

5. I'll then compare them to bands. But, while I list off the names of: Queen, Radiohead and Rush, I'll then make it known that I heard more of U2 last night than the three other bands I mentioned. In fact, Bellamy's voice reminds me a lot of Bono's. I could really see Bono singing that symphony song, whatever it's called and playing that song toward the end, Stockholm, Sweden, or whatever it was called.

 

6. I'll close the piece by talking about how not everything Muse did was great. I have to prove that I was partially right about the band, having only heard one song of theirs prior to the show. I can't tell my readers that I'm a complete idiot, even though, if they read my writing, they'd probably get that very impression.

 

7. I'll write one sentence, the closer, about how the band wore Ohio State football jerseys for the final song. That's a nice closer. Anything having to do with the Buckeyes is a nice closer. Alright. Done. Masterpiece.

[deb8997]

sounded like U2? sounded like Bono? omg:rolleyes:

[Gareeh]

That was dreadful. His outline probably went a little something like this:

 

1. Tell my readers that while I'm by no means a fan of the band, I was surprised by their performance last night. I won't state how surprised. I couldn't have been all too surprised, since I didn't come away wanting to hear any more, but surprised nonetheless. Surprised more along the lines of, wow, this meal I made actually tastes good. No, I can't say that. I'd then be admitting the band is good. Hmm... Okay, the meal I made is edible. There, that works.

 

2. Talk about how I didn't like those "twits" very much because of the Celine Dion thing. Her music still takes my breath away even when just typing her name.

 

3. Explain that I've only heard one song of theirs and probably only know about their one album, "The Resistance". That is their only album, right? They've been around since '94? What? It's amazing they've only been able to put together one album in 12 years. ::checks calculator:: Oh, I guess that'd be 16 years.

 

4. I won't admit I was wrong about the band, but will just state that they rocked. I won't use any details, give too much imagery. I'll just state they rocked. Good enough.

 

5. I'll then compare them to bands. But, while I list off the names of: Queen, Radiohead and Rush, I'll then make it known that I heard more of U2 last night than the three other bands I mentioned. In fact, Bellamy's voice reminds me a lot of Bono's. I could really see Bono singing that symphony song, whatever it's called and playing that song toward the end, Stockholm, Sweden, or whatever it was called.

 

6. I'll close the piece by talking about how not everything Muse did was great. I have to prove that I was partially right about the band, having only heard one song of theirs prior to the show. I can't tell my readers that I'm a complete idiot, even though, if they read my writing, they'd probably get that very impression.

 

7. I'll write one sentence, the closer, about how the band wore Ohio State football jerseys for the final song. That's a nice closer. Anything having to do with the Buckeyes is a nice closer. Alright. Done. Masterpiece.

 

too much effort into. one. post.

[JacksSmirkingR3venge]

That was dreadful. His outline probably went a little something like this:

 

1. Tell my readers that while I'm by no means a fan of the band, I was surprised by their performance last night. I won't state how surprised. I couldn't have been all too surprised, since I didn't come away wanting to hear any more, but surprised nonetheless. Surprised more along the lines of, wow, this meal I made actually tastes good. No, I can't say that. I'd then be admitting the band is good. Hmm... Okay, the meal I made is edible. There, that works.

 

2. Talk about how I didn't like those "twits" very much because of the Celine Dion thing. Her music still takes my breath away even when just typing her name.

 

3. Explain that I've only heard one song of theirs and probably only know about their one album, "The Resistance". That is their only album, right? They've been around since '94? What? It's amazing they've only been able to put together one album in 12 years. ::checks calculator:: Oh, I guess that'd be 16 years.

 

4. I won't admit I was wrong about the band, but will just state that they rocked. I won't use any details, give too much imagery. I'll just state they rocked. Good enough.

 

5. I'll then compare them to bands. But, while I list off the names of: Queen, Radiohead and Rush, I'll then make it known that I heard more of U2 last night than the three other bands I mentioned. In fact, Bellamy's voice reminds me a lot of Bono's. I could really see Bono singing that symphony song, whatever it's called and playing that song toward the end, Stockholm, Sweden, or whatever it was called.

 

6. I'll close the piece by talking about how not everything Muse did was great. I have to prove that I was partially right about the band, having only heard one song of theirs prior to the show. I can't tell my readers that I'm a complete idiot, even though, if they read my writing, they'd probably get that very impression.

 

7. I'll write one sentence, the closer, about how the band wore Ohio State football jerseys for the final song. That's a nice closer. Anything having to do with the Buckeyes is a nice closer. Alright. Done. Masterpiece.

 

That made me

[TheTaoOfRoz81]

too much effort into. one. post.

 

Too little effort into one post.

[TheTaoOfRoz81]

That made me

 

[Gareeh]

Too little effort into one post.

 

touche.

[LyraSilvertongue]

This person probably isn't a regular music reviewer. He doesn't seem to know much about music, for a start.

I've reviewed restaurants, plays, films, books etc and I'm no expert on any of those subjects.

[mentlegen.]

That was dreadful. His outline probably went a little something like this:

 

1. Tell my readers that while I'm by no means a fan of the band, I was surprised by their performance last night. I won't state how surprised. I couldn't have been all too surprised, since I didn't come away wanting to hear any more, but surprised nonetheless. Surprised more along the lines of, wow, this meal I made actually tastes good. No, I can't say that. I'd then be admitting the band is good. Hmm... Okay, the meal I made is edible. There, that works.

 

2. Talk about how I didn't like those "twits" very much because of the Celine Dion thing. Her music still takes my breath away even when just typing her name.

 

3. Explain that I've only heard one song of theirs and probably only know about their one album, "The Resistance". That is their only album, right? They've been around since '94? What? It's amazing they've only been able to put together one album in 12 years. ::checks calculator:: Oh, I guess that'd be 16 years.

 

4. I won't admit I was wrong about the band, but will just state that they rocked. I won't use any details, give too much imagery. I'll just state they rocked. Good enough.

 

5. I'll then compare them to bands. But, while I list off the names of: Queen, Radiohead and Rush, I'll then make it known that I heard more of U2 last night than the three other bands I mentioned. In fact, Bellamy's voice reminds me a lot of Bono's. I could really see Bono singing that symphony song, whatever it's called and playing that song toward the end, Stockholm, Sweden, or whatever it was called.

 

6. I'll close the piece by talking about how not everything Muse did was great. I have to prove that I was partially right about the band, having only heard one song of theirs prior to the show. I can't tell my readers that I'm a complete idiot, even though, if they read my writing, they'd probably get that very impression.

 

7. I'll write one sentence, the closer, about how the band wore Ohio State football jerseys for the final song. That's a nice closer. Anything having to do with the Buckeyes is a nice closer. Alright. Done. Masterpiece.

 

That was probably his first concert, let alone his first Muse one!

[minnie]

:D:D Cheesy is the word. As a decades long fan of U2, I don't see any similarity. Matt hits the notes for which he aims and Bono misses many of them. It;s sad to see a reviewer so out of touch.:p

[TheTaoOfRoz81]

That was probably his first concert, let alone his first Muse one!

 

Actually, I think he reviewed a Hanson concert one time, but that's the only other review I've read from the guy.