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The Independent - Muse: Nice album – shame about the concert


Riveon

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Thousands of music fans are this month regressing 20 years when they hear Primal Scream play Screamadelica. It was an album through which Bobby Gillespie and his band united the swaggering rock 'n' roll of The Rolling Stones with the ambient indie-rock of The Orb to create one of the most iconic records of the 1990s, and win the first-ever Mercury Prize. Few albums of that decade could be as equally worthy of being given the retrospective treatment.

 

Ever since music promoters All Tomorrow's Parties launched Don't Look Back, the series in which they ask artists to perform classic albums in their entirety, with The Stooges playing Fun House at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2005, we have seen countless acts return to perform their legendary album in full. Belle & Sebastian (If You're Feeling Sinister), Gang Of Four (Entertainment), Ennio Morricone (classic film soundtracks) and Slint (Spiderland). Van Morrison revisited Astral Weeks on its 40th birthday in 2008, while Sonic Youth's performances of their influential Daydream Nation, the 1988 album that took them to the mainstream in America and which they revisited in 2007, earned them Time Out's Gig Of The Year. Once, the retrospective gig was a special rare occasion reserved for the most influential of bands and their most significant albums.

 

Now it seems that everyone is doing it. Muse have announced that they will play Origin of Symmetry in its entirety at Reading and Leeds festivals this summer, while Owen Pallett is playing Heartland with the Britten Sinfonia next month at the Barbican and it feels as though the retrospective gig is going too far. It's not that I am not a fan of Muse. I stumbled upon them at Glastonbury 2000 en route to the Happy Mondays and forgot where I'd been headed, so alluring was their emotive rock and in 2009 I travelled to Teignmouth to watch them on their home turf.

 

But surely the purpose of the retrospective gig is to take the fans back to that moment in time and pay tribute to what was a landmark in music. You can't really do that when the band in question is still creating similar-sounding albums. The magic is not only in the sense of nostalgia that a retrospective gig provides, but the weight that the album holds in the rock and pop annals and 10 years is not long enough a period to show that an album has truly stood the test of time.

 

In May, Mercury Rev will perform Deserter's Songs, as well as re-releasing it. This is an album that was widely regarded by many as the best album of the year, NME and Mojo included. That Ash had already claimed that they would be releasing no further albums when they revisited their hits-filled 1977, helped create a sense of nostalgia and finality at the Roundhouse show, 12 years after its release. When Suede performed all five studio albums in their entirety at the ICA in 2003, it felt like the end of an era. The shows didn't just celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut album, but also marked several years since Suede were the Britpop band of the moment and the news that they were to split soon followed. With that history behind them, there will be even more sense of occasion when they perform three albums in their entirety later this summer.

 

Muse, however, are at their peak, at a time when they headline festivals – last year's Glastonbury and, of course, this year's Reading and Leeds. It's hardly the stuff of retrospectives. But above all, to play an album in its entirety takes away that essential element to a gig – anticipation. Where is the fun when you know exactly what is coming next? It is special when a band unexpectedly launches into a song that has always been one's personal favourite.

 

Origin of Symmetry boasts live favourites "Plug In Baby", "New Born", "Bliss" and "Feeling Good", but performing the near hour-long album will leave little room for the hits of their debut, Showbiz, and best of all, Absolution.

 

It would be a shame to see some favourites missed out and the spontaneity of a live show stripped away.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/muse-nice-album-ndash-shame-about-the-concert-2266396.html

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Origin of Symmetry boasts live favourites "Plug In Baby"' date=' "New Born", "Bliss" and "Feeling Good", but performing the near hour-long album will leave little room for the hits of their debut, Showbiz, and best of all, Absolution.[/quote']

 

Oh no! I'll have to listen to OoS songs instead of their more recent material. I don't think I'll cope.....

 

 

But above all' date=' to play an album in its entirety takes away that essential element to a gig – anticipation[/quote']

 

They practically played the same songs for a year and a half!!

 

The way I look at it is simple: I wouldn't of bought a ticket if it was their usual "hits" festival gig.

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But surely the purpose of the retrospective gig is to take the fans back to that moment in time and pay tribute to what was a landmark in music. You can't really do that when the band in question is still creating similar-sounding albums.

:LOL:

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He makes an incredibly valid point. Why regress? Why look back? Why not push on?

 

I agree entirely. HOWEVER, as avid Muse followers, we know just how much attention they give to their newer material. I think this writer is missing the point to a certain extent. The Resistance has been toured solidly for 18 months, BH&R was almost two years - Muse are in no way a band who actively seek, for the most part, to try and relive their former glories (you just need to read or listen to a few interviews to understand their view of Showbiz in particular).

 

Plus, it's 10 years on from what the band regard as their first 'proper' album - surely two shows devoted to it and waving it goodbye is something to be celebrated?

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But above all, to play an album in its entirety takes away that essential element to a gig – anticipation. Where is the fun when you know exactly what is coming next?

 

Hmm... what about the anticipation of knowing that the next song you're going to hear is screenager or hyper music that hasn't been played in god knows how long.

 

Anyway if she wanted to hear their greatest hits she had the last 2 years to do that.

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I agree with the point about playing the album in its entirety, I've never been a fan and found the experience rather joyless. Yes, some bands including Muse have rigid setlists that don't change much from gig to gig, but they still don't have the same kind of deadly predictability. You can still hold out a hope, however futile, that maybe, *maybe* you'll get some kind of surprise.

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oh no they aren't playing all their hits from showbiz!!!!!!

 

Because Showbiz has so many hits that all the casual fans at the festival will surely be ever so upset about and all. And playing an album in full that will take up an hour of their set certainly won't leave room for them to play the three hits they still play from Absolution in the remaining half an hour.

 

While I agree a festival's not really the best place to have a 10-year anniversary album concert, they're saying that 10 years isn't long enough (despite praising Suede having played retrospective gigs after the same length of time). Muse's new albums also apparently sound too similar to Origin of Symmetry and it's not 'legendary' enough to warrant it, when the band have acknowledged that it was a landmark album for them and it's a fan favourite.

 

why did i type so much on this?

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Basically, to anyone who doesn't understand Muse, ^ That interview is 100% right. But to us, the Muse fans, who know about The Resistance Tour, Setlist Polls, The whole 'Pedal incident' and just the general arseholish behaviour from Muse (COUGHmattbellamyCOUGH), revisiting OoS is probably as important to some people on this board as the royal wedding is to others. ;)

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I think that if Muse kept playing albums in their entirity there would be a point but that is very rare. This is just a one off and the point of playing the whole album (hopefully) is that it will be a rare chance to hear every song, some of which they have left behind. Also if they are playing for two hours, there will be plenty of opportunity to play songs from other albums as well.

 

I haven't heard many people complaining about that, but there will always be knockers.

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Basically, to anyone who doesn't understand Muse, ^ That interview is 100% right. But to us, the Muse fans, who know about The Resistance Tour, Setlist Polls, The whole 'Pedal incident' and just the general arseholish behaviour from Muse (COUGHmattbellamyCOUGH), revisiting OoS is probably as important to some people on this board as the royal wedding is to others. ;)

 

Hey, don't you go turning into a hater on me.

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He makes an incredibly valid point. Why regress? Why look back? Why not push on?

 

I agree entirely. HOWEVER, as avid Muse followers, we know just how much attention they give to their newer material. I think this writer is missing the point to a certain extent. The Resistance has been toured solidly for 18 months, BH&R was almost two years - Muse are in no way a band who actively seek, for the most part, to try and relive their former glories (you just need to read or listen to a few interviews to understand their view of Showbiz in particular).

 

Plus, it's 10 years on from what the band regard as their first 'proper' album - surely two shows devoted to it and waving it goodbye is something to be celebrated?

 

his main point is the setlist will be too predictable now, which is why he is moaning.

 

did he see any of the last tour? :LOL:

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But above all, to play an album in its entirety takes away that essential element to a gig – anticipation. Where is the fun when you know exactly what is coming next?

 

Rush is still touring their Time Machne Tour, and in the 2nd part of it they play Moving Pictures in its entirety. And in the first part they do a setlist that goes through all their career. But they do not change it from venue to venue. Do you think the tour was (and still is) a failure? Sheesh.

 

I would love to be there and hear OoS in full... especially when Matt's voice has changed so much (IMO). It is a hell of an album. As it has been said, it is just two shows, FFS!

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What is the fuckery? :wtf:

 

Yes, the anticipation of hearing one's favorite song. Let's see, some of my favorite Muse songs are:

 

- Sing For Absolution (no longer played)

- Apocalypse Please (no longer played)

- Butterflies & Hurricanes (rarely played, Europe mostly)

- Space Dementia (no longer played)

- Bliss (rarely played => gigs unable to attend)

- Citizen Erased (rarely played => gigs unable to attend)

- Dead Star (played in Asia)

- In Your World (no longer played)

 

I could go on, but it would get boring. The point is that for myself, and I'm sure others here, our favorite songs are not the singles, but the deep cuts that you can rock out to and let yourself be swept up in the musicianship of 3 dudes from Devon.

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