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2016.02.01 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC, USA


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What did he say introducing the song? All I can make out is "is this the one you wanted" and "been to all our shows"

 

He said "This next song is dedicated to our most hardcore fans", he then pointed out to the girls holding the Citizen Erased sign and said "is this the one you wanted?".

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It's tough. If you're cynical, you think they're just out to screw you over. If you're more sympathetic, then maybe you think Matt's never been the naturally social type and might say things that sound weird out of context, or just awkward naturally.

 

I dunno. I definitely think their setlist selections this tour were the least inspired of any of the three tours I've seen them in. However, they still put on fantastic shows that ranked upon my favorites of last year. We just have picky and high expectations. And hope.

 

I know. It's pretty difficult for me to articulate this now, considering, but the different feeling at the end of two different gigs that only varied by one song was pretty severe.

It didn't take much at all to make me leave a gig awed and amazingly happy, even when I'd left a prior one feeling disappointed.

I don't think it's 'entitled' to say that I wish everyone had been able to feel like that. (Happy, not disappointed.)

 

And Matt's always been strangely awkward with his stage banter; I'm really quite a bit shocked he hasn't improved upon that in all this time.

He was a tiny bit talky in DC... let's hope he didn't just put his foot in his mouth with coming back to the US. :p

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I personally thought the show was fantastic -- I realize I'm never going to get all of the songs that I myself would like to hear and that I'm going to hear songs that aren't my favorites. So I try to approach each show with an open mind. I loved the 360 thing as well as the visuals. The first time I saw them when they opened for U2, I asked here on the forum about their seemingly strange lack of stage patter, so now I'm used to it.

 

BTW, I did the VIP thing and so was one row off the floor dead center of section 111, so that put me about 5 or 6 rows back from the stage but one row up, which is great when you're pretty short! Worth every penny.

Edited by baileypup97
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In the intro, he says, "This next song is for a handful of hardcore fans who came to (garbled) -- oh hello! -- shows. [points to 7-string] This is the one you wanted; it's this one?"

 

He said "This next song is dedicated to our most hardcore fans", he then pointed out to the girls holding the Citizen Erased sign and said "is this the one you wanted?".

 

 

 

 

Thanks. Cheers.

Edited by bob122577
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I know. It's pretty difficult for me to articulate this now, considering, but the different feeling at the end of two different gigs that only varied by one song was pretty severe.

 

I felt the same way between the two LA shows... one had no Reapers, the other had Reapers, and that much of a difference improved night two DRASTICALLY.

 

And then I went into San Diego with zero expectations and got Reapers AND Apocalypse Please, which had been nowhere on my radar, and literally started jumping up and down hugging my friend.

 

If I'd gotten Map, Citizen, Apocalypse, AND Reapers??? Man, I would have been incredibly overjoyed. That's literally the best set they played in the States this tour.

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And Matt's always been strangely awkward with his stage banter; I'm really quite a bit shocked he hasn't improved upon that in all this time.

He was a tiny bit talky in DC... let's hope he didn't just put his foot in his mouth with coming back to the US. :p

 

A friend of my wife who is more a casual Muse fan went to the show. She is actually a hardcore U2 fan, but she pointed out that while Matt and the guys in the band are fairly quiet when addressing the crowd, that still doesn't take anything away from the show. She also said that on the other hand, if you go to a U2 show Bono talks to the crowd a lot, but he can get preachy and condescending whenever he brings socio-political issues on stage. If it came to a matter of picking, I'd much rather have the quiet musician who goes straight to entertaining by playing than listening to the musician who wants to save the world.

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It's never bothered me, really, but it's been certainly something that people who've seen the gigs with me have pointed out, and you see it in a ton of reviews.

People feel it's alienating, I guess, and it does mean that when Matt does speak, his demeanor is more obvious as it might be the only time he does it. So, those awkward little speeches can look somewhat off with no context for people to put them in; like saying something like "none of you knew us back then" before an OoS or Showbiz song, while not looking at the crowd.

 

I couldn't help but notice how people were getting into the X Ambassadors set so easily without knowing any but one song, and most likely had a lot to do with how engaging that frontman was (and how catchy/repetitive the songs were...) but I think I'd absolutely HATE for Matt to be like that.

Plus, that dude grabbed his danglies and shook them really close to me. Gross. :noey:

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IPlus, that dude grabbed his danglies and shook them really close to me. Gross. :noey:

 

Ewwwww!

 

Every interview I've ever seen with Matt he looks basically terrified to me. I'm shy and awkward and nervous and tend to be able to spot a fellow sufferer a mile away. He's more relaxed when he's got Dom to bounce off but he's always fidgeting, putting his hands to his face, jiggling his foot, fiddling with his clothes etc. And also foot-in-mouth syndrome: I go through phases of saying to myself right, don't say X or Y because that would be a dick thing to do, then X or Y pops out of my mouth simply because it's popped into my brain :$

 

If he is as nervous or awkward as he appears to me (and my degree in armchair psychology) I'm not quite should how he has the intestinal fortitude to do what he does in front of thousands of people; I'd rather set myself on fire.

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If he is as nervous or awkward as he appears to me (and my degree in armchair psychology) I'm not quite should how he has the intestinal fortitude to do what he does in front of thousands of people; I'd rather set myself on fire.

 

Eyes closed the entire time... :LOL:

 

But seriously, I can't imagine performing scares him anymore, and music is what's comfortable to him. And there's a repetition to it.

Blurting out something in an interview or at a gig that's going to get recorded and watched and analyzed a billion times is a whole different thing.

That "coming back to the US" bit is going to haunt him next year.

 

And yes, Matt is a public nose picker in interviews... Bless. :LOL:

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I'm just really still in awe of the series of random events that led to me getting to this gig... :stunned:

 

When the tickets went up for pre-sale, I was aiming for Philly (and eventually got them) but right beforehand, my bf asked that I open up a new tab and see if DC was still showing an endstage instead of 360 (it wasn't.)

I went back to the Philly page, double checked it was the right one, and got GA tix in the cart right as they went on sale. Immediately got an error message trying to pay saying tickets weren't on sale yet, hit the back button, and started spamming the hell out of refresh before finally getting let in and buying tickets.

Only to notice they were for DC...

TicketsToday said it was quite possible hitting "back" instead of reloading screwed something up for me.

Took me an hour to secure Philly tickets, and eventually sold my DC ones to someone, who cancelled their payment to me after I put the Tickets in their name.

TicketsToday was actually very helpful in getting things put to right and getting my name back on the tickets.

 

Was just about to head home after Philly after the gig with no intentions of going to DC, when I had to get into my emails to get my itinerary, when I just happened to notice the heads up about CE in DC on Facebook.

Rented a car, ODed on my medications, and hauled ass to DC...

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Aw damn. I thought you were at this gig. :(

I'm sorry. I don't often read much of the gig threads.

No worries! I live in Southern California, but I've enjoyed following along. And complaining when complaints are justified. But I'll give praise where merited, and DC's set deserves praise.

 

I can't complain that much, though. Seeing Muse 4 times last year was awesome, especially since one of them was the Mayan (I don't mean to say that braggingly, but rather gratefully). Only downside of that show is that probably no other show will ever top it. :LOL:

 

I imagine Muse will be back in the US next year, but on the festival circuit.

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I would have killed to be at the Mayan. I tried so, so hard. I was in talks to spend $1000 for one ticket to be someone's plus one, and it didn't work out.

 

I was rather disappointed with Philly, but I kept it to myself. Even my bf could tell the show was a bit off, though, and was promising me that he'd find a way to take me to Europe for the next tour the rest of the night. He's such a darling.

DC was leagues better.

 

I'm trying very hard to not get my hopes up about Mr Bellamy's "next year" outburst; if it's anything, I'm sure it will be festivals, and those just aren't going to work for me.

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Eyes closed the entire time... :LOL:

 

But seriously, I can't imagine performing scares him anymore, and music is what's comfortable to him. And there's a repetition to it.

 

Yeah you're probably right nowadays when he's playing, but he still can't get the talking bit right.

 

I always wanted to sing. I love singing. I would really like to have been able to make something of it. My problem is that I can't sing in front of other people, which is a bit of a shitter. I know some shy singers like Freddie Mercury would overcome it by having a totally OTT stage persona or be like Matt and once the crowds get beyond individual people and because a mass they can relax and let go but that's not me. I can sing in a choir, but then the leader tried to give me a solo and...I left. :$

 

I'm a motherfucking singing legend in the car though.

Edited by BlueEyedFloozy
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Eyes closed the entire time... :LOL:

 

But seriously, I can't imagine performing scares him anymore, and music is what's comfortable to him. And there's a repetition to it.

Blurting out something in an interview or at a gig that's going to get recorded and watched and analyzed a billion times is a whole different thing.

That "coming back to the US" bit is going to haunt him next year.

 

And yes, Matt is a public nose picker in interviews... Bless. :LOL:

 

i was at the prudential center, and every time matt was on my side , i was thinking why he's always with his eyes close, i thought it was because he always have some sort of spot light on him , but apparently no :LOL:

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Ewwwww!

 

Every interview I've ever seen with Matt he looks basically terrified to me. I'm shy and awkward and nervous and tend to be able to spot a fellow sufferer a mile away. He's more relaxed when he's got Dom to bounce off but he's always fidgeting, putting his hands to his face, jiggling his foot, fiddling with his clothes etc. And also foot-in-mouth syndrome: I go through phases of saying to myself right, don't say X or Y because that would be a dick thing to do, then X or Y pops out of my mouth simply because it's popped into my brain :$

 

If he is as nervous or awkward as he appears to me (and my degree in armchair psychology) I'm not quite should how he has the intestinal fortitude to do what he does in front of thousands of people; I'd rather set myself on fire.

 

One thing I find so oddly peculiar about Matt is that when he talks he sounds like a math geek going on a date who sounds quite nervous trying to establish conversation and impress the girl, and yet once he starts singing and performing he turns into Freddie Mercury.

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