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''What if he meant more piano with 'acoustic'? Piano is acoustic anyway, soo...''

 

Pls gib more piano yes.

 

Yes. It always bugs me how little piano Matt plays in concerts anymore. He usually uses it for maybe two or two-and-a-half songs. In Hullabaloo, he used it for six; hell, on Absolution Tour, he technically used it on seven. Come on, Matt, don't completely abandon it as an instrument!

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So uhm, am I the only one who's had the thought in the back of their heads...

 

''What if he meant more piano with 'acoustic'? Piano is acoustic anyway, soo...''

 

Pls gib more piano yes.

 

Nah, pretty sure it's guitar he's been referring to guitar with all this acoustic talk. Kinda backed up by his teasy pictures of him writing with one. He was asked about using the piano more again in the board Q&A though iirc and gave one of those "oh yeah should probs do that" answers that you can tell he'll forget about :chuckle:

 

That said, more piano on-record =/= more piano at gigs though. Just look at TR.

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Nah, pretty sure it's guitar he's been referring to guitar with all this acoustic talk. Kinda backed up by his teasy pictures of him writing with one. He was asked about using the piano more again in the board Q&A though iirc and gave one of those "oh yeah should probs do that" answers that you can tell he'll forget about :chuckle:

 

That said, more piano on-record =/= more piano at gigs though. Just look at TR.

 

Shhh, why are you killing all the hope and dreams?

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Matt already said he doesn't feel like he can perform well on stage while playing the piano.

 

It's like the only thing I agree with him about; this last tour he was barely even visible to a large portion of the arena where the piano was placed, and it just felt like staring at a stark black empty stage. And the crowd on the other side.

The piano song was a real low point (depressingly as it was AP) in what was a very unengaging show to begin with.

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Well I mean, having only 2-3 piano songs for 7 years or so sure as hell will hinder your performance.

 

No I'm not saying they should bring back Space Dementia, no!

 

... But that could help with refreshing the feeling of piano songs.

 

I wouldn't say variation/freshness is the problem tbf.

 

Excluding the one-offs of Meg and Space D that only happened for Origin, we have had Eurasia, Feeling Good, Apocalypse Please, IBTY, Explorers, Falling Down, Cave, Sunburn and RBS since the start of the TR era.

 

As they moved onto playing bigger gigs, I just don't think Matt felt as comfortable being stuck behind the piano for fear of audiences getting bored or disengaged.

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I wouldn't say variation/freshness is the problem tbf.

 

Excluding the one-offs of Meg and Space D that only happened for Origin, we have had Eurasia, Feeling Good, Apocalypse Please, IBTY, Explorers, Falling Down, Cave, Sunburn and RBS since the start of the TR era.

 

As they moved onto playing bigger gigs, I just don't think Matt felt as comfortable being stuck behind the piano for fear of audiences getting bored or disengaged.

 

The list you gave is basically semi-rarities or ones that have come back to the lists only in late 2015-16. IBTY was played 5 times, Falling Down 10, Cave was last played in July '10 and RBS was played once in 2012 and basically died in 2010. Explorers was played only 60 times total. And while Eurasia was played almost 200 times, it's not great variety imo with FG and Sunburn being the two other songs. AP only came back in 2015.

 

And I mean, as for the 'comfortable playing', isn't that basically the same as his neurotic need for 'good crowd reaction'?

 

EDIT: As for stadium gigs(or heck, even festivals where they're headlining) why not bring back the catwalk from T2L stadiums with piano being brought up onto that? Matt would basically be playing in the middle of the crowd and it was just purely amazing when he did Sunburn with that setup.

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The list you gave is basically semi-rarities or ones that have come back to the lists only in late 2015-16. IBTY was played 5 times, Falling Down 10, Cave was last played in July '10 and RBS was played once in 2012 and basically died in 2010. Explorers was played only 60 times total. And while Eurasia was played almost 200 times, it's not great variety imo with FG and Sunburn being the two other songs. AP only came back in 2015.

 

...you said 'in the last 7 years' so I just listed all the ones that had been played. I don't see the relevance in how often or at what point over those 7 years they happened? :chuckle:

 

In each of the last 3 eras, there's usually been 2-3 pretty consistent piano songs on rotation with around 2 rare ones that pop up as well. That's fine in terms of variety imo. Obvs they could easily add more and stuff but that's not something that actively hinders the shows imo.

 

And I mean, as for the 'comfortable playing', isn't that basically the same as his neurotic need for 'good crowd reaction'?

 

Pretty much. He's said in multiple interviews before that he relies on doing 'cheesy rock moves' with his guitar to engage the crowd, so it makes sense that he'd feel he can't do that as well on a piano. Plus, it is the instrument he's spent the longest playing and writing with, so he may well have just gotten bored with it for a few years.

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...you said 'in the last 7 years' so I just listed all the ones that had been played. I don't see the relevance in how often or at what point over those 7 years they happened? :chuckle:

 

Well I mean, it's kinda silly to 'list all the ones they've played' when they've only played most of them less than 20 times in 7 years, isn't it?

 

In each of the last 3 eras, there's usually been 2-3 pretty consistent piano songs on rotation with around 2 rare ones that pop up as well. That's fine in terms of variety imo. Obvs they could easily add more and stuff but that's not something that actively hinders the shows imo.

 

Meh, I guess I'd agree. The thing is though, both Eurasia and Explorers have been dead since the tours of the albums they were on and no signs point on them coming back any time soon. When you take that plus the fact Drones had no piano songs(no, Globalist or Mercy aren't piano songs), I'm sure we're all hyped for only FG and maybe semi-rare AP, BFaH or Sunburn for the next few years... right? RIGHT?

 

 

 

Pretty much. He's said in multiple interviews before that he relies on doing 'cheesy rock moves' with his guitar to engage the crowd, so it makes sense that he'd feel he can't do that as well on a piano. Plus, it is the instrument he's spent the longest playing and writing with, so he may well have just gotten bored with it for a few years.

 

I know I'm nobody to say this, but man, why can't Matt just chill and do the things he likes rather than making sure everyone in the crowd is having a good time?

(The joke is, there's always 'that guy' in the crowd, the rock police etc. who never has fun)

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It's a really different time, and people have very short attention spans now.

 

And Muse is aiming for a crowd that their current music honestly can't support. They're so far doing an okay job still with theatrics, but they're also running on a ton of nostalgia at this point.

They really can't afford the massive dead spot in performance that the piano slots bring. I think Matt's a massive asshole for his obsession with crowd reaction, but I think the piano situation is one where he's likely right.

 

Then again, more than a few of the performances they gave on this tour were completely lacking and people didn't seem to notice, so who knows.

Maybe it's just that people can't take cell phone pics and vids well during the piano parts, and they get bored.

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I know that comparing Muse to Queen is a little overdone now, but if Freddie Mercury was able to rock the fully-packed Wembley Stadium while spending half of his set behind a piano, then shouldn't Matt be able to do the same?

 

And no, Matt is obviously no Freddie Mercury, but still, it can't be that hard.

Did you really think this post through? If Matt is no Freddie, why should Matt be able to do the same?

 

And it can't be that hard? Really?

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I know that comparing Muse to Queen is a little overdone now, but if Freddie Mercury was able to rock the fully-packed Wembley Stadium while spending half of his set behind a piano, then shouldn't Matt be able to do the same?

 

And no, Matt is obviously no Freddie Mercury, but still, it can't be that hard.

Out of the 28 songs Queen played, he sat behind his piano for 3 songs and never for the whole song. So....

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I know I'm nobody to say this, but man, why can't Matt just chill and do the things he likes rather than making sure everyone in the crowd is having a good time?

(The joke is, there's always 'that guy' in the crowd, the rock police etc. who never has fun)

 

Matt's always been pretty insecure about Muse's ability to entertain just by being themselves. Unfortunately I think his habit of relying on putting on a show has attracted people who expect Muse to be a certain way which adds pressure which otherwise wouldn't be there. I feel like Muse have put themselves in a situation where they no longer have a solid fanbase who would appreciate anything they do. For instance, if songs like Dead Star, Fury, and Futurism had been regulars then that alone would energise the crowd, and they would've kept the fanbase who originally loved those songs and would recognise them.

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Matt's always been pretty insecure about Muse's ability to entertain just by being themselves.

 

I've seen a few people make reference to Matt's "insecurity" in performances. Has he mentioned this in an interview or is it based on his on stage behaviour? I'm just curious where this has come from.

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I swear I can recall a passage of this train of thought from Muse members in the Mark Beaumont biography with this thought they need more than just the 3 of them playing tunes before they did the Absolution Tour. And even then, that tour's ultimate result was pretty low-down on the flash and flam scale.

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