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NA Tour 2017 General Discussion Thread


leohz

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How things change. This was two years ago :(. Light years better.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjar7BvpxUE

 

Part of the reason Muse's recent setlists have been so annoying is because they did go through that period of fantastic setlists within this past album cycle, especially Charrues, the Gloria and Rock Werchter. CE, Micro Cuts, Uno, The Groove, AP and SS were all sharing setlists with TiRO, PiB, Madness etc - they really nailed the balance in terms of pleasing hardcore fans and casuals.

 

It pisses me off how they found that great formula and then went 'no, that's not right, we need to trim all the super rare old songs out', so you fast forward a year to Benicassim 2016 etc. and the setlists are average at best and shite at worst.

Edited by frozenbanana
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I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to Dig Down. Not much of a fan of it as an opener but it's not a terrible song by itself. I do know that I saw an Instagram comment about the song that just said "Diiiick toooown" and I'll never think of it the same again, so there's that.

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they really nailed the balance in terms of pleasing hardcore fans and casuals.

 

Only with some of the sets tbf. I still remember there being some gripes about their lack of consistency and seemingly random distrubution of sets like that amongst a bunch of others that only consisted of the standard-fare.

 

But, yeah, it is deflating to see them fall from some of their most balanced and exciting (if inconsistent) sets since their successed peaked to by far their worst ever. 'Specially since they'd been steadily improving with the T2L arena tour, Unsustainable tour and Psycho tour after TR imo. Wonder what, if anything, caused such a sudden change.

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Matt & Dom fancy themselves are 'big stars' and they like flashy things and no more attention is paid to good songwriting. Chris got sober for this?

 

Chris doesn't look particularly happy up there. It may be time to just wrap this band up and call it a day.

 

Dom can join a super group and Matt can start making movie scores. If he can handle being out of the immediate spotlight again. And if he can see what he's doing writing scores with a pair of those ridiculous sunglasses on.

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Chris doesn't look particularly happy up there. It may be time to just wrap this band up and call it a day.

 

Dom can join a super group and Matt can start making movie scores. If he can handle being out of the immediate spotlight again. And if he can see what he's doing writing scores with a pair of those ridiculous sunglasses on.

 

Dunno, Chris has a lot of hungry mouths to feed. They won't have it so good not being part of Muse.

 

These setlists are horrendous though, even worse than TR tour. 14 of their weakest songs with paltry variation plus a cringeworthy cover and some pre-recorded interludes. It's just lazy.

 

Watched Radiohead's Glasto set on the box last night and they played 25 songs from their whole catalogue, even throwing in a song they detest. And I looked up their recent setlists which show that it wasn't a one-off. They always seem to aim for 25 songs unless they get cut off by the organisers. They vary sets hugely. Even when there seems to be a pattern of songs between gigs then they go and mix it up at the next one. And they even sometimes print alternative songs on the paper setlists (a bit like Muse's roulette except not fixed!)

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Then there's Dir en Grey who've gotten bored with big tours and are just constantly doing club tours now. Actually last years was quite impressive. 44 gigs, 18-20 songs per gig, but 78 songs played across the tour and none of them played at every gig, 11 different openers, 10 different closers.

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It almost feels like an old complaint at this point. I recall people moaning about the lack of non-singles or fan fave material and static setlists as far back as Resistance, and while I wasn't a boardie for most of it, such complaints would probably have been regular on the Black Holes tour too. But Muse do seem determined to maintain it.

 

Even accounting for the fact lots of bands play static setlists or are reliant on the hits, this all feels much safer than even previous US tours. As said, 2015 at the least had variation and felt less casual-oriented on its festival run-through, even if some (Download/Werchter) got way more out there setlists. And even then, there was a fair amount of variation and more album tracks popping in and out of sets on the full Drones Tour, if nothing like as much as could/should've been. Whereas this tour set is pretty ludicrously poor.

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I don't really want Muse to hit Radiohead's level or play clubs with mega rotation tbh. In an ideal world, it'd obvs be amazing but it ain't remotely realistic so comarisons like that are kinda moot.

 

I'd be totally happy if they just stuck to the standards they established between 2010-2014, ideally with the added willingness to play rarities from 2015 - which is where I thought we'd be heading with the Drones arena tour. ~18-20 songs, more at stadiums, riffs being 80% of the filler, etc. It wasn't perfect back then by any means but "Hmm, wish they'd step it up from 18 to 20+ songs a night" sounds like a lovely gripe to have compared to the current situation :chuckle:

 

Hell, even just the 17-song standard from last year would be passable. Still hoping things aren't still the same at Belfast and Leeds fest.

Edited by Jobby
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I don't really want Muse to hit Radiohead's level or play clubs with mega rotation tbh. In an ideal world, it'd obvs be amazing but it ain't remotely realistic so comarisons like that are kinda moot.

I would take clubs. I could've gone to the Electric Ballroom gig 2 years ago but missed out and I'm still gutted about that one.

 

Maybe next year as a plug for this new album. Be more tempted in this space and time than going to Belfast or R&L, if only because there's less scope for video-based faff in those venues.

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It's not even lowering standards as much as being realistic.

The band isn't going to sustain the size it's at by playing to a few hardcore fans in the crowd, it's just the fact that they go out of their way to do NOTHING that makes it feel insulting.

 

I also don't think Chris's kids would starve with daddy having a net worth around $8 million.

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I was tempted to see Muse at Belfast but based on the NA run I'm "only" seeing them at Reading. I figure there's no chance of the setlists being significantly better or interesting. It's sad that they neglect some of their rawer, more energetic songs - but if they're not willing to be interesting as a band, then I won't be interested in them as a fan. Metallica are a better use of my travelling money anyway.

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In terms of expectations, I do know I went to the O2 show last year thinking it wouldn't be as fun as previous shows and left having enjoyed it more than I had enjoyed the 2009/12 gigs at the same venue. But then I arrived in an awful mood after a pretty shite day, so guess I was in the mood for a perk up. Plus it helped the support was cool and the Reapers/Psycho opening sounded truly amazing.

 

I'm still open to going Belfast, if as much due to the presence of Biffy Clyro and Nothing But Thieves earlier that day, plus added Kasabian in the same week as the Teignmouth brigade, but I'm running out of time to commit, hinting I probably won't. As a show, it interests me more than R/L - Liam Gallagher and Blossoms as an undercard isn't what I'm up for. The half-arsed NA shows and the terrible latter period single-heavy setlists don't help really, even though it sounds like it'll be different production and setlist to that tour. Least that's the theory. :chuckle:

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Dunno, Chris has a lot of hungry mouths to feed. They won't have it so good not being part of Muse.

 

 

It's not like Muse is the only thing he's capable of. I'm sure he can join or start something that keeps him closer to home and makes plenty good money. And of course Muse money will keep coming in for a while too.

 

Whatever, it feels weird speculating about someone else's private life like that. He'll be fine.

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Remember when people thought Dom looked unhappy at the start of the 2nd Law Tour? That turned into nothing. This is really a lot to speculate from how someone looks on stage.

 

And even up to last tour people really liked the concerts. A small percentage of disgruntled fans does not account for everyone that is pleased with just seeing the band play live.

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Remember when people thought Dom looked unhappy at the start of the 2nd Law Tour? That turned into nothing. This is really a lot to speculate from how someone looks on stage.

 

And even up to last tour people really liked the concerts. A small percentage of disgruntled fans does not account for everyone that is pleased with just seeing the band play live.

 

Indeed, reading their stage face is all speculation, but, as far as overall enthusiasm goes, I think it is possible to see a difference.

 

I'm not musing about their retirement because I think no one likes them anymore. I just think their best time as a band is behind them and they may have more fun and create better things by themselves or as parts of other projects. If short shows with playback breaks and singles like Dig Down are all they have left in them they're not adding anything to their legacy anyway.

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