Simulation Theory tour discussion

[Claudia O]

I hope they won‘t play this setlist for the rest of the tour .. 

[Clunge]

10 hours ago, Clunge said:

Identical set to the US tour. Calling it now.

This + UD.

Fucking LOL. I know this band better than my own family and friends 😂.

What a load of horseshit.

[Jobby]

That middle was naturally the saggiest set of boobies but other than that a lotta fun.

Matt acts a bit too much for me, don’t like too much of the shades either, makes the moments where he connects with the audience p rare. Should be more ST songs without a doubt too. That’s about it for my criticisms tho.

Edit: oh and ya boy got his 2nd ever set from a particularly lovely Czech security fella, it reads bloody long y’know

Edited May 27, 2019 by Jobby

[bigblockofcheese]

I *love* Undisclosed Desires! Hope they play it... and a bunch of Simulation Theory (obvs).

Actually if they could play every song, from all their albums. I'd be fine with that.

[MAurelia]

UD is ok for me. It’s one of my favourite song from The Resistance and I never listened to it live. They should rotate UD for Showbiz, CE, Map of the problematique. And they could change Mercy for Bliss or Blockades.

We all know that this will not happen...

[Jobby]

Swap Mercy for GUAF, change barrier walk back to Starlight. Rotate BITM w/ Blockades. Rotate Propaganda w/ SH (and move later in the set). Rotate Algorithm w/ The Void. Rotate TIRO and Hysteria, add in a Bliss/Map slot. Play Stockholm or New Born in full and shorten the Medley. UD out, piano song in (IBTY, or make UD a piano ver).

Would be perfect for me. Don’t really need any CE/Showbiz/MM etc shouts for me, can keep it simple and still hit all the right notes with more ST being played. Hopefully start seeing more changes at the UK shows, iirc Matt did say they’d start playing Blockades and TV.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Jobby

[Mozza]

I was hoping for The Void and Blockades to be added. Looks like a nice tequila break after Unsustainable...

[DrMalignoXXX]

Matthew heard you guys. Yesterday they dropped Undisclosed Desires andthey replaced it by......nothing.

 

 

They must increase a bit more the number of song, it is still ridiculous for a 8-LP band.

[Mozza]

4 hours ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

Matthew heard you guys. Yesterday they dropped Undisclosed Desires andthey replaced it by......nothing.

 

 

They must increase a bit more the number of song, it is still ridiculous for a 8-LP band.

It's more the choices they make than the number of songs. This is like The Resistance all over again

[Onlyness]

 

 

1

15 hours ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

Matthew heard you guys. Yesterday they dropped Undisclosed Desires andthey replaced it by......nothing.

I think that the UD slot disappeared because the last two gigs weren't exactly stadium 

[Jobby]

17 minutes ago, Onlyness said:

I think that the UD slot disappeared because the last two gigs weren't exactly stadium 

^^

Even Prague was a surprisingly small crowd imo, from what I could tell seemed like 15/20k maybe? I’m wondering if they might actually add another extra song on top of the UD slot for the real big dates. Not getting hopes up tho.

15 hours ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

Matthew heard you guys. Yesterday they dropped Undisclosed Desires andthey replaced it by......nothing.

 

 

They must increase a bit more the number of song, it is still ridiculous for a 8-LP band.

They’re playing for 2 hours fam, idk if you’ve seen them yet but how much they’re playing is pretty on point, it feels like more than enough when you’re there. Song selection isn’t even bad imo, just the lack of variety gig-to-gig so far has been stark to say the least. I don’t need CE, Showbiz and shit knocking about, but even just more ST songs.

[dreamyana]

Okay, slightly off topic, but my VIP tickets from tikcetmaster are still not ready to print... Bristol is in less than a week now. Should I worry or not yet? 

[01FromFinland]

Idk if this is just me but the guys really are refusing to leave their comfort zone rn. Remember all the comments of how Dom never wants to play Assassin or some other old(not deep cuts but even the well-known ones) songs because "they're not fun to play", then proceeds to force Resistance or UD in setlists when they're known mood and flow killers? Matt doesn't want to play anything that's not a megahit, new song or a setlist staple for 10+ years. Chris just doesn't give a fuck and plays what the two say and seems to be more interested in actually playing the songs well and accurately rather than fishing for reactions from the crowd, like, um, someone else in the band.

 

Do they not understand that they can literally play any song from the standard versions of their lps(minus like the backhalf of Showbiz) and get great reactions and the crowd into it? Like, I think I've said this before, but they need to take a page from bands like Metallica or Iron Maiden and just not give a shit and play some oddities while also throwing in the occasional "casual pleaser". And, yes, those two bands are still bigger than Muse, but not too much that they can't be compared.

[DrMalignoXXX]

8 hours ago, Jobby said:

^^

Even Prague was a surprisingly small crowd imo, from what I could tell seemed like 15/20k maybe? I’m wondering if they might actually add another extra song on top of the UD slot for the real big dates. Not getting hopes up tho.

They’re playing for 2 hours fam, idk if you’ve seen them yet but how much they’re playing is pretty on point, it feels like more than enough when you’re there. Song selection isn’t even bad imo, just the lack of variety gig-to-gig so far has been stark to say the least. I don’t need CE, Showbiz and shit knocking about, but even just more ST songs.

I didnt see them yet, but still i can't agree. During the Unsustainable Tour they were playing 27-28 REAL songs per show, including mood changers, 2 Encores and one B Stage part, piano, and oddities from Showbiz, Monty Jams, Unintendeds and Blockouts.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/muse/2013/estadi-olimpic-lluis-companys-barcelona-spain-13d9ed55.html

They were doing that then, and now that they have 2 more LPs and tickets are twice expensive feels like going backwards...

 

To be honest, even if I enjoy each show, the Unsustainable Stadium Tour was the last time i feel they were doing 100% performance, a balanced and well-thought show (even if T2L is my less liked Muse Album) and long enough to be satisfying. All those encores, changes, BStages and piano part helped to feel the show totally satiating and diverse.

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by DrMalignoXXX

[Jobby]

2 hours ago, dreamyana said:

Okay, slightly off topic, but my VIP tickets from tikcetmaster are still not ready to print... Bristol is in less than a week now. Should I worry or not yet? 

Hm, not unheard of but defo worth getting in contact w/ them to ask. I ordered physical tix and they arrived a week or two ago.

1 hour ago, 01FromFinland said:

Idk if this is just me but the guys really are refusing to leave their comfort zone rn. Remember all the comments of how Dom never wants to play Assassin or some other old(not deep cuts but even the well-known ones) songs because "they're not fun to play", then proceeds to force Resistance or UD in setlists when they're known mood and flow killers? Matt doesn't want to play anything that's not a megahit, new song or a setlist staple for 10+ years. Chris just doesn't give a fuck and plays what the two say and seems to be more interested in actually playing the songs well and accurately rather than fishing for reactions from the crowd, like, um, someone else in the band.

 

Do they not understand that they can literally play any song from the standard versions of their lps(minus like the backhalf of Showbiz) and get great reactions and the crowd into it? Like, I think I've said this before, but they need to take a page from bands like Metallica or Iron Maiden and just not give a shit and play some oddities while also throwing in the occasional "casual pleaser". And, yes, those two bands are still bigger than Muse, but not too much that they can't be compared.

I disagree about the getting reactions part, seen too many examples of non-hit songs (Dead Star, half of Origin, even Assassin at the O2) that’ve fallen absolutely flat. Credit to the band, they generally know what they’re doing when it comes to picking what the majority like and move to.

Ultimately, what’s going on with this tour is between the majorly tightly scripted production and sonic ‘vibe’ of ST. The band aren’t against throwing old fan favourites out at big gigs, we’ve seen it on most previous tours, it’s just hard to find a place for them to really fit in on this one and there a v few slots in the set that don’t have some kind of performance/production element attached to them. It’s a shame ‘cos there are obvs oldies that would fit in like Invincible, IBTY, MK Ultra, Endlessly, Bliss and Map but, other than the last 2 (which I’ll be shocked if they stay dead), they’re the kind of oldies that were instantly forgotten. I’m happy we’re getting TAB so much though.

[01FromFinland]

10 minutes ago, Jobby said:

Hm, not unheard of but defo worth getting in contact w/ them to ask. I ordered physical tix and they arrived a week or two ago.

I disagree about the getting reactions part, seen too many examples of non-hit songs (Dead Star, half of Origin, even Assassin at the O2) that’ve fallen absolutely flat. Credit to the band, they generally know what they’re doing when it comes to picking what the majority like and move to.

Ultimately, what’s going on with this tour is between the majorly tightly scripted production and sonic ‘vibe’ of ST. The band aren’t against throwing old fan favourites out at big gigs, we’ve seen it on most previous tours, it’s just hard to find a place for them to really fit in on this one and there a v few slots in the set that don’t have some kind of performance/production element attached to them. It’s a shame ‘cos there are obvs oldies that would fit in like Invincible, IBTY, MK Ultra, Endlessly, Bliss and Map but, other than the last 2 (which I’ll be shocked if they stay dead), they’re the kind of oldies that were instantly forgotten. I’m happy we’re getting TAB so much though.

I tend to agree that I'm overreacting, but I'm still pretty baffled. Even some of the once you mentioned at the end, like Endlessly and Invincible are ones I was sure they'd bring back at some point. They're simple pop songs with catchy lyrics and perfect for the casual ear. Also Bliss staying on the shelf for this long is alarming.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

2 hours ago, 01FromFinland said:

Idk if this is just me but the guys really are refusing to leave their comfort zone rn. Remember all the comments of how Dom never wants to play Assassin or some other old(not deep cuts but even the well-known ones) songs because "they're not fun to play", then proceeds to force Resistance or UD in setlists when they're known mood and flow killers? Matt doesn't want to play anything that's not a megahit, new song or a setlist staple for 10+ years. Chris just doesn't give a fuck and plays what the two say and seems to be more interested in actually playing the songs well and accurately rather than fishing for reactions from the crowd, like, um, someone else in the band.

 

Do they not understand that they can literally play any song from the standard versions of their lps(minus like the backhalf of Showbiz) and get great reactions and the crowd into it? Like, I think I've said this before, but they need to take a page from bands like Metallica or Iron Maiden and just not give a shit and play some oddities while also throwing in the occasional "casual pleaser". And, yes, those two bands are still bigger than Muse, but not too much that they can't be compared.

This baffles me, too. I just don't understand how they can pick UD out of all of the great tracks they could rock out on stage, even the most recent ones.

Is it difficult that much for them to just integrate Blockades and The Void to the standard setlist in place of Mercy and UD itself, add in a Bliss/MOTP (which would both suite the current tour atmosphere) rotation slot instead of Pray, and let SH have its moment to shine?

EDIT: I know that I may not be in the right thread, but an optimal setlist for this tour could go like this:

1. Algorithm AR

2. Pressure

3. Psycho

4. Break It To Me

5. Bliss/MOTP

6. Uprising 

7. Propaganda

8. PIB/The Small Print

9. The Gallery (shortened)

10. SMBH

11. The Dark Side

12. Blockades

13. Unsustainable

14. Thought Contagion

15. Interlude + Hysteria

16. Something Human

17. Dig Down

18. Houston Jam

19. TIRO

20. Madness

21. Starlight

22. STT Interstitial 2

23. Algorithm

24. Take a Bow

25. Metal Medley

26. KOC (without MWAH)

27. The Void (with an SFX outro of some sort to end the gig)

Edited May 30, 2019 by MartianSpaghettiRider
More information

[Jobby]

24 minutes ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

I didnt see them yet, but still i can't agree. During the Unsustainable Tour they were playing 27-28 REAL songs per show, including mood changers, 2 Encores and one B Stage part, piano, and oddities from Showbiz, Monty Jams, Unintendeds and Blockouts.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/muse/2013/estadi-olimpic-lluis-companys-barcelona-spain-13d9ed55.html

They were doing that then, and now that they have 2 more LPs and tickets are twice expensive feels like going backwards...

 

To be honest, even if I enjoy each show, the Unsustainable Stadium Tour was the last time i feel they were doing 100% performance, a balanced and well-thought show (even if T2L is my less liked Muse Album) and long enough to be satisfying. All those encores, changes, BStages and piano part helped to feel the show totally satiating and diverse.

 

It was 23-25 songs on the Unsus tour generally and tbf they hit 21 in Prague with a 10 minute medley on top of that. Probs only around 15 mins difference between the two shows all in all, which really ain’t bad when you consider that was obviously a physical peak for Matt in particular. Since then, there’s been an obvious need to tone down the strain of things. I do think they absolutely give 100%, organising a tour like this must be hard, I just naturally think it’s not to everyone’s taste with it going overboard into the theatre territory they’ve threatened for years. Unfortunately, more LPs tends to mean more essential stuff to pack in, tho I do think they try to throw us a bone. Ticket prices seem to be an industry-wide thing for acts their size as well sadly.

3 minutes ago, 01FromFinland said:

I tend to agree that I'm overreacting, but I'm still pretty baffled. Even some of the once you mentioned at the end, like Endlessly and Invincible are ones I was sure they'd bring back at some point. They're simple pop songs with catchy lyrics and perfect for the casual ear. Also Bliss staying on the shelf for this long is alarming.

Invincible is one of the weirder (and sadder </3) ones, being a not-unknown single, not too difficult and one of Matt’s faves at the time. Tempted to make a sign for it on Saturday. Really hoping Bliss and Map are still yet to come, the European dates are still young I guess 🤞

2 minutes ago, MartianSpaghettiRider said:

This baffles me, too. I just don't understand how they can pick UD out of all of the great tracks they could rock out on stage, even the most recent ones.

Is it difficult that much for them to just integrate Blockades and The Void to the standard setlist in place of Mercy and UD itself, add in a Bliss/MOTP (which would both suite the current tour atmosphere) rotation slot instead of Pray, and let SH have its moment to shine?

I think it’s easy to forget from a fan’s perspective that sometimes an artist can be a bit selfish with their song-choice and pick one or two they have a soft spot for, even if it’s not hugely popular or active. Reckon UD is one of those given how they’ve talked about it and consistently brought it back over the years.

Still think all 3 of those ST songs will come in at some point, just hope it isn’t Defector-esque and literally right at the end. Hard to say swap out some of the interval stuff like Pray ‘cos I think it’s necessary for setting stuff up and giving Matt a breather.

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

34 minutes ago, Jobby said:

It was 23-25 songs on the Unsus tour generally and tbf they hit 21 in Prague with a 10 minute medley on top of that. Probs only around 15 mins difference between the two shows all in all, which really ain’t bad when you consider that was obviously a physical peak for Matt in particular. Since then, there’s been an obvious need to tone down the strain of things. I do think they absolutely give 100%, organising a tour like this must be hard, I just naturally think it’s not to everyone’s taste with it going overboard into the theatre territory they’ve threatened for years. Unfortunately, more LPs tends to mean more essential stuff to pack in, tho I do think they try to throw us a bone. Ticket prices seem to be an industry-wide thing for acts their size as well sadly.

Invincible is one of the weirder (and sadder </3) ones, being a not-unknown single, not too difficult and one of Matt’s faves at the time. Tempted to make a sign for it on Saturday. Really hoping Bliss and Map are still yet to come, the European dates are still young I guess 🤞

I think it’s easy to forget from a fan’s perspective that sometimes an artist can be a bit selfish with their song-choice and pick one or two they have a soft spot for, even if it’s not hugely popular or active. Reckon UD is one of those given how they’ve talked about it and consistently brought it back over the years.

Still think all 3 of those ST songs will come in at some point, just hope it isn’t Defector-esque and literally right at the end. Hard to say swap out some of the interval stuff like Pray ‘cos I think it’s necessary for setting stuff up and giving Matt a breather.

That's the controversial thing: Matt says he now aims to choose past songs which can elicit a great reaction from the crowds other than being personally close to him. We know these choices are also mainly based in how popular those particular songs are and, well, to be honest, UD doesn't exactly register to me as "popular" or particularly crowd-rousing like Resistance or Madness.

I can see how its musical style manages to fit in this tour era, but other than that, if I take into account what I wrote up here, I can't come up with plausible explanations about its comeback.

Edited May 30, 2019 by MartianSpaghettiRider

[hyena17]

4 hours ago, dreamyana said:

Okay, slightly off topic, but my VIP tickets from tikcetmaster are still not ready to print... Bristol is in less than a week now. Should I worry or not yet? 

Same here, and my friend as well.  This is cutting it kind of close.  

[hyena17]

1 hour ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

They were doing that then, and now that they have 2 more LPs and tickets are twice expensive feels like going backwards...

To be honest, even if I enjoy each show, the Unsustainable Stadium Tour was the last time i feel they were doing 100% performance, a balanced and well-thought show (even if T2L is my less liked Muse Album) and long enough to be satisfying. All those encores, changes, BStages and piano part helped to feel the show totally satiating and diverse.

 

This.  Omg.  It feels like they're going backwards, that's exactly what it's like to me.  It blows my mind that this band that was once known as one of the best live bands ever have gotten to this point.  No one can convince me that they are not skilled/creative enough to be able to rotate 2/3 songs into the setlist despite the soooper-tight scripted production?  I mean come on.  It's not like they have to completely come up with stuff from scratch or they haven't had a ton of time to rehearse/practice (incl. the "dancers").  

For whatever reason, they are choosing to do this short (yes, shorter than the unsustainable tour), unchanging set. I mean, just from an excitement perspective, you'd think even they would get sick of the exact same thing every night.  Someone on another board mentioned how long it's been since they were surprised at a Muse gig. I'd have to agree.  Even the intro riffs, etc are the same for songs now as they were 3 tours ago.

And the balance issue is a good point as well.  This DD/Madness/Mercy segment is a killer (and not in a good way).  UD added to that is just cringeworthy.

[Claudia O]

Welcome back everybody 

trying to keep it short, yesterdays show was great, I enjoyed the new songs (Dig down kilked the atmosphere a bit, but maybe I was too far away from the small stage), Madness - don‘t play it so often plz. Starlight, Uprising, Smbh .. got good reactions, no question. The people around me did go wild during the Metal medley, Tab, Psycho, KOC of course. Pray got cheers during the song, hey it‘s the most recent song, GOT just ended, it has its right in the set. 

But, to bring back deep cuts would be possible, or even singles from Showbiz, OOS .. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Claudia O

[DrMalignoXXX]

9 hours ago, hyena17 said:

This.  Omg.  It feels like they're going backwards, that's exactly what it's like to me.  It blows my mind that this band that was once known as one of the best live bands ever have gotten to this point.  No one can convince me that they are not skilled/creative enough to be able to rotate 2/3 songs into the setlist despite the soooper-tight scripted production?  I mean come on.  It's not like they have to completely come up with stuff from scratch or they haven't had a ton of time to rehearse/practice (incl. the "dancers").  

For whatever reason, they are choosing to do this short (yes, shorter than the unsustainable tour), unchanging set. I mean, just from an excitement perspective, you'd think even they would get sick of the exact same thing every night.  Someone on another board mentioned how long it's been since they were surprised at a Muse gig. I'd have to agree.  Even the intro riffs, etc are the same for songs now as they were 3 tours ago.

And the balance issue is a good point as well.  This DD/Madness/Mercy segment is a killer (and not in a good way).  UD added to that is just cringeworthy.

Not  to mention that in the actual 25-songs-show we are counting as full songs things like Interlude, Prelude, Pray redux version and twice Algorithms. They totally skip Showbiz and they almost totally skip Origin and Resistance apart from the 'automatic-mode-song' Plug In Baby and Uprising. Even in ST they skip The Void (that should be a perfect fit for a Piano- intimal- Bstage thingy) and put songs like Mercy thta has zero appeal for casual crowd and zero interest for hardcore fans. Dont get why Matts love it so much. At least we get TAB...

I was not there yet, but looks not enough for an almost 100€ ticket. Seems that I got more (at least mussically) in 2013.

Edited May 31, 2019 by DrMalignoXXX

[Jobby]

1 hour ago, DrMalignoXXX said:

I was not there yet, but looks not enough for an almost 100€ ticket. Seems that I got more (at least mussically) in 2013.

Again, ticket prices can’t really be helped and yes they played for roughly 15 mins longer in 2013, but that was clearly an outlier in their live history and they’ll almost certainly never hit it again consistently ‘cos they just aren’t reasonably able to. 2 hours and 20/21 songs isn’t exactly skimping, and it’s a welcome step up from the 16/17 just a couple of years ago (arguably to be expected at stadiums but still, the effort’s there).

As for songs, Showbiz and Origin have been mostly dead in sets for years. Imo if you’re remotely familiar with them live you can’t go into a big mainline tour gig with that complaint when it’s been a thing for a decade or more.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Jobby

[elvortel]

Anyone have the likely start times for Bristol tomorrow?