Share your controversial Muse opinions II - More Radiohead talk

[kueller]

It's all about the performances. Even the Black Holes songs (Assassin and Exo-Politics) are generally favored in that tour.

It's also a bunch of fan favorite songs even if they were staples at the time so that influences things looking back.

[Claudia O]

I don‘t like too much vocal distortion, it ruins great songs from the Absolution tour for me.

[Jobby]

11 hours ago, kueller said:

It's all about the performances. Even the Black Holes songs (Assassin and Exo-Politics) are generally favored in that tour.

It's also a bunch of fan favorite songs even if they were staples at the time so that influences things looking back.

Normally I’d agree with the performances vs variety thing, and Abso had a really good standard of performances dgmw, but idk...when you can start at one end of a whole 2 and a bit year tour and feel like everything’s pretty much exactly the same by the end, that’s a bit blegh imo. To say they only had 3 albums to represent, they got pretty poor coverage. And everything just looked the same and sounded the same and played out the same....eeeehhhhh.

You can find a lotta the same fan favourites on other waaay more interesting and exciting tours as well, even if the performances for some don’t hold the same level. The tours as a whole are still miles better imo.

[Clunge]

Post-Abso, I'd say I've been to a whole bunch of Muse shows, or concerts. Pre-Abso, they came across as gigs. It's hard really to communicate exactly what I mean, but when I got into Muse circa 2001/2002, and then really started taking an interest in them as a live band circa 2003/2004, it was the virtuosity that blew me away. Three guys bound onto the stage, a few screens, plenty of lights, and then just created the most astonishing amount of noise for three people (yes, I accept, there were a few backing tracks here and there).

But the tones, the intensity of the performances, the songs (I'm always, at heart, going to be about OoS/Abso), the fact my first Muse gig was in 2004, and so on, that era just stands out to me above all else. It was the making of Muse, it was when they broke through, it's when they became a top tier act. Watching that transition between 2003 and 2005 was really exciting for someone who'd just got into them.

I also think that era had the best performances of many of their songs - certainly songs like Stockholm, Hysteria, Citizen Erased, Muscle Museum, maybe New Born, although after it becoming dull as hell 2006-2011 (Reading was a rollocker), I think there have been some great more modern performances of it. Some others though I do think progressed well after Abso - B&H has sounded great in many different forms, Bliss has kept evolving, Showbiz keeps coming back strong, as does Dead Star.

Idk. My fandom is rooted in that era, but as Jobby says, it obviously wasn't perfect and I appreciate the band has changed a bunch since then. This performance always stood out to me - Muse should have been the big draw at the BRITS that year, but The Darkness broke through and got all the glam and glory. Muse were reduced to just one song with basically no production. But it sounded HUGE.

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Clunge

[kueller]

5 hours ago, Jobby said:

Normally I’d agree with the performances vs variety thing, and Abso had a really good standard of performances dgmw, but idk...when you can start at one end of a whole 2 and a bit year tour and feel like everything’s pretty much exactly the same by the end, that’s a bit blegh imo. To say they only had 3 albums to represent, they got pretty poor coverage. And everything just looked the same and sounded the same and played out the same....eeeehhhhh.

You can find a lotta the same fan favourites on other waaay more interesting and exciting tours as well, even if the performances for some don’t hold the same level. The tours as a whole are still miles better imo.

I could say similar things about this current tour in that while the performances have been literally the same every night it's a good performance. I'd rather go to a ST show than roll the dice on a Drones show (in my area). There was some evolution too. Seeing performances from Le Trabendo and similar still has a bit of the OoS tour looseness and it's a lot more locked in and mature by the time they played the courtyard of Versailles. It's subtle, not as much as the surrounding tours, and the tones are largely the same I admit.

The sets did not have hordes of deep cuts and Showbiz did not have high representation, but the sets constructed were strong and rarely, if ever, let up. BH&R has aged superbly with the fanbase but remember at the time it was controversial. The lighter pop songs weren't taken in all that well. The average Abso set was usually powerful from start to finish.

That kind of ties into the Absolution era in general. Origin was where the iconic "Muse" sound formed but Absolution is when it began to really infect the world. You get the feeling of a band trying to be as big as they could be but still with that younger energy lingering from the past two tours. Like @Clunge said this was their "making" and it ability they were nailing it with consistency that has been hard to match in other eras.

Now, as general historical context, I do think BH&R might be more interesting and I would like to see it get more attention for its importance. It was certainly a lot more varied, the most diverse tour locations to this date, and the transition from Absolution to The Resistance was a lot more dramatic. It was also, in many ways, the last tour where they had major evolution. Songs like Showbiz and Assassin are performed more or less the same as they were back then.

[Jobby]

I thought I was gonna get slaughtered when I posted that so these thoughtful responses are quite a relief 😂

Can’t deny the tour/era was a big turning point in their rise to the top, I think I was more taking it out of historical context and just looking at it purely as an isolated tour. Over the years you see a lotta people who’re unhappy with a current tour (usually ‘cos of sets and rotation) refer back to Abso’s as the ultimate when I think, bar performance level, nigh every aspect of it falls short of the others. Idk, basically saying that nostalgia makes it seem more glamourous. Someone who was around at the time’d be able to tell me better but I can only imagine people not being happy about 90% of Showbiz and half of Origin being completely naffed so suddenly   + the relatively bland stage design and wardrobe

I was gonna make a comparison with ST saying that they’re doing p much the same, which some people bemoan, except now they’ve got an incredibly impressive production and more varied set sonically but we’re only a month in so we don’t wanna compare it to a whole era yet.

[kueller]

I remember making the same point long ago, back during Glasto 2010, that the famed 2004 was a very standard set for its time. And I've held for some time that selection matters more than variation.

5 hours ago, Jobby said:

the relatively bland stage design and wardrobe

Now hold the fuck up.

[Claudia O]

Was this the time of Matts all-over-photoprint skinny shirt? Sorry, I hate it. He was way too skinny then anyway ... roll on gigs, I‘m getting too pessimistic 

[Jobby]

6 hours ago, kueller said:

Now hold the fuck up.

I c o n i c lab coat aside, it was literally just short hair, plain shirts and trackie bottoms across the board (Chris wore jeans I guess). This is non-negotiable.

[kueller]

Matt's striped blazer and the red coat.

Also the Dalek piano.

[Claudia O]

I loved this outfit and style of Matt! 

 

 

[Jobby]

5 hours ago, kueller said:

Matt's striped blazer and the red coat.

Also the Dalek piano.

Eh the red coat was alright, but even then we’re talking two coats he wore once across two years as the fashionable highlights. Black striped blazer? Yawn, my friend - yawn.

We’re talking about a band that’s used to having spaceship stages, floating acrobats, drones, giant condoms hanging from the rigging, rose-covered equipment, flashing drone orbs, shifting towers, flaming chimneys and backing it up with bright red suits, Beetlejuice suits, LED suits, ripped up halloween gear, gothic shirt robe things, glitter pants, afros, handlebar moustaches, Spiderman costumes, and all the hair and jean colours under the sun. Then Abso was just ‘oh we got a flashing piano I guess and here’s some greyyyyyyyyy’.

[Claudia O]

Ok, I‘m out .. convo between u 2 

[kueller]

6 hours ago, Jobby said:

We’re talking about a band that’s used to having spaceship stages, floating acrobats, drones, giant condoms hanging from the rigging, rose-covered equipment, flashing drone orbs, shifting towers, flaming chimneys and backing it up with bright red suits, Beetlejuice suits, LED suits, ripped up halloween gear, gothic shirt robe things, glitter pants, afros, handlebar moustaches, Spiderman costumes, and all the hair and jean colours under the sun. Then Abso was just ‘oh we got a flashing piano I guess and here’s some greyyyyyyyyy’.

Context. They weren't that band yet. Their aesthetic complemented well who they were.

[Claudia O]

Not about Muse, but .. 

 

the few ppl who are trying to keep the forum alive should get an award or a mention .... 😇

[Claudia O]

😨🤗

[MAurelia]

It seems that even the administrators left this forum 😉

[Jobby]

I’ve been quite sick and mega busy for a while, apologies 💔 still am really but posting for prague

On a topical note TC may well have become one of my absolute fave Muse songs and idegaf. Slated it at first as well and I don’t often do that tbf.

[Claudia O]

Oh, sorry to hear this, hope you are better now! 

I like TC. It rocks, much needed 🙂 

[MAurelia]

16 hours ago, Jobby said:

I’ve been quite sick and mega busy for a while, apologies 💔 still am really but posting for prague

On a topical note TC may well have become one of my absolute fave Muse songs and idegaf. Slated it at first as well and I don’t often do that tbf.

I’m happy that you’re better now!

 

Another controversial opinion: I think that Dead Inside is in my top 15. I sometimes listen to it  and I enjoy it very much.

Well, maybe it is not controversial. What do you think?

[Claudia O]

Hm,  I don‘t enjoy DI on record, but live it‘s great!

[Jobby]

On 5/27/2019 at 7:29 AM, Claudia O said:

Oh, sorry to hear this, hope you are better now! 

 

On 5/27/2019 at 4:18 PM, MAurelia said:

I’m happy that you’re better now!

Thank you, you 2 ❤️

I’m still dipping in and out of wellness but a Muse gig or two finds a way to perk me up 👀

[0liviahurley]

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2010 at 5:00 PM, Hat said:

Both Dom and Chris are replaceable, and not that important at all for the music.

no

 

[bliss_muse]

On 5/27/2019 at 5:18 PM, MAurelia said:

Another controversial opinion: I think that Dead Inside is in my top 15. I sometimes listen to it  and I enjoy it very much.

Well, maybe it is not controversial. What do you think?

DI is one of my favourite songs! I really hope they will play it again in the future.  

[Clunge]

DI is literally top five for me these days. It's matched only for 'completeness' by Plug In Baby, Hysteria and Map Of The Problematique for me.

I still absolutely abhor Thought Contagion. It's genuinely down there with Exo-Politics as Muse's worst song.