Simulation Theory Tour Live gig discussion — spoiler friendly

[That Little Animal]

5 hours ago, kueller said:

God help me if I never see Break It To Me.

Oakland will definitely have Blockades, Something Human, Isolated System and Resistance. 

And Murph will get stuck backstage and never make an appearance. 

[wildwilly]

So I went to the MUSE show in Dallas on Sunday 2/24.  and here are my thoughts: 

Best song live off the new Simulation Theory Album is (hands down) The Dark Side with Algorithm being a close 2nd.  

The show itself IS one of the best MUSE shows I have ever attended.  The use of live actors / dancers really works as well as the gigantic screen behind the band. 

If you want to get a high five from Matt then park yourself in front of the "B stage" that extends out form the main stage. 

Worst live song off the new album?  Propaganda hands down might be one of the worst MUSE songs I have ever heard.  Can not BELIEVE this one made it onto the setlist. 

The set list is like 24-25 songs long ...which for any MUSE fan is FANTASTIC.  

I still think GA is the way to go (if you don't mind standing). 

The most surprising omission form the set list is Something Human.  Again..can not believe that Propaganda could get picked by the band over a much better song like Something Human. 

Chris needs to spend more time on the B stage that extends out from the main stage...he barely played on it solo (only the opening bars of Hysteria as well as the gospel version of Dig Down). 

The use of medleys takes some getting used to.  I am surprised they are doing this...but at least you get to hear a tid bit of a song you might not otherwise here at all. 

The opening act (Walk the Moon) was okay.  I would rate a 6 out of 10. 

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it an 8.  Really good show. 

Edited February 26, 2019 by wildwilly

[hyena17]

I love love LOVE the shows, that's all I'm going to say.  SOOOO much better than the Drones tour.  Love the long setlist but as usual, the choices are somewhat baffling. 

Have to disagree with the above poster, Propaganda is fucking awesome and I would cry if they dropped it.  And this coming from someone who only got the view of Matt's back during it because I was not at the b-stage.  The screen visuals are great, the dancers are cool.  I think if you didn't like it on the album, then you won't like it here...it's just not for everyone, but the notes it aims for, it hits.  It's a sexy song and some people just aren't interested in that.  IMO OF COURSE 😁

 

 

[ncla]

Propaganda live needs striptease dancers on stage.

[kueller]

We don't need dancers we already have Dom.

[Tesseract]

Just got back from the Phoenix show. I had been on a Muse internet blackout to avoid spoilers. Some thoughts:

Easily my favorite live production from them, every single song had something visually stunning to look at. 

Setlist was ok, I would've liked for them to bring back something they hadn't played in years but the length was a real pleasant surprise. 

I knew there was gonna be a giant robot but I didn't realize just how massive that thing is. I was worried it malfunctioned or something because it was getting near the end of the show and it hadn't made an appearance, and when it finally did during SS, my jaw dropped. 

I've seen Take a Bow twice now and it's been a highlight both times, that song is so powerful live.

And finally all the ST songs were great live! Just missing The Void for me. 

9.5/10 would go again. 

[Jobby]

I love how consistently TAB has shown up beyond it’s respective tour over the years, and without even really being requested. One of the v few non-singles to do so I think and soooooo deservedly ❤️

Edited February 27, 2019 by Jobby

[kueller]

I'm glad it's actually showing up consistently too as I was afraid its appearance in the last tour leg was just a brief return.

[Jobby]

In fact, I think the only other non-single have this kinda strong longevity is CE? But that gets badgered about all the time and isn’t half as hard to perform.

The band never really mention TAB when asked about their favourite songs or live songs but it must be up there, someone should ask so we can hear them confess their love 😍

Edited February 27, 2019 by Jobby

[ncla]

How is the early entry thing for 3rd gig? Still the same issue?

EDIT: nvm there is dedicated thread for it https://forum.muse.mu/topic/80693-vipcid-early-entry-disaster-woes/

 

Edited February 27, 2019 by ncla

[Tuffers]

I’ve gotta say, I am extremely disappointed with the setlist for this tour. I know with it being an ‘all bells and whistles’ massive production world tour there’s a good chance it’ll be a static setlist made up mostly of ‘hits’ but honestly, if you’ve ever seen Muse before you’ll have seen them all already. The new Simulation Theory tracks sound good but Blockades is sorely missing. And I didn’t think they could make Dig Down any more boring then they went and made it gospel 🙄

Initially I thought the metal medley was a great idea, a chance for old school fans to hear some great old Muse tracks (albeit only bits of them) and it was the highlight of the Royal Albert Hall gig for me, but if it’s just gonna be the same 5 tracks every time that’s very disappointing. 

I’m seeing them in London and I know when I’m there I’ll be blown away by the grand spectacle of it all but I really do wish they’d put a bit more thought into the setlist before they lock it in on such a long tour. 

I know I’m not alone when I say I could happily never see Starlight/SMBH/Resistance/Madness/Uprising ever again. The majority of fans (even casual ones) have seen these songs every time Muse play a gig somewhere and it really is a crime to play them time and time again while ignoring brilliant tracks like Butterflies & Hurricanes/Sing For Absolution/Map Of The Problematique/Sunburn/New Born/Bliss 😒 these songs are all hits too, in fact I think they were all singles! 

Matt not playing guitar, the cheesy ‘front man’ persona, barely any piano tracks.. today’s Muse are a very different band to the one I fell in love with all those years ago and I think that’s a damn shame. 

Oh and where’s the hell has Showbiz gone? After the massive fan reaction to it (and the By Request shows) you’d have thought they’d have found a way of working that into the 24 track setlist. 

My only hope is that this setlist is geared at the US audience and that by the time the tour rolls around to the UK there’ll hopefully be some variation, but I’m not holding my breath. 

[kueller]

This quickly went from "this tour's gonna be massive" to "maybe it'll only suck in America again".

I've seen positive comments from those who were there though and I'm glad to hear that. It gives me hope.

[Tesseract]

37 minutes ago, kueller said:

This quickly went from "this tour's gonna be massive" to "maybe it'll only suck in America again".

I've seen positive comments from those who were there though and I'm glad to hear that. It gives me hope.

Yeah I've pretty much given up hope of Muse giving us comparable setlists to everywhere else in the world. So going in without expecting setlist surprises helped me just enjoy it for the spectacle that it was. 

[Gemsy]

"just enjoy it for what it is" seems to be the theme here hahahaha 

[kueller]

I can (and largely have) accept that they're not the same band I got into, but I still refuse to accept consistently and intentionally less effort just for national boundaries.

[Tesseract]

I get that, but what can we do at this point? They consistently deflect any criticism of US setlists by claiming that they're just playing what most Americans want to hear. Honestly though I'd be more ok with a greatest hits setlist if they would actually change the order of the songs between tours, just do something to make the tired songs feel fresh. That being said, I've yet to see a bad Muse gig out of the 9 I've been to (probably because I skipped the Drones tour ). But I think your enjoyment of this tour might depend most on how much you liked ST.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Tesseract

[kueller]

It's more than just the catering. Shorter sets, the snarky comments regularly, the lack of smaller shows to make up for it (the promised one still never materialized). It's a disdain I don't want to accept cause it's rather insulting.

I can still enjoy the shows they put on. I enjoyed the last one. These look cool too. But it's still in the back of my mind.

[OriginOfAbso]

I definitely have always agreed with these complaints and been angered at their treatment toward US shows/fans, but I think right now is an odd time to be complaining about it. They're playing full 2-hour shows and clearly putting in a ton of effort. The show also includes Take a Bow and overall a good chunk of older material, albeit not full songs. But honestly, though I would prefer full songs, the metal medley looks like a fucking awesome blitz of heaviness that lasts 13 minutes long, and I love that they put it in the encore instead of finishing with the dreadful Uprising - Starlight - Knights. They were likely never going to play Assassin but they at least threw in the riff for the hardcore fans. Same with Futurism and Micro Cuts, two really deep cuts. They threw those riffs in as part of the drum and bass jam. I think they're at least trying to please everyone. And luckily there's also 4 songs from Simulation Theory that I really love and they are all played as well (Algorithm, Dark Side, Propaganda, BITM). I'm content, as it's honestly a good bit better than my expectations going into this tour.

Also I completely agree that they should drop/rotate a few of their singles, but complaining about their inclusion of Starlight/SMBH/Uprising is not really warranted imo. Those are literally their 3 biggest songs. Almost every band in existence plays their biggest hits at every single show. In the US at least this would include Madness as well, as that is probably their biggest hit in the US.

Edited February 27, 2019 by OriginOfAbso

[Jobby]

🙌🙌🙌

Sets have been damn solid imo, and 3 shows in is always too early to start complaining about rotation. We’ve already seen Blockades, Resistance, Something Human and Isolated System are up for rotation early on and I’d expect more to be in the running as the tour goes on and they get more comfortable with the set up/schedule.

Just about every band their size has at least a few songs they play at every show and they wouldn’t get the reaction they get if people were sick of them. I love PIB, Supermassive and Starlight and I’ve seen them ~13-15 times going on 20+ by the end of the year. It’s definitely not a crime 😂 Something as old, obscure and taxing as Showbiz (which only really got good reactions at SBE and La Cigale tmk) was never gonna get played, tho it will in Mexico apparently. It wouldn’t really fit in much either.

[Tesseract]

I will say that if those rumored rotations are legit, I'm insanely glad I got the setlist that I did instead of the alternative.

[kueller]

I've said I wasn't complaining about the shows, but that the attitude is still present and more specifically what feels like a growing acceptance among discussion. As in setlist improvements that people want or hope for are usually considered something that'll happen in Europe. Just a general expectation things will improve in Europe. An expectation I share but still don't like because it's always felt like more than just business.

Not asking for Futurism. But even for Take A Bow that was a very rare song in the US after BH&R until basically this tour and the end of the last one.

Edited February 28, 2019 by kueller

[Gemsy]

Head upppp 

 

[Gemsy]

🤣 And the second simulacrum of Matt Bellamy

Well saved that man 😄

 

[Dysfunco]

I think it's good they set for a gospel version of Dig Down, as it would be too similar to Madness otherwise (which, at the other hand, they wouldn't need to play at all if I were to decide).

I think the song I least want them the keep is Mercy, I don't like the way Matt have messed up the rhythm and timing of the vocals the last couple of years. It's sound so much worse than it did when Drones came out. It's not the only song affected by this, but here it's as it most evident and annoying IMO.

 

I'd also prefer Blockades over Propaganda, and perhaps The Void somehere at the end, maybe as closer?

MOTP would fit very well with the overall setting and colour scheme, too.

The shows of this tour looks very cool and nice visually though, I must say, and the use of people on stage didn't turn out the way I feared. It's being implemented tastefully overall.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Dysfunco

[Tesseract]

Now that I think about it, MotP would fit in really well with the new material. I think the only reason they keep Mercy around is because it has the perfect moment for the confetti cannon, which the crowd usually seems to go crazy over.