RECENT ITEMS»

Muse
State Theater
Filter Grade: 92%
by Greg Swan | 01.01.2007

As 2,000+ Muse fans piled into the historic State Theater for Muse's sold out show Wednesday evening, there's no question escaping the 90 degree heat wave -- essentially hell for snow-loving Minnesotans -- was foremost in the minds of the tattooed, studded, Batman shirt, and/or ripped jean-sporting Muse fans.

But what waited inside the cool confines of the aging Victorian venue was a blistering fury of emotion, intensity, passion and guilty rapture, marred only by a shorter-than-desired set and a penchant for 100+ decibels.

Muse, who haven't visited the Twin Cities since their sold out Quest Club stop in November 2004, were instantaneously more at home in the larger State Theater. The 1920s Minneapolis gem is a veritable explosion of ostentatious gold leaf ornamentation, and the perfect over-the-top, melodramatic venue for three childhood friends from Teignmouth, U.K. to put on the performance of the year for a sold-out crowd of Minneapolis hipsters.

Opening the show was New York's The Cloud Room, who had persistent sound issues on the lead vocal mic, prompting more than a few hundred show-goers to head back into sticky 90-degree heat for an aggravated smoke before Muse finally took the stage.

Considering their following and stature in the U.K., Muse is relatively under-hyped in the states, especially after spending more of their career casting aside Radiohead comparisons than embracing their individual recognition. And as the childhood friends took the stage on this night, they look like energetic rag-topped youngsters on their first tour (not rock veterans with four acclaimed albums and a global following).

The staging for Muse's 2006 tour is distinctly understated. A center stage riser held Dominic Howard's drum kit, while four sheets of soaring white fabric created a cinematic canvas in the background. As the show progressed, fog machines belched, textured lights danced and the crowd bobbed their heads in time to a choreographed light symphony steeped in seizure-induced strobes (disclaimers were posted at Will Call).

Kicking off with "Take a Bow" from the new album, Black Holes and Revelations, Muse immediately launched into a near-perfect studio vocal and instrumental replication of every song they tackled; all while exhibiting extraordinary showmanship laced with a knowing superiority few would question. At times, singer/guitarist Matthew Bellamy would look out at the crowd while telepathically communicating, "We are Muse. You are here because you know we are great. Here comes another mind-bending song that will give you shivers."

And while the new album may have lost some of the grit of previous offerings, the evolution to this more polished, refined sound was extreme and intimate live in concert. With an overindulgent, minimalism-scoffing approach to progressive electro-rock, Muse literally shook State Theater's rafters - causing theater ushers to scurry across the main floor distributing fistfuls of earplugs to a surprising number of takers.

While the setlist transitioned mainly between tracks from Black Holes and Revelations and their preceding U.S. favorite, Absolution, the trio couldn't help but break into early classics from Showbiz ("Sunburn") and Origin of Symmetry ("New Born"), with a resounding crowd roar at the initial chords of each.

Yet overall, the crowd had no qualms with a set reliant on all but one track from Revelations, released only two weeks prior to the show. And while it's always been a foundation of Muse, the newer material puts much more value in two and three part harmonies - a welcome addition and surprisingly effective live enhancement.

Retiring twice from his mirrored guitar to a white upright piano tucked towards the back of the stage, Bellamy effortlessly transitioned from nonchalant guitar rock God to emotive classical pianist - all while crooning, serenading and belting out his signature perfect pitch tenor vocals.

Bassist Chris Wolstenhome, dressed in black shirt and narrow white tie, did his best to complement Bellamy's natural rock star prowess, although he seemed most comfortable staring off into a spacey nether while methodically setting forth the framework for each song.

Drummer Dominic Howard, dressed in white shirt and narrow black tie, added to the driving bass line with his signature trip-stomp drumming style. He also served as emcee for the evening, uttering a mere three or four minimal phrases such as, "How you guys doing out there?" The music spoke for itself, anyway.

And while the favorite song of the night was the first encore, "Time is Running Out," of which the audience couldn't help but sing along, it was the final song, "Knights of Cydonia," which brought all the elements together.

As the trio embarked the closing aural adventure of the evening, chorus lyrics punctuated the projection screens married with shots of galloping horses and psychedelic camera work:

"You and I must fight for our rights,
You and I must fight to survive."

Muse is not, has never and will never be Radiohead, nor do they wish to be. Rather, they are an unapologetic epitome of themselves. The comparisons ended for me in a sticky Minneapolis theater amidst the most pretentious, eccentric allusion of grandeur that I've actually welcomed and couldn't help but embrace.