Last night I went to the concert that we’ve been waiting 10 months to see – Muse at the Pepsi Center. We originally bought tickets last December for a show that was supposed to happen in April, but a day-of-concert snowstorm postponed the show until October. I’ll have to admit, with as much time that passed between buying the tickets and going to the show, I had a hard time getting excited about going – especially considering that Muse is #2 on my Last.fm list.
Once we got there, all that changed. Muse definitely made it worth the 10 month wait, putting together a set-list that was top-tier. With the exception of New Born, Assassin and Hyper Music, they played every song I wanted to hear.
The stage was something else. Passion Pit opened for them playing in front of these three pillars, then when they finished the area in front of the pillars remained empty while the bands seemingly switched. When the concert started, the covers came off the pillars, revealing the three band members in each one of them.
The pillars moved up and down throughout the concert, eventually lowering the members down to the ground. At one point, they moved a baby grand piano onto Matt Bellamy’s pillar, moved it back up and once it came back down they replaced it with standing drums between songs. It was a total treat.
The visual experience was complimented with the pillars being video walls, in addition to lasers and lights flashing across the arena. At one point, giant eyeball balloons floated down and surfed along the crowd.
Lastly, no concert experience would be complete without the attendees providing the entertainment. In this case it was by a middle-aged woman who spent the whole concert passionately/interpretive dancing. Not to be ageist, but if this lady was a 15-year-old girl, I probably wouldn’t have given it a 2nd though – but the fact that she was pushing 40 made it all the more awesome. My favorite part is when she actually started doing jumping jacks.
This amazing concert gave me cause to revisit my list of top concerts and see where Muse fits amongst them. I’ve compiled a list of over 40 shows that I’ve seen over 10 years, and am in the process of ranking them. I should hopefully that that post coming later this week.
In the meantime, what are some of your top concerts you’ve been to? What aspects make it a great concert?